American And China Southern Introducing Reciprocal Mileage Earning And Lounge Access

If China Southern would add service to any AA hub, my money would be on Chicago. Because it’s the 2nd largest AA hub and has a fairly large Chinese population.

And I don’t think that AA would add service to Guangzhou anytime soon. They have the least presence out of the big US3 in China currently, and they can’t even make Chicago to both Beijing and Shanghai work, so idk how they’ll make Guangzhou work with any of their hubs except LAX (but China Southern already fly a daily A380 on that route so...)

When Daxing Airport opens next year, I’m assuming AA will also move there along with China Southern and the Skyteam airlines.

I’m also wondering if Delta and China Southern would end their codeshare in 2019. Nothing about that has been announced yet, but I’m assuming yes.

@ Ben -- Sweet. Let's hope this becomes the new cheap way to earn EXP! In addition to lazy FAs and cheap F-class champagne, is China Southern know for smoking pilots? I have generally avoided ALL airlines containing the name "China", but I guess I might want to start distinguishing between the good and bad ones.

@chub - AA could not make China work becuse they had no partners there. This is pretty much a game changer...

I'd rather boil my plums than fly with a Chinese airline.

@Airways And Travels
I just checked the Daxing Airport Wikipedia page, and in the planned Airlines and Destinations section, Chicago is listed under American Airlines. Maybe it’s this partnership that’ll let AA bring back the route, idk...

China southern doesn’t have its own lounges outside China. I wonder how they will fare once they leave skyteam.

Skyteam carriers use the Korean Air lounge here at LAX which is the primary gateway for US China traffic

The new midfield concourse and gateway building will I believe , provide space for 3-4 new lounges in addition to the current ones. Hopefully there will be a skyteam lounge.

So which one would China Southern plan to use since AA customers can’t use the Korean Air ? Their passengers walking all the way to and from terminal 4 to use the admirals and flagship lounges isn’t ideal ?

I’m thinking about flying LAX-CAN-KTM next year on China Southern. If I can get AA miles for a flight I was going to take anyways that would be nice.

I see CZ joining Oneworld in 2019 or 2020.

I wonder if this will go in before March. I purchased the 1300 RT Business class from LAX-PVG PEK-LAX. Originally I was going to credit to Delta but AA would be a much better choice for me.

Why did China Southern leave SkyTeam? No one seems to answer this.

Why didn't China Southern and Delta cooperate? Was there not room for both China Eastern and China Southern? If one were Delta, wouldn't they want partner hubs for connections in both Shanghai and Guangzhou?

@Icarus
CZ can use the OneWorld & Qantas lounge at TBIT. CZ and QF are already friends and codeshare on some routes.

There is a rumor that a similar partnership between CZ and BA will be announced very soon. CZ will also launch a route to Helsinki from CAN next summer. Let’s speculate...

@ Jeff -- Because Delta invested in China Eastern, so it's much more beneficial for them to try to funnel everyone onto an airline in which they have an ownership stake.

@ Jeff. I think they were most likely requested to leave although indirectly. China Eastern has a much closer relationship with delta klm and Air France. Plus a small share in Air France and klm

It will be all about the American EQD and EQM ...

@Icarus
Actually AF-KLM has a closer partnership with China Southern. They recently renewed their jv and added XiamenAir in.

I will be flying CZ to PVG in March/ April next year. Does anyone know whether I can still credit the miles to my Delta skymiles account?

No one has mentioned the elephant (or Dragon?) in the room here: Cathay Pacific.

How will they react to this? It’s not enough to drive them out of Oneworld, but they’re sure to be pissed.

@chub - Chicago is not American's second largest hub. Charlotte is.

@ Bobo -- Precisely.

Seems like a perfect fit for Oneworld connect.

@Gene China Airlines from Taiwan is a good airline. Try it. Don’t avoid it.

JFK T8, with its underutilised gates and even more empty FSL, will gladly welcome CZ from T4. Eventually T8 will be called Other OW airlines and AA 😉