American and Condor just announced an interline agreement dressed up as a 'partnership.' It's a small step, but could hint at bigger alliance moves ahead.
Didn't Condor announce a "partnership" with Southwest as well (also an interline) or did I imagine that?
Could've sworn they did, but haven't heard a peep about it since. Regardless, that doesn't speak much for the value of such a partnership, if even people who loosely follow aviation can barely recall hearing about it.
(If Tim would ever come back, he could tell us his 'theory' of how WN will start flying TATL... and have widebodies, someday...)
Qantas have connected with Condor as qf FF points can be used to get Condor seats
If so, does that mean there’s an Amex MR to QF to Condor pipeline? Depends how good a deal it is, and how regularly available. QF used to have great partner awards in J and F (think EK) but those really dried up in recent times.
I’d love to see Condor pursue a BER or DUS hub strategy with better feeder throughout Europe. Compete directly against Lufthansa. That’d make them a huge oneworld get (which really needs a Central European partner). Of course, I’d also like a million dollars and that’s about as likely!
That's what I was thinking! Air Berlin, but with a candy-striped livery; repaint them all in red, and it's practically half-way there.
Yields at BER are generally dogsh!t.
There's a REASON that Lufthansa avoids longhaul from there like the plague, or why it has trouble sustaining non-seasonal longhauls to anywhere other than the likes of NYC.
Oh no... a corporation isn't extracting enough excessive profits... boo hoo... sad face... /s
Oh, so, like Condor would pull an Aer Lingus (reciprocal frequent flier agreement, even though not EI is not oneworld, but is part of IAG... confusing)? Or, even less so (just interline). Yeah, both of those airlines should be oneworld. For Germany, this could be like reviving Air Berlin!
*patiently awaiting someone's 'umm ackchuallee'*
Honestly, a OW carrier in Germany… one can dream.
JX, EI, and DE in Oneworld? One(world) can dream...
i had thought that i read somewhere that DL and AA's interline agreement was off again... can't really keep track
Hard disagree. Would hate to see them go further with AA or Oneworld and see all award availability dry up. AS is enough for anyone savvy.
As a "savvy" flyer who isn't US-resident, how do you suggest I come by AS miles? The options I've seen are,
a) 60k Marriott to 25k AS, and
b) buying at 1.88c
neither of which seems to be a slam-dunk.
I can't wait for the AAdvantage redemptions on Condor. And then folks with AA miles can complain as much about phantom J availability on Condor as folks redeeming AS miles.
Would it 'help' if I complained about your complaint about those other 'folks' complaining?
Condor very much remain a niche leisure carrier with very limited regional connectivity. Their business model and route network are more similar to TUI Airways who fly long-haul to places like PUJ than to the likes Croatia Airlines and TAROM which can sensibly participate in alliances without the need to operate long-haul flights.
Slight quibble.
I'm not sure Condor needs oneworld or IAG, per se, I think they need the AA/IAG/AY Joint venture
This is potentially much bigger.
BA/AA can connect passengers over Germany, and gain a foothold in the German market.
JV remember. AA obviously wants the same. This is a BA AA decision.
BA always wanted a bigger piece of the German market. I'm sure very few of you have heard of Deutsche BA. Operated from the early 90s to late 2000s. A different aviation world.
This is great news for AA / BA and especially Condor.
TERRIBLE news for Lufthansa (so foolish). They should have kept that arrangement with Condor going - now they have pushed Condor towards BA through AA.
LH is having the most horrid week. First EK final gets BER, and now this! Oh dear. Yes, an interline agreement....for now. This is a courtship!
If BA really prioritised the German/continental European market, they wouldn't have come up with the spend-based elite qualification system which directly penalises connecting passengers for using* tickets whose prices are discounted to compensate for the hassle they'll have to go through at LHR. The subsequent adjustments only go to show that their decisions had unintended consequences which would've been foreseeable by any airline paying any attention to connecting traffic (see e.g. Flying Blue often adding incremental benefits for Platinum members who get XPs for every segment and can qualify without the need to spend anywhere near the BA Gold threshold). IAG can't even sustain an Iberia Express route to Britain's second city and have just cut the EI base at MAN, there's absolutely no chance of them dedicating serious resources to an attempt to become a bigger player in Germany.
*I've not written 'buying' as the purchasing decision may be made by a passenger's employer, customer, family member etc.
Being based in FRA comes from the historical constraint for LH to feed Condor. Now that Condor have to feed their long hauls themselves, they would probably have a more competitive hub in CGN with no curfew, bigger population pool and enough proximity to mop a bit of clientele off BRU and AMS.
The main question for Condor is what feeder network do they want in Europe, if any. How much they want to continue to be a leisure heavy airline. And how all that fits with the rest of one world partners.
Qantas recently added Condor as a redemption partner. They did the same with PAL and months late it was announced they were joining Oneworld. 😁
I wonder if the topic of those A330-900's was also discussed alongside an interline agreement and future courtship to plugging the OW Germany gap.
OneWorld is calling!
... looks like a good replacement for former German OW member airberlin.
AA always had great redemption on that airline, Condor much smaller than airberlin, but try to expand their network fast. Great Business Class produkt, thankfully NO stupid need anymore to connect in LHR if crossing the Atlantic and great network to Caribbean destinations ex FRA as well.
PERFECT to show STAR and especially Lufthansa Group, that their dominance to North America is shrinking especially since Condor has a lot more partnerships there, compared to Lufthansa split between AC in Canada or UA in the US.
While Lufthansa cut ties with JetBlue and lost Mexicana or cut back interlining with Copa, Condor seems to become a bigger competitor than Lufthansa ever hoped for. GREAT
I'd say, Condor is next OW member
Starlux, Condor - get it done, OW.