Earlier in the week I wrote about how Jet Airways made the decision to cut ties with American as of December 31, 2017. As of that date it will no longer be possible to earn or redeem AAdvantage miles for travel on Jet Airways, which is a real shame.
The motive here seems pretty clear. Delta and Jet Airways introduced an expanded partnership last March, giving travelers more access to the Indian market. Delta’s partnership with Jet Airways is much closer than American’s partnership with Jet Airways is, and there are even rumors of Delta buying a 24% stake in Jet Airways.
So it’s no surprise that Jet Airways cut ties with American, or perhaps more accurately, that Delta forced asked Jet Airways to cut ties with American.
Well, it looks like there are more partnership cuts coming for Jet Airways, and they’re pretty telling. Jet Airways has informed Jet Privilege members that they’re also cutting ties with Austrian, Lufthansa, Swiss, and Turkish. Specifically, here are the dates as of which partnerships are ending:
- Austrian — September 30, 2017
- Swiss — September 30, 2017
- Turkish — October 31, 2017
- Lufthansa — December 31, 2017
You can find a full list of Jet Airways’ airline partners here. It’s interesting to see Jet Airways cutting ties with the Lufthansa Group airlines, and also with Turkish. This ultimately isn’t that different than Jet Airways cutting ties with American. Keep in mind that Jet Airways also has expanded cooperation with KLM in Amsterdam, so presumably they’re choosing to pursue that in lieu of continuing their relationship with Lufthansa.
While I don’t think this is imminent, one has to wonder if the end game here is that Jet Airways will eventually SkyTeam. Air India joined Star Alliance a few years ago, and with Jet Airways expanding their cooperation with a couple of SkyTeam carriers, it seems like that’s a possibility, and it could be a win-win.
That being said, there’s also a decent chance it doesn’t happen. Delta has joint ventures with both Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia, yet neither airline belongs to SkyTeam.
Regardless, Jet Airways is in a unique position at the moment — Etihad has a 24% stake in them, and Delta has a successful partnership with them and is potentially also considering an ownership stake. I suspect this will only get more interesting over the coming months.
Jet Airways 737 business class
What do you make of Jet Airways cutting ties with four Star Alliance airlines?
(Tip of the hat to Neeraj)
Global alliances are so archaic. These days airiness pursue bilateral relationships. It doesn't make sense why delta is playing "camp." Cathay Pacific partners with Lufthansa on several routes as opposed to Qantas- arch enemy but alliance co-member. Cutting ties with the Lufthansa group will simply remove some high yielding feed from its domestic aircrafts that can easily be accommodated by its competitors namely Air India or Vistara- the latter offers a higher service proposition anyways....
Global alliances are so archaic. These days airiness pursue bilateral relationships. It doesn't make sense why delta is playing "camp." Cathay Pacific partners with Lufthansa on several routes as opposed to Qantas- arch enemy but alliance co-member. Cutting ties with the Lufthansa group will simply remove some high yielding feed from its domestic aircrafts that can easily be accommodated by its competitors namely Air India or Vistara- the latter offers a higher service proposition anyways. KLM, AF and Jets own services to Europe cannot match the capacity offered by the Lufthansa group.
Jet has a very strong pedigree in Indian market with its promoter Naresh Goal having varied travel industry and multiple GSA background, and deep roots in government administration.
He is quick to delegate and decide on matters, ably assisted by his wife who has relocated to UK for very good reasons, as the Indian arm of law is getting longer by the day, and may unravel some undesirable history or pedigree.
It is...
Jet has a very strong pedigree in Indian market with its promoter Naresh Goal having varied travel industry and multiple GSA background, and deep roots in government administration.
He is quick to delegate and decide on matters, ably assisted by his wife who has relocated to UK for very good reasons, as the Indian arm of law is getting longer by the day, and may unravel some undesirable history or pedigree.
It is no wonder that Jet seems to be quick and proactive moving nimbly from one partnership to another adapting to the ever changing scenario, especially now that there is a move to transfer part or full ownership of Air India to private hands, given the media reports.
IMHO, Jet Privilege is one of the least rewarding FF programs, especially post the recent devaluation. Mileage expiry also continues to be a huge problem. Eg. Cathay intra-asia F reward (30,000 avios ) is 72,000 JP Miles!
This is interesting. A few months (or weeks ago when Lufthansa was taking ove some Air Berlin planes) there was lots of info in the german media that Lufthansa was very much cosying up to Jet Airways and was looking to invest in the airline or sth.
That was the time when LH and Etihad announced the few codeshares they have.
I guess Delta must have been more aggressive than LH. Ofcourse LH would...
This is interesting. A few months (or weeks ago when Lufthansa was taking ove some Air Berlin planes) there was lots of info in the german media that Lufthansa was very much cosying up to Jet Airways and was looking to invest in the airline or sth.
That was the time when LH and Etihad announced the few codeshares they have.
I guess Delta must have been more aggressive than LH. Ofcourse LH would have preferred a JV or sth with Jet than fellow Star member Air India that has been permanently in the red.
Skyteam already controlled great China market (China Airline, China Eastern, China Southern, Xiamen Air). Along with Korean Air, Vitaname and Garuda), it seems Skyteam is going to be the biggest player in fareast market.
Well good for skyteam, now they are pretty much the largest player in all markets except LATAM and Oceania (but that's okay because these markets are smaller)
Sad to see Jet Airways Skyteamed. Can not think of any decent airlines with Skyteam except AF, KL, DL...
I love it when airlines Skyteam, it adds more variety.
And Jet Airways' frequent flyer program will get much less useful after these partnerships get discontinued...
Any chance that you will write up a post about that program since it is now a Citibank Thankyou points XFR partner?
Thanks Lucky! I am glad I could help.
Personally, I am gutted by this decision on Jet's part because Jet Privilege is one of my biggest miles account. And I was pretty impressed with the flexibility their program offered in terms of earning and burning miles on partner airlines, considering that Jet Airways was not part of any alliance. But I guess things are changing as Jet is cosying up with Delta. The news is...
Thanks Lucky! I am glad I could help.
Personally, I am gutted by this decision on Jet's part because Jet Privilege is one of my biggest miles account. And I was pretty impressed with the flexibility their program offered in terms of earning and burning miles on partner airlines, considering that Jet Airways was not part of any alliance. But I guess things are changing as Jet is cosying up with Delta. The news is they are even getting an executive from Delta, as their new CEO.
Also, I am halfway through scoring an award AUH-LHR First Class ticket on Etihad's First Class Apartment using JP miles, and I was supposed to credit the miles from my trip to Germany early next year on Lufthansa to my Jet Privilege account. Now I will have to get them credited to some other account! :(
P.S.: The link you have shared for Jet Airways Partner Airlines is old. The new list is available on Jet Privilege website, as it includes their recent tie-ups with Jetstar and Fiji Airways. For some odd reasons, they still have old partner list on their main website. Here's the link to the latest airline partner list:
https://www.jetprivilege.com/earn-jpmiles/programme-partners/airlines
@DavidP
Personally i do think Jet Airways will eventually Skyteam. Don't you? lol
SkyTeam as a verb?
"While I don’t think this is imminent, one has to wonder if the end game here is that Jet Airways will eventually SkyTeam."
Getting the Virgins + Jet into ST would be big for the alliance which is clearly the weakest outside China right now.