Possible demise of the LAN SYD-AKL status run

[TimB]

Hi all,

LAN and TAM to merge — the sky is falling for either Star Alliance or OneWorld - One Mile at a Time

According to the two links in that blog post, LAN (OW) and TAM (*A) are merging, and the joint entity is expected to have to choose which alliance it will be a member of. If they choose *A, it will be a major loss for OW in terms of South American cities served -- but more importantly, we'll lose our SYD-AKL LAN J status run. (*)

There's no indication yet of when these changes might happen.

Tim.

(*) On a personal note, that run kicked off my status runs for this year, which ended with an ASA return flight to SYD on the weekend. I'm now WP!

 

[Flashback]

Congratulations on reaching WP TimB and it will be interesting to see what eventuates out of this and how long it takes to find out what will be happening.

 

[Standby]

Hi all,

LAN and TAM to merge — the sky is falling for either Star Alliance or OneWorld - One Mile at a Time

According to the two links in that blog post, LAN (OW) and TAM (*A) are merging, and the joint entity is expected to have to choose which alliance it will be a member of. If they choose *A, it will be a major loss for OW in terms of South American cities served -- but more importantly, we'll lose our SYD-AKL LAN J status run. (*)

There's no indication yet of when these changes might happen.

Tim.

(*) On a personal note, that run kicked off my status runs for this year, which ended with an ASA return flight to SYD on the weekend. I'm now WP!

I thought I saw an article saying it was a LAN initiated buy out so reasonable to expect them to stayput in OW

 

[samh004]

There's already a thread on the merger and the details so far look to be that they're merging operations ala BA/Iberia, but keeping separate brands and routes. It's just cost saving.

Also, TAM joined *A very recently, in May, so it'd be more likely they'd choose OW.

However they still have to actually merge, early days at the moment.

 

[docjames]

I thought I saw an article saying it was a LAN initiated buy out so reasonable to expect them to stayput in OW

Note that the currently proposed plan is to keep both brands operating independantly (similar to BA/IB) so I agree that merging to one alliance is possible, but not a certainty.

I'd also agree with Standby that LAN is in the drivers seat so if a merge of alliances happens, the odds would favour oneworld.

 

[straitman]

OW seems to have quite a presence in this region whilst *A needs some extra input. For OW to loose LAN would be sad but the reality is that the gain by *A would probably be greater than the loss to OW.

 

[BVT]

Interesting news, thanks for the updates.

I intend to book a LAN status run to coincide with the RWC2011. I do hope that nothing is setttled by the end of September 2010 when I will book - depending on the USD/AUD rates.

Not much to ask for; cheapish status run and a favourable exchange rate!

 

[djfuzz]

(*) On a personal note, that run kicked off my status runs for this year, which ended with an ASA return flight to SYD on the weekend. I'm now WP!

Congratulations on reaching WP TimB and it will be interesting to see what eventuates out of this and how long it takes to find out what will be happening.

Congrats as well TimB - one of the chief pleasures of being an active member of this forum is finding creative ways to chase status, so good on you for reaching that milestone.

As an aside, it so happened that Flashware was one of the only people who congratulated me for achieving that same goal, so props to you too for being such a nice person.

 

[Voyages]

I'm now WP!

Congratulations on achieving WP TimB!

 

[anat0l]

Firstly, congrats TimB for achieving WP - not an easy goal by any means (but utilising the SYD/AKL run does help a bit )

I would hope that LA will stay with ow. Not necessarily because of the run but really because that's all that ow has got in South America. In any case, which ever alliance loses out (if it gets to that point), it will be a rather crippling for that alliance's operations in the area.

 

[obrienja]

Definitely a hearty congrats to TimB WP certainly isn't an easy thing to obtain. I'm hoping the LAN run stays OW - I might need to use it if I relocate to the east coast and can't use US YUPP/KUPPs or BA Euro J sales to stay at WP.