Delta buys 20% of LATAM, which will exit oneworld

[trippin_the_rift]

Some footnotes, from a oneworld perspective for Qantas members:

- Travelling on an 'LA' ticket will mean ZERO oneworld benefits, and instead the benefits will depend on the individual FFP agreement with your host FF program, and LATAM. These may or may not be similar to oneworld benefits for passengers.
- Qantas Status credits will not be earned on any 'LA' flight number. You will need to be on a oneworld flight# to earn status credits, regardless of the cabin or fare class. eg: book the Qantas flight number, operated by LATAM.
- Not being a oneworld member, means LATAM does not need to follow various frequent flyer delivery standards set by oneworld (ie: priority boarding for emerald,sapphire....priority check in etc - you get the idea). Actual benefits will depend on the agreement with Qantas, and that agreement may be different between Qantas and LATAM and, say, Cathay Pacific and LATAM.
- LATAM frequent flyers flying with Qantas may receive similar benefits, but, they will now be deprioritized below QF and other oneworld frequent flyers.

Seems to me like LATAM wants to keep everything the same, except replace AA with DL.

What a mess for passengers!

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I am fairly sure SC earn on a non-OW airline is prohibited by the alliance rules.
So yes, they do seem to want to keep everything except any deals with AA.
Of course the other thing we will lose is the ability to book LA flights as part of a OW RTW ticket, even if they have a QF flight number.

 

[V Singh]

Question for the brain trust..Given that Latam OW exit date has been brought forward to 01-May-20 from 01-Oct-20, how would that impact on QFF OW flights already booked & confirmed between 01-May-20 & 01-Oct-20? Wonder how QFF member benefits like Lounge access & priority boarding would be impacted given there exists a bi-lateral agreement between QF & LA?

 

[V Singh]

Question for the brain trust..Given that Latam OW exit date has been brought forward to 01-May-20 from 01-Oct-20, how would that impact on QFF OW flights already booked & confirmed between 01-May-20 & 01-Oct-20? Wonder how QFF member benefits like Lounge access & priority boarding would be impacted given there exists a bi-lateral agreement between QF & LA?

Just notice @farstar has provided some answers already.

 

[squid01]

I have a OWA booked with a Latam flight in it. That flight departs in September 2020.
Will that flight be effected or will they still honour it as part of the OWA as it is already booked in?

I was also looking at booking a couple of Latham flights within South America for September separately. Will I still be able to book them up until end of April? If I get in before that May leaving date then award bookings will still be accepted and honoured for September?

 

[Mattg]

I have a OWA booked with a Latam flight in it. That flight departs in September 2020.
Will that flight be effected or will they still honour it as part of the OWA as it is already booked in?

I was also looking at booking a couple of Latham flights within South America for September separately. Will I still be able to book them up until end of April? If I get in before that May leaving date then award bookings will still be accepted and honoured for September?

The answer to both questions appears to be "yes".

 

[justinbrett]

As for the LA/QF reciprocal agreement - where’s the fine print? Will it only apply to flights booked on a QF code? Connecting to a QF international flight? Or will it be free for all, and apply to short haul flights booked directly with LA?

If lounge access is granted in Australia for LA metal, will QF relegate WP to the J lounge based on it not being a oneworld flight?

Promising news though.

 

[jase05]

If lounge access is granted in Australia for LA metal, will QF relegate WP to the J lounge based on it not being a oneworld flight?

I think I read somewhere that if it is on a LA code then you would only get access to the QF J lounges

 

[AFF Editor]

As for the LA/QF reciprocal agreement - where’s the fine print? Will it only apply to flights booked on a QF code? Connecting to a QF international flight? Or will it be free for all, and apply to short haul flights booked directly with LA?

If lounge access is granted in Australia for LA metal, will QF relegate WP to the J lounge based on it not being a oneworld flight?

Promising news though.

I put this exact question to Qantas, and this is what they told me:

Yes, top tier benefits and recognition will continue on LATAM operated flights with a LATAM flight number or Qantas flight number, however Status Credits will only be awarded on QF marketed flights for travel after 1 October 2020.

Details here: Qantas Frequent Flyers Retain LATAM Benefits

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I put this exact question to Qantas, and this is what they told me:




Details here: Qantas Frequent Flyers Retain LATAM Benefits

Thank you that is very informative.
Do you know if they are planning to expand the code share agreements?

 

[jase05]

Thank you that is very ifnormative.
Do you know if they are planning to expand the code share agreements?

Would be interesting to see if DL try to use their influence to get LA to switch over to VA

 

[AFF Editor]

Thank you that is very ifnormative.
Do you know if they are planning to expand the code share agreements?

This is also something I asked Qantas, and I did not receive a reply to this question. So, I'm going to assume the answer is "no".

(I did point out to them that even Buenos Aires is not served by Qantas codeshares currently.)

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

Can anyone provide any insight on what this means for OW RTW fares? I may need to do a RTW later this year flying first to South America and then on to Europe.

Would I need to fly QF to SCL, then open jaw to my next South American destination, and then take an IB or BA flight from there on to Europe? I'm guessing QF codeshares on LA won't work on a OW RTW fare after April...

 

[JohnM]

Can anyone provide any insight on what this means for OW RTW fares? I may need to do a RTW later this year flying first to South America and then on to Europe.

Would I need to fly QF to SCL, then open jaw to my next South American destination, and then take an IB or BA flight from there on to Europe? I'm guessing QF codeshares on LA won't work on a OW RTW fare after April...

That would be my guess, too - just like QF codeshares on EK being non-compliant for xONEx fares, as it's a non-OneWorld member.

The flights would simply not show up on the OneWorld planning and booking tool.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

That would be my guess, too - just like QF codeshares on EK being non-compliant for xONEx fares, as it's a non-OneWorld member.

The flights would simply not show up on the OneWorld planning and booking tool.

Yes but there are a couple of OW fifth freedom flights within South America. QR has at least one.

 

[AFF Editor]

Can anyone provide any insight on what this means for OW RTW fares? I may need to do a RTW later this year flying first to South America and then on to Europe.

Would I need to fly QF to SCL, then open jaw to my next South American destination, and then take an IB or BA flight from there on to Europe? I'm guessing QF codeshares on LA won't work on a OW RTW fare after April...

If you book by 30 April 2020, you should still be able to include LATAM flights in the itinerary. Otherwise, it's pretty much as you say. You can get to South America from Australia, North America, Europe, the Middle East or north Africa on Oneworld airlines. But the only Oneworld flight within the continent is Qatar Airways' GRU-EZE fifth freedom leg. For any other travel within South America, you would need to use a surface sector and make separate arrangements.

More info here: Oneworld Flights in South America After LATAM Exit

 

[andrewpf]

Would be interesting to see if DL try to use their influence to get LA to switch over to VA

Delta owns shares in Air France - KLM, and they just partnered with Qantas. Anyway, Delta doesn't own shares in Virgin; so I would think there is limited to no financial benefit to them unless it somehow switches traffic onto the Delta/Virgin transpacific route. LATAM fly direct to/from Australia to South America (meaning passengers don't need to transit via North America), so I doubt it would.

 

[Supersonic Swinger]

More info here: Oneworld Flights in South America After LATAM Exit

Thanks and thanks JohnM. Looks like its a surface sector with seperate flight.

 

[dajop]

So xONEX fares are strictly oneworld only. Global explorer fares are more liberal, eg allowing QF codeshares operated by TN as one example (and Jetstar of course but there’s an ownership relationship there). Unlikely, but not completely impossible they could come up with such arrangement for codeshares operated by Latam.

The big trouble with the three alliances are they work perfectly fine for US and Europe - neatly aligning the market with the the three major groups. They are not so great where there are only 1 or 2 dominant players in a market.

 

[Mattg]

Delta & LATAM will commence their frequent flyer partnership on 1 April 2020 (a month before LATAM leaves Oneworld).

Delta & LATAM Frequent Flier Partnership Begins On April 1, 2020

Delta and LATAM frequent flier partnership begins on April 1, 2020.

loyaltylobby.com