Southwest Airlines plans to link Rapid Rewards with partner ATA Airlines by the end of the year, Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly said. Kelly said Southwest’s existing schedule partnership with ATA has exceeded expectations and will probably produce more than $50 million in revenue for Southwest this year. The coordination of programs, in which customers will earn miles flying on either airline, is the next logical step in the partnership between the two carriers, Kelly told reporters. He also said that he is considering a schedule-sharing partnership that would allow Southwest passengers to connect to ATA’s international flights. Southwest later said it is expanding its partnership with ATA to include Las Vegas. Passengers in Phoenix, Tucson and nine other cities can fly Southwest to Las Vegas and then hop on ATA’s flight to Honolulu. A similar deal is already in place in Phoenix, but only for connecting passengers from other cities …
Mexicana Airlines and Bank of America announced consumers can earn a coupon for a free companion ticket after their first purchase and receive a $99 companion ticket coupon annually after that with the new Mexicana Airlines Visa Platinum credit card. This is the first Mexicana Airlines card in the United States …
America West has partnered with Budget Rent A Car. FlightFund members can now earn 50 miles per day for qualifying rentals at participating Budget Rent A Car locations …
The Japan Airlines Group and LAN Airlines have initiated a reciprocal frequent flyer program agreement, enabling members of the JAL Mileage Bank and LANPASS to accumulate and redeem mileage on each other’s networks. LAN domestic flights and LAN Argentina flights are not included in the agreement …
Delta Air Lines is marking the 10th anniversary of its SkyWish charity program. In the past decade, the program has partnered with nearly 40 charities and has accrued nearly 1 billion miles in donations to help the charities with their travel needs. To mark the milestone, Delta will be donating 10 million miles (enough for 400 domestic SkySaver Awards) and encouraging SkyMiles members to donate to 15 partner charities at http://www.delta.com/skywish through Sept. 30 …
For the ninth consecutive year, American Airlines has been voted the best overall airline by the readers of LatinFinance. This year, the airline also won in two new airline categories — AAdvantage was named best frequent flyer program, and the Miami Admirals Club was named best airport lounge …
Air France/KLM has sponsored Kenyan Airways as the first SkyTeam Associate Program candidate from Africa, a position expected to lead up to confirmation next year …
The European Commission and the U.S. competition authorities have given their approval to the takeover of Swiss International Air Lines by Deutsche Lufthansa AG. The securing of European and U.S. anti-trust approval paves the way for SWISS’s integration into the Lufthansa Group.
