Intelligence – September, 22 2009

Intelligence – September, 22 2009

Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns and Midwest Miles members can now earn and redeem miles for flights on either airline. All ticketing service fees for EarlyReturns members will be waived for award tickets involving a Midwest flight …

The Star Alliance network will soon have 26 member airlines including Aegean Airlines, Air India, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines and TAM and three regional carriers, offering more than 1,000 destinations in 176 countries being served by 21,000 flights daily. In contrast, the oneworld alliance serves almost 750 airports in nearly 150 countries, with some 8,500 daily departures …

Canada’s WestJet is set to launch a frequent flyer program at the end of this year offering “more flexibility than Aeroplan” with features such as no blackout dates …

By the end of June, Qantas had lost $77 million, but the profit before tax earned by the Qantas Frequent Flyer program rose 64 percent. Qantas said that it will be holding on to the frequent flyer program into the foreseeable future–there had been rumors that the program would be sold …

Aeroplan members can now earn one mile for every dollar spent (not including taxes) on most prescription purchases at Rexall and Rexall Pharma Plus locations throughout Western Canada and additional locations will be added to the program later this year …

Marriott now partners with LifeLock, Inc. offering up to 5,000 points for identity theft protection …

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces now partners with ANA, SriLankan Airlines and Etihad Airways and members of the FFPs of these airlines can now earn miles for Taj stays …

Just days after joining the Star Alliance, Continental Airlines will begin nonstop service on Nov. 1, 2009, from Houston and Cleveland to Washington Dulles (three daily from Houston IAH and two daily from Cleveland CLE) …

JetBlue has asked the Jamaican government for the authority to add a new nonstop service to Montego Bay from Orlando and Boston. If approved, flights could begin in February from Orlando and in January from Boston …

Starwood Preferred Guest members redeemed nearly one billion Starpoints for thousands of domestic and international flights through the SPG Flights program in its first year. Nearly half of the flights awarded have required fewer than 25,000 Starpoints, which equates to a fare worth up to $345 …

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly says that the airline will continue to look to domestic markets for expansion but other statements he has made have lead people to believe that Southwest could expand internationally on their own metal by 2011…

Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have successfully merged as of last month and Lufthansa now owns 90 percent of the shares of Austrian Airlines. Lufthansa and JetBlue will soon codeshare and JetBlue will be allowed to place the Lufthansa code (LH) on JetBlue flights for seamless travel from the U.S. to Lufthansa’s 180 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. With the codeshare, speculation has started for a frequent flyer program tie-in, but no announcement has been made.