After the Chilean authorities put a veto on the planned joint venture between LATAM and American Airlines, LATAM changed the game completely and announced in a surprise move that it would leave the oneworld alliance – because Delta took a 20% share in the carrier. What that will mean for LATAM Pass members remains to be seen. No formal date for leaving oneworld has yet been announced (although this could happen rather quickly) and it could also be the case that LATAM might maintain several of its existing FFP partnerships with oneworld members, for instance with British Airways, Iberia and Qantas, very much as China Southern keeps on doing with most of its former SkyTeam partners almost one year after having formally left the alliance. This is even more likely since LATAM shows no signs to intend to join the SkyTeam alliance. As a result, Delta will sell its stake in Gol – LATAM’s strongest competitor in Brazil, what is also likely to put an end to their close FFP relationship. The other question is whether Qatar Airways will retain its 10% stake in LATAM no longer being a oneworld member. In a parallel move, LATAM has now unified its three programs LATAM Pass, LATAM Fidelidade and Multiplus under the common roof of LATAM Pass.

American Airlines had more success with another joint venture, the one with Qantas. After having received the green light in July, members of the two programs AAdvantage and Qantas Frequent Flyer now earn more (award and status) points on the respective partner. While Qantas has simply aligned the points level on American Airlines to the level of its own flights (with some exceptions), limited to flights to Australia and New Zealand as well as to flights within North America, the effort made by American Airlines looks more considerable at first sight: the accrual rates in Business and First Class are now much higher than on other partners. But after a more in-depth comparison, one realises that the program of Qantas’ other US partner, Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan, remains the more lucrative option in most cases, even without having any privileged partnership with Qantas.

United will change the elite qualification in MileagePlus as of 2020 to a full revenue basis, whereby members need to spend 5,000, 10,000, 15,000 and 24,000 USD per year on United to qualify for the different elite levels. These levels are ca. 20% lower when flying at least 12, 24, 36 or 54 segments on United. Using the co-branded credit card by Chase can contribute a maximum of 1,000 points towards these thresholds by spending 24,000 USD per year, making the product much less attractive. Flights on qualifying partner airlines are taken into account by dividing the number of redeemable miles earned by 6 (by 5 for United’s closest partners, such as Lufthansa, ANA and Air Canada). A minimum of four flight segments on United is required in any case, as previously. For the majority of customers, it should therefore be expected that qualification becomes slightly more difficult. A more positive move is the elimination of the rigid regional and global upgrade certificates for Platinum members and above as part of their elite benefits, in favour of a new currency called PlusPoints, which they can exchange for such upgrades on United, but in a much more flexible way. For instance, you may now combine regional upgrades to use them as a global upgrade. And whatever pattern you may think of, you are at least as well off with the new system as with the old one.

While strikes at many European airlines are somewhat regular and those airlines would not think to make special efforts for their frequent flyers, things are different at British Airways: A 2-day strike was sufficient to come up with rewarding offers for all Executive Club members: British Airways flights booked by December 13 and flown until June 30, 2020 qualify for double miles. A registration is required, the only other restriction is that this offer is capped at 10 flight segments. Only a few days remain, however, for the second offer: A 50% bonus is granted on hotel bookings with Marriott, Accor or through the booking platforms of booking.com and Hotels.com for bookings until October 18. Stays may take place at any time, with the exception of Accor stays, which need to be completed by December 31 under this offer.

While competitor Rocketmiles regularly offers promotions with its partners for new customers, the promotions of Kaligo are usually more generous and valid for all customers. Like that, one receives currently a bonus of 20,000 miles in the Qatar Airways program Privilege Club for reservations until November 30 (and stays until June 30, 2020), if the cumulated expenses – also across several reservations – reach at least 2,000 USD (5,000 and 10,000 miles respectively are earned for 500 and 1,000 USD). Together with the regular mileage credits, which can reach 25,000 miles or more for expenses of 2,000 USD with many hotels, one can fairly easily accrue 45,000 miles or more. Even if you apply only a redemption value of 1 US Cent per mile after the recent devaluations of the Privilege Club program, this still corresponds to a saving of about 25% – what can hardly be achieved by other means in the hotel sector, including with hotel programs.