Continental: Alliance with SkyTeam a boon to tourism
Passengers, as well as the Northern Marianas’ tourism industry, stand to benefit from the decision of Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines to join a global airline alliance, a ranking Continental Airlines official said.
Wally Dias, Continental staff vice president for sales and marketing, said numerous benefits are now available to CNMI and global travelers because of Continental and Northwest’s membership to the SkyTeam Alliance.
The two carriers, both operating on Saipan, joined the alliance in September, at the same time as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
“Because Continental is now a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, passengers can avail of more lounges around the world. In addition, they can earn more miles on different airlines,” Dias said.
Further, Continental and Northwest’s membership in the group is expected to help open new markets for the tourism industry, he added.
“With SkyTeam, we will be able to come up with new code-share flights from other markets and bring people into [the region],” Dias said. “We have just started. More and more benefits will surely be coming together for the passengers, as we go along.”
SkyTeam is the global airline alliance partnering Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air and Northwest Airlines.
According to a Continental press statement, SkyTeam member airlines provide passengers not only additional travel options, but also greater recognition in terms of frequent flyer mileage accrual and redemption possibilities.
Effective Sept. 15, 2004, passengers traveling with any of the nine member airlines can earn miles towards SkyTeam Elite status and redeem miles on any of the nine airline members. This means that customers can accrue valuable frequent flyer miles quicker than before.
On the ground, SkyTeam Elite Plus passengers have access to an additional 62 state-of-the-art airport lounges with amenities to make travel easier—bringing the total number of airport lounges to more than 390.
