Airline News: Continental Officially Joins Star Alliance

Continental Airlines officially switched teams on Tuesday, leaving SkyTeam and joining Star Alliance.

SkyTeam is led by Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM, and Star Alliance includes United, US Airways and Lufthansa. Continental started the switch last year when Delta bought Northwest. The move to Star Alliance means Continental and United Airlines are closer, which some analysts speculate means the resurface of merger discussions.

What's this mean for Continental fliers? Now that Continental is part of the Star Alliance, customers will have more flights to choose from, including a new list of international airlines that Continental frequent fliers can earn miles on.

Being part of SkyTeam “worked for us when there were three equal airlines,” said Continental President Jeff Smisek, referring to Delta, Northwest and Continental. But when Delta and Northwest combined, “it relegated us, in effect, to junior-partner status.”

As part of the new alliance, Continental will add a new international flights to Frankfurt and flights to Rio de Janeiro that work in conjunction with Star Alliance partners.

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