As the newly merged carriers move towards full integration over the next few months, elite members of the airlines’ loyalty schemes now enjoy reciprocal seating and upgrade benefits.
The move means United’s Mileage Plus elite members now have access to domestic first-class upgrades, extra legroom seating and preferred seating on Continental flights, while Continental’s OnePass elite members now benefit from unlimited domestic first-class and business-class upgrades and Economy Plus seating on United flights.
The merged entity said that additional programme benefits will be announced “periodically” over the next few months, with full integration of the schemes anticipated in 2012.
United and Continental announced the “merger of equals” in May of this year (see online news May 3), with the new carrier to be named United Airlines, but with aircraft sporting the Continental logo and livery, and the merged company was officially launched on October 1. The airlines will continue to operate separately until the receipt of a single operating certificate
For more information visit mileageplus.com, continental.com/onepass.
Report by Mark Caswell
