Air Berlin has been in the news recently. They have announced new flights to the US. Also, American terminated their codeshare relationship with them. This has left them with a major void in feed traffic from their US gateways. Well, it seems that Air Berlin has found a new partner in the US. Air Berlin and jetBlue have announced a new partnership. The partnership will include codeshares and reciprocal frequent flyer benefits.
Air Berlin and jetBlue, a Good Match
I personally think that the Air Berlin and jetBlue partnership is a great development in the life of both carriers. I consider both airlines to offer quality products. Air Berlin’s business class was fantastic, much better than British Airways’. jetBlue offers some of the most generous legroom in coach, and a great onboard product. These two carriers will be able to synergize very well with each other. This could help jetBlue in the long term future when they decide to launch trans Atlantic flights. As the market gets more and more crowded, it will be important for airlines to have partners in order to feed traffic to each other.
What to Expect?
The Partnership will begin in September, with codeshares activating then. Air Berlin will put their code on flights from New York JFK, Boston and Orlando. Although this is a limited network of flights, I expect this partnership to grow in the future. The airlines will also through-check bags to your final destination. As far as reciprocal frequent flyer benefits go, I am not sure what we will see. Probably you will be able to earn miles on each carrier, and hopefully redeem them. I am not a big fan of redeeming jetBlue miles, given that I can never find award availability for their partner airlines. If we are lucky, we will see Air Berlin TopBonus elites get free bags on jetBlue and Mosaic members the same with Air Berlin. I wouldn’t go as far to expect much more, but as their partnership matures, we may see more cooperation in all respects.
Landing Thoughts:
JetBlue is my favorite US niche carrier (sorry Alaska 🙁 I still love you). They offer a hub in San Juan, and I have mad respect for them for their commitment to my home. I am glad to see Air Berlin find a new partner, especially one that I feel aligns better with them. In the next few months we will see how this cooperation plays out. I expect it to be fruitful for both parties. JetBlue has a lot of partners throughout the world, and hopefully this is the newest addition of many more.
What do you think? What do you make of the Air Berlin jetBlue Partnership? Have you flown both carriers? How well do they align? Let us know!
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H/T: One Mile at a Time
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