Northwest Airlines Corp., Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines said Friday that they have signed a cooperative marketing agreement. The deal will connect the three carriers' domestic and international networks while they remain competitors.
Other features of the agreement include:
· Frequent flier reciprocity: Customers can accrue and redeem awards in any of the three airlines' frequent-flier programs, regardless of which program they belong to or on which airline they fly.
· Airport lounge reciprocity: Customers can participate in each airline's airport lounge program.
· Schedule connections: While the airlines will continue to schedule their respective flights independently, each will evaluate their schedules to optimize convenient schedule connections between the carriers.
· Coordination of airport facilities: Customers will gain the opportunity for seamless ticketing, check-in and baggage handling.
According to Northwest, all three will engage in discussions with their respective European partners regarding trans-Atlantic cooperation and inclusion in the SkyTeam Alliance.
