Early departure: LATAM will now leave Oneworld in May 2020

I see a DL/LA/VA venture in the future!

Two giant airlines joining forces: hope this move not only improves their balance sheets but also the passenger's experience. Wife and I just returned from BUE with LA and although we traveled Y class all the way, we enjoyed the One World status recognition by LA (I am a QF Lifetime Gold). This meant we had access to bus class check-in, to the lounges and were offered premium seating at not additional cost. I do hope QF are able to maintain their close alliance with LA, including the recognition of each others frequent flyer programs. Failing that, what options are there? I don't think there is an alternative One World carrier within South America!

Virgin jump in and strike a deal with LN, combined with DL that's 1/2 globe covered.

Both "Virgins" (aka VS/VA) will benefit to 'some' degree. Whether VS (or VA) will strike up a codeshare agreement in the future is another question.

It will be interesting to see what will happen to G3 Gol Linhas Aéreas in Brazil, which currently has a number of partnerships with Sky Team airlines (DL, AF, AM, KL) to name a few and is also a strategic partner for Delta in the country!

Do BA have a codeshare with LA? Will leave a big gap otherwise without seamless connections. Same question I guess for AA.

Little or no assurances about potential loss of QFFs or SC to those who booked return flights with Latam from Melbourne to Buenos Aires in Feb, 2020. As the divorce is to be finalised ‘ in due course' where does that leave current and future travellers?

Any idea when will this happen?

Somebody at AA was seriously asleep at the wheel when this occurred overnight.

Apart from what many may think, this move by Delta (DL) is absolutely mind-blowing and was definitely not envisaged by .... anyone. As a strategic strike, it is virtually unparalleled. This history of the South American market over the past 50 years has seen American Airlines (AA) as the unchallenged market leader, with United (UAL / CO) in second place, with DL as a distant third. The incumbent South American carriers (LAN, TAM and Areolineas Argentinas) were typically second-tier international carriers, with only LAN and TAM slowly developing their networks over the past 20 years. Enrique Cueto (LAN) had the vision to join oneworld and built upon that with clever international routes. Then, buying out TAM. Regrettably, AR has made little headway with routes or fleet over the same period.

Apart from all the complimentary oneworld phrases of "we are disappointed but will respect LATAM's decision", this presents a HUGE number of unanswered questions:

• Did DL over-pay? USD $1.9B and a few hundred million for other services for 20% of LATAM which has a market capitalisation of approximately $4.8B.

• Will Qatar Airways still maintain their ownership position in LATAM?

• Will BA (British Airways) and IB (Iberia) start launching duplicate routes between South America and Europe at will to counter the revenue and passenger loss of LATAM's operation and codeshares?

• Obviously, Air France (AF) and to a lesser extent KLM (KL) will be clapping hands. Could this be the mechanism for moving SkyTeam as an alliance, from a distant 3rd place to either 1st or 2nd?

• Where does this leave AR (Aerolineas Argentinas) as DL's South American SkyTeam partner? Would AR seek to leave SkyTeam and join oneworld instead?

• How much interplay / input has Virgin Atlantic had in this decision by DL, given that Virgin Atlantic (as a DL partner and fellow SkyTeam member - has just announced service to Sao Paulo, Brasil (GRU)?

• Does DL's move on LATAM put AA's gateway Miami (MIA) hub in jeopardy? After all, while LATAM might choose to open a route or two to DL's home of Atlanta (ATL), it's hardly the drawcard for South American destinations that MIA is. And it is possible that DL could use LATAM as a trojan horse to get into MIA - a city where DL has limited operations and control.

• Ed Bastian's (DL CEO) comments of a couple of days ago regarding the 'failure of SkyTeam' must now be seen in a different light.

• Odd, isn't it, that the last carrier to leave SkyTeam - being China Southern - seems to have a no-compete condition in their contract. It would appear to be a 12-18 month period after leaving, before joining a competing alliance. Is this the same case with LATAM (leaving oneworld .. and the possibility of joing SkyTeam at a later, unspecified date?

• Will AA pursue GOL for a shareholding in the discount carrier, once DL exits it's current position? As an LCC, GOL is not the most desirable vehicle, but it has a route network in South America which is the only equal of LATAM.

• Will this announcement by DL/LA cause QF to speed up or review it's B787-9 purchasing plans? Apart from the 'neutral' QF statement above (they would have been as shocked and surprised this morning as anyone else), what will QF's true response be? After all, LATAM does work well with QF, given they are both in oneworld today - but if LA removes itself from oneworld, that co-operation might not be guaranteed. Under those conditions, QF would need to move quickly to lock in it's traffic ex Australia to South America. Perhaps, people have under-rated the QF 'Sunrise' destinations of GRU (Sao Paulo), Rio de Janerio (GIG) and most importantly Lima (LIM). Could we see a welcome return of QF to Buenos Aires (EZE) ?

• Hell, QF might find itself fighting DL on several fronts. LAX-SYD-LAX, USA domestic, SCL-AKL-SCL, SCL-AKL-SYD, SCL-MEL and if DL were ever to buy into Virgin Australia, it might be a whole new world of competition.

Damn! I was looking to use latam as an interesting OW option to get to LHR and EU...

It is interesting to hear that LATAM will move over to SkyTeam. Already, Aerolineas Argentinas is a member of SkyTeam, so you would have 2 competing members covering the same turf, within the same alliance. It will be interesting to see if Aerolineas moves out of SkyTeam. I have no information that they are considering that.... at least not yet. Can you imagine if it ends up going to OneWorld or Star Alliance?

Remeber also that AA wanted closer co-operation with LATAM but the Chilean Supreme court blocked JVAs with both AA and BA

As far as I know, LATAM is the only Oneworld carrier between Africa and South America direct. Quite a bonus for SkyTeam to pick up that traffic.

I'm sorry but I just needed somewhere to vent my shock and disbelief.

It just doesn't make any sense to me. LATAM has recently been focusing on the Australian market with direct flights to both Melbourne and Sydney. What's the point of linking to these Qantas/Oneworld hubs and strengthening business with Qantas only for them to be rivals in the future?

LATAM is also Oneworld's competitive advantage. Without LATAM, Oneworld will have no coverage intra South America, along with no coverage in intra Africa (even Royal Air Maroc is limited to northern Africa). Now also rumours of Qatar looking to leave.

Oneworld has seriously let its eyes off the ball. So much for a premium global alliance - it keeps going backwards.

As a QFFer, I'd really prefer to see Oneworld dominant rather than crumble. Thanks for letting me get my frustrations out.

Hi aviationgeek.

I share your frustration and will look on in despair as Aussie travellers to the Antarctic can no longer find a reasonable link to Buenos Aires from which to fly to Ushuaia. Nor the potential loss of lounge access in Santiago, B.A,and other S.A destination such as Peru, Chile, Brazil, etc...just as those countries are becoming more popular and more accessible. As a booked flyer ( see above) to Ushuaia with LATAM I am not a little peed off about the whole deal which may complicate things when I least need it.

This is not a great lost. My last return flight in September , Business class was a complete disaster and disgraceful.

Our flight was cancelled in Santiago, engine problems, Safety first of course.

They kept us waiting at the airport for 5 hours plus before putting us into a Hotel..

No communication from staff or management, a complete disaster..This is a good thing for One World.

This could be a good thing for Qantas and a huge market for them..They only have to step up with there service and

perhaps bring in new aeroplanes and not use those old 747....!

Hi Jed, commiserations on your experience with LATAM. As per previous posts, my wife and I are due to fly with them Melb. to Santiago/ Buenos Aires and beyond in J. Sincerely hope that the issue of safety ( with concomitant ignorance of pax comfort) does not reoccur. At least with Qantas you can expect fairly rapid recovery. My example: some years ago, on our way to Europe, had a B 747 roar down the runway just prior to V1 when the captain hit the brakes and returned to the gate citing one engine was not performing. He explained that one B 747 had just come out of maintenance and once our luggage was moved to the new metal, we'd be on our way with him in control. We were back in the air within three hours, missed our connection in Singapore etc etc missed luggage etc etc but we got to Europe ( well informed ) and another airline was blamed, so AJ ‘s people were off the hook. Ah, the joys of flight....just grin and bear it?! Yes, a Q flight might well be a better option.

I know this sounds stupid and unrealistic, but I think we could see a potential forth airline alliance between Virgin Australia, Virgin Atlantic, Delta, LATAM and Etihad.

Reason I see it is that all these airlines cover a majority of territory worldwide with;

Etihad - The Middle East along with being a hub for long haul

Delta - North America

Virgin Australia - Asia-Pacific

Virgin Atlantic - Europe

LATAM - South America

If all were to band together to launch a forth airline alliance I see it being a big player and game changer for many travellers.

Open to it being a stupid idea, but has always been something I thought could come to fruition.

If I have booked LATAM flights to Easter Island from Santiago in September will I no longer get the Status credits? Our flight from Santiago to Rio de Janerio is a LATAM plane but has a QANTAS flight number - will I get these status credits? I also wonder about lounge access - our flights from Australia are in Business but premium economy to Rio. I imagine platinum status is of no consequence!

You mentioned that 'once LATAM formally leaves Oneworld, Qantas will no longer issue status credits for LATAM flights.' What if the flight was booked before this announcement? Eg, I'm flying LATAM in May (booked last year), and I booked the flight based on the info on the Qantas website which said that points/credits would be earned until 30 September? I would have thought Qantas would honour this, but based on the comments it doesn't sound like it.

Shame on ow for not making Latam serve their 12 months notice.

This could affect a lot of people who have booked the cheapest fares assuming they will get free seat selection (will that be honoured assuming thise seats have already been chosen? I guess not), baggage and lounge access.

It certainly makes my 2020 holiday choice easier. I had planned on Borneo before Latam's initial announcement, but decided to revise that to Peru in August 2020.

No point now, Borneo it is!

Yes - we are in the same position Alex! Booked flights on the basis we would get the SCs etc

I hadn't been able to add my Qantas FF number to a LATAM booking through their website as this feature had been disabled. I contacted LATAM to ask if they could manually add it but was told they couldn't do it for security reasons. Now it makes sense why and I suspect they have been planning the earlier exit for quite some time.

LATAM told me all One World privileges cease at the end of April. Conversely QANTAS told me today that all benefits apply until the end of September including status credits on flights booked directly through LATAM! Who knows!

I emailed Qantas FF and received the following response (dated 27-02-2020):

'Thank you for contacting he Qantas Frequent Flyer.

LATAM has given notice that they will exit oneworld. Until LATAM's exit, passengers will continue to receive the oneworld benefits associated with LATAM's membership. However, Qantas Frequent Flyers making new bookings for travel from 1 October 2020 on LATAM flight numbers will no longer receive Status Credits.

For travel until 30 September 2020, Qantas Points and Status Credits are earned on all eligible booking classes, except on LATAM and LATAM affiliate codeshare flights operated by an airline other than Qantas or a oneworld member airline.

For travel from 1 October 2020, Qantas Points are earned on all eligible booking classes, except on LATAM and LATAM affiliate codeshare flights operated by an airline other than Qantas.'

Personally, I find the wording quite confusing and it could be interpreted in multiple ways. But the most logical interpretation suggests that points/status credits will still be earned on LATAM flights with a LATAM flight number even after 30 September. This sound promising, although I am doubtful. It's frustrating that Qantas (at least as far as I am aware) haven't issued a clear statement on this yet.

Thanks Alex - yes it is confusing. However your interpretation aligns with what QANTAS told me on the phone - reading off their internal memo - that we will be get points, SC etc for flights booked. Not sure about lounge access on the ground as LATAM told me no privileges. Time will tell!

I would like to follow up my previous comments re LATAM, having flown them with my wife from Melbourne to BA via Santiago in J. Guess I was lucky to get QFF and status points albeit at reduced rates despite being platinum, although the time of booking and the departure notice from OW coincided.

Be advised that it was a nightmare finding the VIP lounge in Santiago: look for the lift to level four amongst the tax free business on level three and remain disappointed unless you go upstairs, which most PAX ignore.

For Australian travellers, you will enjoy a QF booking far better than the indifferent LATAM treatment on this long trip.

Is anyone else hoping that the COVID-19 situation will mean that Delta will need to hold onto their $$$ and won't go ahead with their investment in LATAM and that LATAM stays on in OneWorld?