Continental Flies To A New Airline Alliance

DAVID KOENIG

DALLAS (AP) — Continental Airlines has changed teams in the battle among three large alliances of global airlines.

The move gets Continental out from under the shadow of Delta Air Lines and could mean a bigger piece of international revenue that is shared among team members.

It will also pull Continental closer to United Airlines. The two talked extensively about combining last year before Continental walked away. Now they will work together on marketing and pricing in the next closest thing to a merger.

Continental customers will get more flights to choose from, and its frequent fliers will get a new roster of international airlines on which to earn and spend miles.

Houston-based Continental officially switched Tuesday from SkyTeam, which is led by Delta and Air France-KLM, to the Star Alliance, which includes United, US Airways and Lufthansa. The move was set in motion last year, when Delta bought Northwest, another SkyTeam member, and became the world's largest airline company.

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."