Perhaps overshadowed by today’s offer by US Airways on Delta…yesterday Airtran and Frontier Airlines announced a marketing alliance. Members of Frontier’s EarlyReturns program will be able to earn mileage points when flying on Airtran and members of Airtran’s A+Rewards Program, which is based on the number of flights taken, can choose to earn credit while travelling on Frontier.
Frontier maintains its hub in Denver and operates the majority of its flights in the western United States with limited service to the East. Airtran is the reverse, with a hub in Atlanta has the bulk of its flights in the east. It will take time for the two to find ways to take full advantage of this agreement, but for now, there are enough benefits for now.
Either way, the process is rather simple. The airlines are not booking each other. They are transferring queries that require the other to the other’s website or call center. So, there is no code-sharing as of now, no through ticketing…It is rather unique in that regard…we will continue to monitoring how the two airlines do in their efforts to promote each other.