Delta and Virgin Atlantic confirm codeshares

Delta and Virgin Atlantic have announced they are to code-share 108 routes, allowing passengers to connect between 66 destinations between the United Kingdom and North America.

Virgin Atlantic will place its code on 91 Delta routes to include both Trans-Atlantic and US domestic routes.

Meanwhile, Delta will reciprocate by placing its code on 17 Virgin Atlantic routes, covering North American routes and Little Red UK Domestic routes

Codeshares are bookable across the airlines from 29th June, with codes applied from 3rd July.

For those who collect miles, Sky Miles and Flying Club miles are up for grabs, and depending on your ticket bucket will depend what you can earn. This includes flights outside the codeshare agreement.

Those with shiny plastic or business class tickets, lounge access is recepicol:

– Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and Flying Club Gold can access Delta SkyClubs
– Delta BusinessElite and SkyMiles Gold, Platinum and Diamond members can access the splendid Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse.

Passengers will get priority check-in, boarding, baggage handling and additional baggage allowance on all Virgin Atlantic and Delta operated flights.

The full list is at http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/travel-information/delta-partnership.html and at http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/traveling-with-us/where-we-fly/flight-partners/virgin-atlantic-partnership.html

For those wanting to know what you’ll get in miles:

• Virgin Atlantic – Earn and Burn http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/frequentflyer/fcpartners/airlines/deltaairlines.jsp
• Delta Earn – http://www.delta.com/content/www/en_US/skymiles/earn-miles/earn-miles-with-partners/airlines/virgin-atlantic.html

For Delta and Virgin, it’s another step forward since Delta took a lovely 49% ownership of the airline. It also shows how the “Strategic Partnerships” are starting to take more importance than the traditional airline alliances, where revenue is involved.