Delta and WestJet agree to form joint venture - to include reciprocal elite member benefits!

WestJet and Delta have announced a plan to further enhance their partnership by forming a joint venture for trans-border flights. This is similar to what Air Canada has had in place with United for many years. The key aspects of the joint venture (subject to approval) will be as follows:

• Coordinated flight schedules for new nonstop flights to new destinations, expanded codesharing and seamless and convenient connections on the airlines' extensive networks in the U.S. and Canada.
• Enhanced frequent flyer benefits including reciprocal benefits for top tier members of both airlines.

The latter one is awesome news! This is yet another step in the growth of WestJet Rewards and its evolution into a full fledged frequent flyer program. Right now WestJet Elite members have no benefits outside of WestJet but it appears that Gold (and perhaps Silver) members will soon get some benefits when flying on Delta! Seeing that reciprocal benefits for elite members is not subject to government approval we should see this happen regardless of whether the joint venture is approved or not.

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