A Star Alliance Night
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Last night I attended a Star Alliance function at the New York Hilton. I joined my two colleagues, Lisa Matte and Dick Evans, at the exciting airline industry event. The event was in celebration of Star Alliance welcoming Continental Airlines as the newest addition to the alliance. For those of you in the know, Continental has been a member of the SkyTeam alliance for about five years. The event was significant because this is the first time an airline has ever switched its alliance.
The trigger for the switch was the Delta/Northwest merger, which created too much overlap within SkyTeam, especially in regards to NYC flights between Delta and Continental. As they said at the party, we want competition, just not within the same alliance.
Party attendees were from all around the world and representing various airlines, from All Nippon Airways to Spanair. Different regional foods were served, making for a fun, feel-good event, followed today by press conferences. Various CEOs from the alliance airlines will be speaking.
As the group was mostly international last night, I did not hear any talk of baseball. I would be remiss if I didn’t wish my Phillies fan colleagues good luck in the upcoming World Series against the Yankees. As a Mets fan, to have the Phillies and the Yankees in the series is pretty much my worst nightmare — as my colleague so kindly pointed out. But, as a Mets fan first, and a New Yorker second, I will be putting my support behind the Yankees!
– Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher
