And Jetblue, Lufthansa investigate new ties

United Airlines announced it has signed a partnership agreement with Ireland’s Aer Lingus that should take effect around November 1, subject to government approval. The pact provides for code-sharing between the carriers, as well as frequent flyer program reciprocity, so that Mileage Plus members can earn miles on select Aer Lingus flights, and claim award travel on the Irish carrier. Aer Lingus recently entered into a limited partnership with JetBlue, although that deal does not provide for code-sharing. Instead, it simply lets JetBlue customers book and buy interline travel in a single transaction on JetBlue and Aer Lingus for transatlantic trips via New York JFK. But JetBlue also is working on an interline partnership with Lufthansa, which holds a minority stake in the U.S. airline. The trade publication Aviation Week reported last week that JetBlue CEO David Barger told an aviation conference the two airlines are “investigating ways to flow customers to one another” by the end of this year or early next year. Barger reportedly said the two companies would be most likely to feed traffic to each other at JFK, Boston and Orlando.