Continental Joins Star Alliance Tomorrow

(MoneyWatch)  Continental is in a no-man's land today as it sits in between its involvement in two airline alliances. On Saturday night, Continental operated its last flight as a member of SkyTeam. Beginning tomorrow, October 27, participation should begin in the Star Alliance. Let's see how things go.

Switching alliances is no easy task. They've spent years aligning themselves with Delta, Northwest, Air France, and the rest but now those relationships are ending and that means a whole new set of policies and procedures. That's probably why the airline's website says "We expect to begin participating in Star Alliance on October 27, 2009." They won't know for sure until they flip the switch, so to speak.

Technology, as usual, is the biggest hurdle here. Upcoming codeshares need to be implemented on the front end and back end. The related but separate joint venture will also require a huge amount of work in the back of the house. When Continental enters the alliance, customers will be able to enter lounges and redeem miles on partner carriers. I'm sure it's safe to assume that they've been working on this for quite awhile.

If all goes well, the tech guys will remain behind the scenes as unsung heroes, but really, they'll deserve a ton of credit. Of course, let's see how things go tomorrow first.