The agreement will allow United passengers flying from Germany to the US via Frankfurt Airport to book integrated train and plane journeys. Credit: Frankfurt Airport

United Airlines, Lufthansa Group, and Deutsche Bahn have announced a new agreement that will allow passengers flying from Germany to the US via Frankfurt Airport to book integrated train and plane tickets.

The deal, which went into effect on 22 November, will enable connections between 25 German cities as well as Basel, Switzerland, and United’s hubs in several locations across the US.

According to United, this will provide travellers between Germany and the US with more options and improved connections.

The Lufthansa Group added how this partnership represents “another milestone in the successful Lufthansa Express Rail programme” and demonstrates a boost in intermodal services across Europe.

Patrick Quayle, senior VP of global network planning and alliances at United Airlines emphasised the flexibility options provided through this new agreement.

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“This new collaboration will offer our customers even greater travel choice and flexibility, allowing convenient connections between 25 cities across Germany and the United States with just one convenient transfer at Frankfurt Airport, all on a single ticket.”

United, which is a member of the Star Alliance, noted how this partnership builds on Star Alliance’s Intermodal Partnership model and allows for shared benefits across the rail and are sectors.

This includes the ability for customers to collect miles for rail journeys taken as part of a combined ticket, priority baggage handling and the ability for United Mileage Plus SM customers to collect miles for rail journeys taken as part of a combined rail/air ticket.

Hans Joachim Luhm, VP of pricing, revenue and partner management, DB added: “We are very pleased to announce a cooperation with United Airlines through our Express Rail agreement”.

“This agreement between United Airlines, Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn offers our joint customers an easy and flexible journey with air and train – seamless with just one ticket – for example from Chicago to Stuttgart.”

Intermodal travel maintains its relevancy across the transport industry which is further highlighted in Siemens Mobility’s “Travel of Tomorrow” white paper.

Alongside this, efforts between IATA and the International Union of Railways (UIC) pushed the narrative further. As previously reported, the MoU signed in 2020 was set to promote chances for “value-creation” in intermodal partnerships.

The station code destinations are as follows:
ZWS Stuttgart HBF
QUL Ulm
ZMU Munich HBF
KJR Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden
QFB Freiburg
QWU Wuerzburg
ZAQ Nuremberg
QDU Duesseldorf HBF
QKL Cologne/Bonn, Cologne HBF
XHJ Aachen HBF
DTZ Dortmund HBF
MKF Muenster
ZPE Osnabrueck
DHC Bremen
KWQ Kassel Wilhelmshoehe
ZEU Goettingen
QPP Berlin HBF
ZVR Hannover HBF
ZMB Hamburg HBF
XIU Erfurt
XIT Leipzig HBF
XIR Dresden
MHJ Mannheim
ZPY Siegburg/Bonn
AGY Augsburg
ZBA Basel