NO! JAL has NOT decided to tie up with Delta YET!

All those people thought Delta has won the Japan Airlines bidding war based on Yomiuri Shimbun's report, which does not even cite its source, NO JAL has not make the decision yet. Or should I say they havne't made their decision publicly yet.

Yomiuri Shimbun's report (in Japanese) states that both JAL and the ETIC (Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan) has selected Delta as JAL's North America partner and AA as withdrwaned from the bidding.

However, according to Nikkei.com, JAL denies the report and is still in talk with both parties.

So, NO nothing has been made public yet. Delta might be close to winning but as long as JAL hasn't made a press release, the bidding war still is NOT over yet. But for now, I will head over to SkyTeam's website to look at their elite benefits just in case :P