Alaska Airlines To Join the Oneworld Alliance

It was a while ago that I last wrote about Alaska Airlines. I had promoted this as a backup program to for anyone who flew and collected miles on Star Alliance-based programs (I have since flirted with Asiana, United, and now Air Canada). 

I had written a post about the flexibility of Alaska Airlines, and about the benefits of "going at it alone." Back then (~2013), they were partners with numerous Skyteam members (KLM, Air France, Delta, Aeromexico, and Korean Airlines) as well as Oneworld members (American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and British Airways). They had absolutely no Star Alliance members. What a perfect complement for those who don't normally fly on Skyteam or Oneworld member airlines with regularity, but don't actually want to lose out on any miles that could potentially be earned?

Something that was also unique was that all airline partners counted towards status for Alaska Airlines. This, of course, was not a big deal given that the benefits of status were only really for travel on Alaska Airlines, and Alaska Airlines had a minuscule footprint compared to its partners.

Then there were some changes that weren't so good
Delta started to encroach upon Alaska's Seattle hub and began to compete with Alaska. Finally, in 2017, Delta and Alaska severed their relationship: they were no longer code-sharing, and there were no longer reciprocal mileage earning benefits.

In 201, American Airlines had taken steps to do something similar. Reciprocal elite benefits were taken away (waived checked baggage fees, priority boarding, preferred seats). Members could no longer earn miles on domestic flights that were not under a code-share agreement). In October 2019, more changes were announced: Alaska Mileage Plan members could no longer earn or redeem on American Airlines' flights and vice versa except for on code-share flights after March 2020.

And then something big happened 

On February 13, 2020, Alaska announced that it had full intention of joining the Oneworld alliance. This was a complete reversal of the cuts made to its current Oneworld world partner, American Airlines.


Some of the notable pieces of this release are that:

• Effective immediately, one can redeem points again on all American Airline flights, and use the AAdmirals club from American Airlines
• Effective in Spring 2020, one can earn points again on all American Airlines flights
• Effective in Summer 2021, Alaska can earn and redeem on all Oneworld partner airlines, and elite members will have full reciprocal benefits within the Oneworld partner airlines. 

What it doesn't say (but seems obvious to me), is that once Alaska enters into the Oneworld alliance, its relationships with the other "global member airlines" will likely have to cease. This means that it will likely no longer be a good backup for those who are occasional flyers with Skyteam airlines. And of course, people will be comparing why one would want to choose American over Alaska when it comes to crediting points from flights. One will need to understand

• points earning ratios
• changes to mileage requirements for earning status
• changes to minimum spend requirements (currently Alaska does not have any whereas American does)
• changes to redemption costs 

More details to be released soon, we hope.

alaska adds more elite qualifying mile partners

i wrote about alaska airline's mileage plan program in the past. i touted it as a great backup program to credit all the otherwise orphaned oneworld and skyteam points. for my own personal case, all of my star alliance flights are credited to asiana airlines, whereas all of the accidental oneworld or skyteam partners would be credited to alaska airlines.

according to their website, and discussed online, beginning january 15th, all international partners will now offer elite qualifying miles, not just regular miles. this means that the journey to status on alaska airlines just got a little bit easier.

of course, the benefits of status are limited on a smaller airline. the benefits are the greatest for alaska airlines itself (complimentary upgrades, lounge access, priority boarding, luggage allowances). the benefits on delta airlines as an alaska elite are less generous (priority boarding, extra luggage allowances, limited complimentary upgrades). the benefits are even less on american airlines (priority boarding, luggage allowances, access to main cabin extra). there are no additional benefits on the other airline partners).

but all this being said, some status is better than no status at all.

alaska airlines as a helpful backup program

my friend was recently looking at booking a flight on klm / delta for their upcoming trip to tanzania. he's a star alliance kind of guy, and so flying skyteam seemed to be just out of character. what does one do in this case? certainly, i try to consolidate all of my flying onto one alliance so as to achieve status within a particular program. even if i didn't earn any status, i would still try to consolidate my points into a single program so that i could redeem for actual flights. a few hundred miles here and there in different programs are useless -- they're very much appropriately called orphan miles. in my friend's case, he consolidated absolutely everything into air canada's aeroplan.

so what does one do if you have to book onto skyteam partners? my practice has been to create an account with each of the alliances to credit points there. i currently have accounts with american airlines (AA, oneworld) and delta (DL, skyteam) so that i can credit those miles there. it's helpful because these points don't expire (as long as there is activity within 18 months for AA, and in the case of DL, miles do not expire). if i didn't have a whole bunch of miles on AA, i would definitely be looking into alaska airlines (AS).

AS has a very similar mileage earning and spending rate (aka earn and burn rate, respectively) as what you would expect on the other major north american airlines. but here are some of the benefits of consolidating your points into the alaska mileage plan:

1. AS partners with many airlines within different alliances without being in a major alliance itself.
• star alliance partners: nil
• oneworld: american airlines, cathay pacific, british airways, lan, quantas
• skyteam: delta airlines, korean airlines, klm, air france
• other: air pacific, era alaska, pen air (alaska), iceland air (partnership ending june 30, 2013)
2. earning elite status
• miles earned from AA and DL count towards status on alaska (and, for that matter, flights earned on alaska count as status miles on AA and DL). 
• benefits of mvp status (their elite tiers) will allow for some benefits on AA and DL. this includes checked baggage fee waivers, pre-boarding, and in the case of DL, upgrades.
3. miles don't expire as long as you have activity every 24 months
4. it's not that difficult to earn miles on actual alaska airline flights as a canadian
• alaska focuses on vancouver as a focus canadian city. they do this by having multiple flights departing from bellingham, a mere hour's drive away from vancouver. no other legacy airline flies out of bellingham.

once i deplete my AA points, i will open up an AS account as a part of my mileage strategy. star alliance partners will still be credited towards asiana airlines. partners of alaska will be credited to alaska. skyteam or oneworld partners who aren't credited to alaska will be credited as orphan miles to AA or DL. i don't expect much to happen as i rarely fly outside the star alliance, but just in case, it's nice to make sure that no mile goes to waste.