Alaska Airlines and American Airlines have signed off on a new West Coast International Alliance, along with an announcement that Alaska will join the Oneworld alliance, in which American is one of the main players.
The move to Oneworld is a major shift for Alaska, which has rejected joining any of the alliances, and has instead pursued one-to-one ties with a variety of airlines, many of them competing with each other. What will become of those ties is so far unclear, but what is clear is that American and Alaska plan to be very tight. Ironically, only a few months ago, the two were scaling back their relationship.
The two already have extensive codeshare arrangements; that will be expanded so that American can take advantage of Alaska’s dense West Coast networks, and Alaska will be able to seamlessly route passengers over AA’s international services. As part of the deal, American will make Alaska’s Seattle home an international gateway, with new routes to London and to Bangalore, India.
There will also be arrangements to allow both airlines’ loyalty members to earn and spend points on the other’s flights and to have elite status matched. Alaska’s joining Oneworld won’t be immediate; there are arrangements to be made and approval by the other alliance members, likely automatic, is needed. The target date is Summer 2021.
