Alaska Airlines and American Airlines announced an in-depth partnership back in February that would also see the Seattle-based airline to join the Oneworld Alliance.
The joining date was first set as the summer of 2021 and later moved to the end of 2020. Alaska has now confirmed that the airline will join the alliance on March 31, 2021.
You can access Alaska’s page for the announcement here.
Alaska Airlines states that it continues partnerships with airlines that are not part of Oneworld if mutually beneficial.
Alaska Airlines already has a frequent flier partnership with the following Oneworld airlines:
- American Airlines
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Fiji Airways – Oneworld Partner
- Finnair
- Japan Airlines
- Qantas
Other Airline Partners:
- Aer Lingus (owned by IAG)
- Condor
- EL AL
- Emirates
- Hainan Airlines
- Icelandair
- Korean Air – SkyTeam
- LATAM – exited Oneworld
- Singapore Airlines – Star Alliance
Conclusion
Over the years, Alaska has had a very eclectic mix of airline partners, including AeroMexico, Delta, Air France, and KLM (all part of SkyTeam and all gone now). I wish that they would keep the non-alliance partners such as Emirates and Condor that truly enriches the program.
The joining of an alliance is usually a process that takes a couple of years. Still, it helps that Alaska is a well-established airline with partnerships with half of the Oneworld airlines already in place.
It is interesting to see what changes the Mileage Plan might make to earning and redeeming miles on its partner airlines.
Right now, you are not allowed to mix airlines when redeeming awards; that is usually allowed with most other programs and definitely within Oneworld.
Will a status match to Alaska’s mileage plan ( I have status at Star Alliance airline), done before or after the One World alliance join date make a difference for this case, and if so how?