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Alaska Airlines to join One World Alliance in 2021
A few days ago Alaska Airlines rocked the aviation industry by dropping some incredible news: They were going to join the One World Alliance next year. As someone who maintains Alaska Elite status, I was beyond excited. It’s been rumored for quite some time that they were seeking to join the alliance that includes AA, BA, CX, JAL, etc as members, but most thought it would via One World Connect. The fact that Alaska is going to be a full fledged member starting next year is fantastic.
What is the One World Alliance?
One World Alliance is a network of 13 airlines partnered to make life a bit easier on frequent fliers. Elite status, member benefits, etc are extended to each partner even if your status was achieved on another member airline. Here’s a look at the current partner list:
Alaska Airlines and American Airlines amend their relationship
I began my loyalty with Alaska Airlines in 2017 as a top tier MVPG75k after I status matched my AA Executive Platinum status. At that time, Alaska was partners with both AA and Delta domestically, but each and every year since, the domestic partnerships have deteriorated.
This year the plan between AA and Alaska was to eliminate any domestic earn on partner flights. This was a major hit to fliers like me who had been booking AA flights via Alaska’s website in order to continue to earn miles. The one way I was planning to still maintain status was via their incredible partnership with British Airways.
That all just changed.
Starting quite soon, Spring 2020, the partnership between Alaska and American will be changing.
- Loyalists of both airlines will enjoy benefits across each airline
- Elite status reciprocity
- Lounge access to nearly 50 AA Admirals Club lounges and 7 Alaska Lounges
- Earn redeemable miles and elite miles on each others airlines.
Soon…you’ll be able to once again earn Alaska miles on AA flights – like this transcontinental lie flat business class.
Will Alaska Airlines still credit one mile for each mile flown?
Yes, long story short, Alaska has committed to the one mile earned for one mile flown strategy.
Will Alaska Airlines keep its ex-One World partners?
This is still to be resolved. Alaska has an incredible list of partners outside of One World including Emirates, El Al, Aer Lingus, Singapore Airlines, Hainan, Korean Air, Iceland Airlines, etc.
It would be an absolute shame to see many of these options go away, but your guess is as good as mine as to whether they’ll be permitted to keep many of them. I’d say it would be far easier to keep Emirates vs Korean or Singapore seeing as though Emirates is stand alone and the other two are stalwart members of other alliances.
The Timeline Overall
- Alaska Airlines intends to join the oneworld® alliance in the summer 2021
- October 2020, American will launch the first service from Seattle (SEA) to Bangalore, India (BLR)
- March 2021, AA will service London via Seattle as well
- Alaska and American loyalty members will enjoy benefits across both airlines, including the ability to earn and use miles on both airlines’ full networks, elite status reciprocity and lounge access to nearly 50 American Admirals Club lounges worldwide and seven Alaska Lounges in the U.S.
Will Alaska Airlines Devalue their program?
I think this is the question that we’re all wondering, and no one really knows the answer.
Starting in a couple of months I think Alaska will start analyzing how many people are booking AA flights, but crediting to Alaska. Alaska’s chart is far more advantageous for redemptions than you’d find with AA, and I think many question whether Alaska can sustain the current chart without incurring significant loss. Time will tell, but my hope is that any devaluation that is implemented is done in a mindful and communicative way.
Overall:
I think this is absolutely MASSIVE news, and very welcomed in this Alaska household. It will certainly adjust my strategy for 2020 and beyond, but I’m very excited to see what sort of perks Alaska Elites end up enjoying on other airlines, and fingers crossed these earn rates stay in place for the foreseeable future.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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