Alaska Airlines will become a full member of the Oneworld alliance from Wednesday 31 March 2021.
The airline had planned to join the alliance from late 2020, but this has been postponed.
This means that members of Oneworld alliance frequent flyer programmes will benefit from full frequent flyer recognition when flying on Alaska Airlines and vice versa.
This includes additional baggage allowances, access to priority check-in facilities, departure lounges, priority boarding (where it is now offered!) and earning of Avios/miles and tier points/status credits. Though, it will be some time before Oneworld frequent flyers in Europe can benefit from this in practice as it is unlikely that travel restrictions to the US will be fully lifted before March 2021.
British Airways already has a codeshare partnership with Alaska Airlines and places its code on a number of Alaska Airlines routes from the US West Coast to Hawaii and other destinations in North America.
It currently possible for members of the BA Executive Club to earn and redeem Avios on Alaska Airlines. Alaska joining Oneworld should lead to further co-operation between Alaska Airlines and BA and other IAG member airlines.
Alaska Airlines has expanded significantly in recent years following its purchase of Virgin America. The Alaska Airlines website has a full route map as well as details of recent and forthcoming new routes.
The latest on Alaska Airlines’ plans to join Oneworld are also available on its website.