One of the things that I love about Alaska Airlines is that they partner with a unique array of airlines. They're not part of any global alliance, and have plenty of airline partners that belong to alliances, and also partners that don't belong to alliances. Unlike the "big three" US carriers, they're also not anti-Gulf…
Continue reading: Could An Alaska & Air Italy Partnership Be On The Horizon?
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it would make no difference frankly if AS & IG announced a FFP-partnership : it would still take years for AS to implement it (I mean, it's been two years for SQ already, and they then have to get to LY)
I wonder if this is a first step towards a partnership with Qatar. Given how expensive it is to redeem Alaska miles for Emirates flights and Qatar's vulnerability due to the ongoing embargo, this would be the perfect time to drop Emirates and switch to Qatar.
Perhaps JetBlue at JFK? Miami won't work for partnerships because of AA, as you know by being a hub captive there 😉
Armando is spot on. Alaska is good at announcing partnerships, but not so good at actually effectuating them. Alaska and Singapore may be good airlines in their own right but it’s ridiculous and embarrassing that they cannot complete their partnership after nearly two years. Alaska just takes the good PR from the announcement and then doesn’t follow through for the benefit of its loyalty members. Poor leadership. Poor execution.
Agree with SEAguy and Armando - on top of the long implementation process Alaska has with its partners to allow AS mileage redemptions, they have had to suspend Icelandair redemptions indefinitely and for the past three weeks Korean Air redemptions have been impossible to book (despite the fact they show award space if you search for an itinerary). Their (amazing) customer service reps acknowledge there is no timeline for fixing either. Alaska miles are still some of the best mileage currency out there but it seems like management is testing the patience of the frequent flyers they ought to be most concerned with retaining now that Delta (and others) are competing to woo former VX passengers away.
Did anyone else laugh at the title because Alaska’s regional carrier is Horizon and he said “Could an Alaska and Air Italy partnership be on the HORIZON” Or was it just me? Lol
Yes, could be a nice option but still waiting on Aer Lingus and Singapore to mature and finalize
Why is it that everyone is bashing Alaska for slow maturation of any partnership. There are 2 people in that dance. And when was the last time you partnered your multi level billion dollar company with another multi level billion dollar company, how long did that take to fully flush out?
If you're not against the gulf carriers then you're simply ignoring what's right for personally gain. If they want to be government run and government funded, they should pull out of the Open Skies agreement. It's pretty clear they're breaking the Open Skies rules. The only reason that JetBlue and Alaska don't join the fight is because they don't compete with them, and in some cases, benefit from them.
I think Alaska should first completely implement the features of its existing partnerships before it launching into new ones. It took Alaska way too long to do this for FinnAir. Now Aer Lingus sounded like a great option, but you can't yet redeem Alaska miles on Aer Lingus. Alaska partnerships are like United Polaris.
Agree with most above. While international redemption options are drying up, AS has yet to implement any new options available from their “recent” partnerships.