No Surprise: Hawaiian & JetBlue Ending Loyalty Partnership

the real "hmmm" will happen when AS starts thinning its list of partners down to oneworld partners.
They, like AS, have slapped anyone and everyone's code on their flights and now realize that doing so might actually hurt their inability to start their own international service.

I think your comment about Alaska buying JetBlue down the line is spot on

Whenever it becomes clear that regulators would approve such a merger, I think they should go for it. Especially now that it's not clear what the future of Southwest is, I wonder if a combined Alaska/JetBlue/Hawaiian could challenge Southwest for the role of top top domestic focused airline in the US.

There are more than a few omaat commenters who can probably say quite quickly to what extent they combined Alaska/ jetblue/ Hawaiian could realistically challenge Southwest, so hopefully they'll chime in here. Perhaps, it's not only about challenging Southwest, but they could even cause headaches for the big three as well.

I would also think that a combined JetBlue/ Alaska/ Hawaiian would have a better shot of being able to profitably fly Hawaiians wide-body planes

Alaska acquiring JetBlue would actually make sense and they have mostly different bases so they couldn’t claim it creates overlap. They both offer a strong product as well

“Project Barbell”

Oh heck no. Another 'Project Barbell' is definitely not what AS HA needs.

Those who do not study history are condemned to repeat it.

there aren't a whole lot of choices left if AS wants to grow to be a true nationwide carrier anytime in the next 25 years.

Not happening. United-Jetblue will ending up being as one together.

It's not going to happen, it wouldn't work out very well due to Hawaiian/Alaska being under OneWorld which is mainly controlled by American Airlines. Plus American Airlines is sueing Jetblue for wanting to partner with United Airlines.

Tim, due respect, but this comment doesn't make sense.

There's not enough other oneworld lift at their main SEA hub for AS to cut other partnerships. Non alliance partnerships are also common, as you would know.

Also, B6 codeshares are actually beneficial to their international plans. It provides customers more reason to fly their metal on other international services, and of course maximize revenue.

Alaska is going thru Merger Pains, JetBlue will be United long before Alaska will be ready for another merger

@Drewskl - tl;dr I'm not sure why you think AA wouldn't partner with B6 down the line and full on United JetBlue merger seems unlikely from a regulatory and business standpoint

on the American front:

Air Show podcast they basically said that AA wanted the partnership but wouldn't implement Paisley. I don't think that AA would be opposed to working with JetBlue in the future and certainly wouldn't be opposed to having a larger domestic partner to take on UA and DL

On the United front:

It's highly questionable whether a UA/B6 merger would be approved and if it was approved, the combined B6/UA would likely have to give up so many slots at JFK/LGA/EWR that it's hard to imagine the merger would still be worth it. Also beyond JFK, what exactly does UA really want from JetBlue? I don't think they care too much about Boston, a hub in south Florida seems nice but FLL is definitely number 2 in south Florida to MIA. Do they want JetBlue's VFR traffic to the Carribean? Maybe I suppose but I've never seen anyone suggest that.

Meanwhile, Alaska and JetBlue have minimal overlap in terms of their network so would be much more likely to get approved.

The US does not need a 5th nation wide carrier. Should the economy sour, each of these carriers would bleed cash at an alarming rate just to fill seats. Best that AS/HA and B6 ride it out as regional carriers for now. B6 needs UA to sponsor Star membership for long term survival in exchange for the JFK slots. Once granted, B6 can demand a substantial dowry of any suitors.