In September 2024, Alaska Airlines’ takeover of Hawaiian Airlines officially closed. While Hawaiian Airlines is now part of Alaska Air Group, the two airlines are still on separate operating certificates. For that matter, the two airlines plan to keep their independent branding in the long run, with all flights to & from Hawaii getting Hawaiian branding, and all other flights getting Alaska branding.
We’ve known that Hawaiian Airlines plans to join the oneworld alliance, though the timeline has been up in the air a bit. Fortunately there’s some positive news, as we’re getting more of a sense of when this will happen.
In this post:
The plan for Hawaiian Airlines to join oneworld alliance
Hawaiian Airlines is expected to formally join the oneworld alliance in the spring of 2026, roughly coinciding with the two airlines reaching a single passenger service system. Unfortunately we don’t have an exact timeline beyond that, though it sounds like it should be in the first half of 2026.
That means that the oneworld alliance will be gaining yet another member airline. Both Fiji Airways and Oman Air have joined the oneworld alliance in recent months, and we know that Starlux Airlines wants to join oneworld, but it remains to be seen if it will be accepted (given the airlines that have veto rights).
It’s nice to see a bit of action at one of the global alliances, as we haven’t otherwise seen much of that in recent times.
I imagine that ideally the timeline will coincide with Alaska formally taking over Hawaiian’s Boeing 787s, in terms of branding, since these planes are being used for the carrier’s global expansion from Seattle (SEA).
What are the practical implications of this anyway?
Alaska and Hawaiian’s integration is a gradual process, though the two brands are making great progress. At this point we’ve seen the launch of the Atmos Rewards loyalty program, which is the combined loyalty program of the two brands.
That means that those who have historically been Hawaiian flyers are getting status with Atmos Rewards anyway, and the program participates in the oneworld alliance. In other words, those who have historically been loyal to Hawaiian can receive oneworld Sapphire and oneworld Emerald elite perks, including lounge access.
When Hawaiian joins the oneworld alliance, the biggest implications will be for those who are loyal to other oneworld frequent flyer programs. They’ll then be able to earn and redeem points, as well as take advantage of elite perks, for travel on Hawaiian branded flights. Admittedly some oneworld airlines already partner with Hawaiian, but this will definitely streamline things.
Bottom line
Alaska Airlines acquired Hawaiian Airlines in the fall of 2024. We’ve known that the plan was for Hawaiian to eventually join the oneworld alliance, but we’re now getting a better sense of when that will happen. The plan is for Hawaiian to join in the spring of 2026, which will also be an important time for Hawaiian in terms of its global growth.
The biggest implications of Hawaiian joining oneworld will be for those who are loyal to other oneworld programs, given that Hawaiian already participates in the Atmos Rewards program (which “belongs” to oneworld, for all practical purposes).
What do you make of Hawaiian joining oneworld?
ONT-HNL is branded as AS. Changed a few months back.
I cannot wait! I know no one else will care, but I finally get to use American lounge passes at HNL when flying Hawaiian. I know, nothing to be really excited about, but it's usually at least pretty empty and quiet, and they have food, though that's as good as it gets. And I mainly fly Hawaiian, even the HNL American/JAL lounge is arguably an upgrade.
This solidifies oneworld over SkyTeam for non-US based flyers. Yes, Hawaii is that awesome! Delta will lose connecting traffic.
@Hula Girl I'm not sure what you're excited about. Delta flies to Hawaii from most of its US international hubs (except Boston).
Yeah, oneworld has just become extremely attractive because it'll have a couple of hubs in an overpriced tourist destination in the middle of the Pacific while it continues to offer nothing in Africa (southernmost hub: CMN), Central/South America or domestically within basically any large country other than the USA (of the 16 countries with population exceeding 100m, *A has members in 6, ST in 5, and oneworld in just two). Seems legit.
I count 3 (US, China, Japan). But there are a to of countries below that arbitrary cutoff that people love to fly to like UK, Australia, Spain and others. But go ahead and try and recruit airline members in Pakistan, Bangledesh, and Russia because they have large populations (Oneworld had Russia representation which is currently suspended to the war).
CX are a fine carrier, of course, but there's no oneworld carrier operating domestic flights in China. You risk needing to cross the border if flying via HKG- not easy for foreigners with a single-entry visa!
The rest of your examples are bordering on preposterous. If SriLankan Airlines are good enough for a global alliance (though, as in the case of Rwandair aspiring to join oneworld, I am not totally convinced they'd be good enough...
CX are a fine carrier, of course, but there's no oneworld carrier operating domestic flights in China. You risk needing to cross the border if flying via HKG- not easy for foreigners with a single-entry visa!
The rest of your examples are bordering on preposterous. If SriLankan Airlines are good enough for a global alliance (though, as in the case of Rwandair aspiring to join oneworld, I am not totally convinced they'd be good enough to join any alliance other than their current one), Biman Bangladesh should be good enough too and also add an equivalent amount of connectivity to a fast-growing region.
Australia is a small country and receives less than a quarter of the annual visitors that Greece gets, so it couldn't be any less relevant for domestic/regional travelling (not that its location helps with intercontinental connections).
Depending on definition of 'domestic', a huge proportion of those journeys in Spain- basically everything other than the Balearics- are either better done by train (especially from/to Madrid) or covered by TAP etc (BCN-MAD-VGO isn't any more convenient than BCN-LIS-VGO and there's no border crossing). KLM alone have more UK destinations than all of oneworld put together - indeed BA don't even fly to the country's second city.
Yep - you are correct. BA doesn't fly anywhere really. And Qantas, BA and Iberia are indeed preposterous since they are really small airlines that operate out of minuscule countries.
Just depends where you are.
From my Australian vantage point, this is great. We've gone from 2 to 5 transpacific carriers in OW just in the last two years. But we're not exactly a massive market and I can't imagine any other global region other than Australia/Oceania to/from North America where HA joining OW means much of anything.
SkyTeam might as well not exist down here, and I doubt HA joining OW won't mean too much anywhere where SkyTeam does.
Oneworld absolutely is the best alliance for Australia-based travellers as you don't have a convenient option of using hubs in nearby countries (like the UK with KLM, Spain with TAP/LH Group, Malaysia with GA/SQ/TG/VN etc).