Alaska Airlines is considering joining the Oneworld Alliance dominated by American Airlines, British Airways, and Qantas, though likely not as a full-fledged member. Alaska is among the only larger North American airlines not tied to one of the three major global alliances.
The news was revealed yesterday. “There’s a Oneworld Connect membership that we’re looking it,” chief commercial officer Andrew Harrison told analysts. “The whole goal here is to ensure that when people in the cities we serve travel internationally they are on our partners so they stay in our program.”
Alaska would become the alliance’s second “Oneworld Connect” member, along with Fiji Airways, which joined in June. On a “Connect” airline, passengers with Oneworld elite status receive some, but not all, perks they’re accustomed to.
Skift reports that in addition to possibly joining the alliance as a ‘Connect’ member, Alaska soon plans to sell tickets for some of its global partner airline on its website, so a customer in Los Angeles might buy a Qantas fare on alaskaair.com.
