Alaska Airlines and Finnair announce frequent flyer partnership
#33
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: SEA/ORD/ADB
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One of which is LH, which is what the OP I am responding to was asking about.
Could SQ partner with AS like they did with VX? Maybe. But that doesn't do much to help with Europe. I doubt LH Group is inclined to stick a knife in UA's back given their TATL JV. They don't really need a USA partner.
Could SQ partner with AS like they did with VX? Maybe. But that doesn't do much to help with Europe. I doubt LH Group is inclined to stick a knife in UA's back given their TATL JV. They don't really need a USA partner.
It is far from inconceivable that AS could start picking up some *A partners.
#34
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
Many of those carriers compete closely against current AS partners--i.e., SQ vs. CX; OZ vs. KE; SK vs. AY; maybe even CA vs. HU and TK/AI vs. EK? Not that AS doesn't have a history of partnering with, say, AA and DL simultaneously, so maybe that's not such a big deal. More importantly, though: OZ is the only one serving SEA, TP doesn't even fly to the west coast, and the ones that fly to SFO and LAX already have a whole bunch of UA feed.
#35
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
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Finnair is one of the eight carriers searched for awards on aa.com. (There are about 15 which are call-to-book only.) AAdvantage members are already looking at AY's TATL seats. AY award availability will be no better than AA for AS flyers.
#36
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SIN
Programs: KF, MPC, BAEC // Bonvoy, WoH, Honors
Posts: 1,461
Could anyone clarify what the "Additional Bonus" means in the earning chart? I have a long-haul booking in J on Finnair soon and would rather earn 300% (100% base miles + 100% class of service + 100% "additional bonus) to Alaska than 100-125% to BA/CX, but it is unclear if the additional bonus only applies to e.g. status holders?
#37
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
Could anyone clarify what the "Additional Bonus" means in the earning chart? I have a long-haul booking in J on Finnair soon and would rather earn 300% (100% base miles + 100% class of service + 100% "additional bonus) to Alaska than 100-125% to BA/CX, but it is unclear if the additional bonus only applies to e.g. status holders?
#38
#39
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SIN
Programs: KF, MPC, BAEC // Bonvoy, WoH, Honors
Posts: 1,461
Thanks for confirming. I have no status with Alaska anyway but am purchasing miles quite frequently to redeem on some of the sweet spot routes in their award chart. 300% redeemable miles on longhaul (~13k miles return) J is incredible value, considering the earn rate is only 100-125% to most Oneworld partners on the same route.
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
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Thanks for confirming. I have no status with Alaska anyway but am purchasing miles quite frequently to redeem on some of the sweet spot routes in their award chart. 300% redeemable miles on longhaul (~13k miles return) J is incredible value, considering the earn rate is only 100-125% to most Oneworld partners on the same route.
#41
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: YYF/YLW
Programs: AA, DL, AS, VA, WS Silver
Posts: 5,950
While I would like to see AS join OW for the reciprocal elite benefits, I disagree that it was obvious and that it's only a matter of time before another OW carrier becomes a partner (unless they do actually join). JL, the only other recent OW-aligned addition, flies to LAX, SFO, and SAN, all airports where AS has significant presence (particularly since the VX acquisition), as well as YVR. AY is only just not launching seasonal, thrice-weekly SFO service. And S7, UL, and MH don't even fly anywhere in North America.
AS has added lots of partners over the last few years (both oneworld members and not), but it's generally been around the time the new partner introduces or expands service to an AS hub. AS doesn't have any partners which don't serve at least one of AS's hubs, and I don't see any reason to see that changing. With AS's award limitations (particularly the inability to combine multiple partners on one award) and the focus on getting passengers from North America to other parts of the world with awards, adding a partner which doesn't serve an AS hub doesn't make much sense. And it also doesn't make obvious sense from the partner's point of view: why would MH (for example) care about adding AS as a partner when AS doesn't help feed any of MH's flights?
IB is the oneworld partner whose absence from AS's partner list is most glaring, particularly given their corporate ties to BA and joint venture ties to AA. But again, they have quite limited service to the west coast; from Wikipedia, it looks like they do have seasonal LAX service. But AS (even with VX) doesn't offer much feed out of LAX that their joint venture partner AA doesn't offer, so it's not clear to me that they have much incentive to route feed from a partner where they share all revenue (AA) to one where they don't (AS). AY is a bit different now because AS/VX does provide significant SFO feed that AA can't provide.
Adding two oneworld members as partners combined with the loss of DL does, I would think, at least increase the probability that AS joins oneworld (at which point they would become partners with all oneworld members). But an increase in probability doesn't make it likely.
#44
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: YYF/YLW
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#45
Join Date: Sep 2008
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Posts: 4,026
with all the mergers, airlines have tighten the domestic space that are given to other airlines for the purpose of interlining. so it makes sense for airlines to partner with as if as is willing. i was reading that ua doesnt give many space sq after all the consolidation..
i still remembee the day cz would sell a cheap ticket btv asia with north american portion on co to lax.
i still remembee the day cz would sell a cheap ticket btv asia with north american portion on co to lax.