Glass half empty person?Assuming DOJ blesses HA deal in early August, not unreasonable to expect it to close shortly thereafter. VX deal closed Dec. 14, 2016, reciprocal benefits started 5 days later, VX reward program merge started on January 9.

Starting Monday, December 19, Mileage Plan members will be able to earn miles on Virgin America flights, and Virgin America Elevate members will be able to earn points on Alaska Airlines flights. Both airlines' elite members will receive priority check-in and priority boarding on each other's flights.

Additionally, starting Dec.19, customers will be able to purchase Virgin America tickets at alaskaair.com. Tickets will continue to be available for sale at virginamerica.com for the immediate future.

Beginning January 9, Virgin America Elevate members will be invited by Alaska Airlines to activate new Mileage Plan accounts. This will allow them to also earn Mileage Plan miles when flying with Alaska and any of Alaska's Global Partners to over 800 destinations worldwide. Alaska Global Partners account for 44 percent of all international airline seats flown to and from the U.S. – more than any of the big three airline alliances – and offer more than three times the worldwide destinations that Virgin America frequent fliers currently have access to.
Alaska has already announced its intention to end HawaiianMiles, should move MUCH faster now that AS is part of OW, systems have advanced significantly in the past 8 years.

If I am not mistaken, some VX members have yet to have travel credited to their MP million-mile counter, reasonable to expect some bumps in the road.