A usually reliable DL employee that posts periodically on the DL board mentions that HA is in the process of joining SkyTeam. Anyone here on the HA board got any info on that?

Makes sense, what with CO and NW joining DL and the other 8 SkyTeam airlines, SkyTeam would love to have HA rounding out their routes.

Sounds like HA may have other surprises/irons-in-the-fire in store for us in the future as well!

The only thing certain in the airline business is uncertainty.

I wouldn't bet on it.

Didn't HA sever FF ties with one or more of the skyteam airlines in the last 5 years?

Love is better the second time around!

But HA did recently expand partnerships with NW/CO in the last few years. I wouldn't be surprised if HA joins the SkyScream network. What will this all mean? Well SkyTeam elites will have access to preferred seating on HA and the priority lines. It's a give and take though since HA elites will have these bennies on all the SkyScream carriers.

If NW falls to Delta, HA joining the SkyScream mix seems almost certain since Delta has no current alliance with an interisland airline. There would also be the huge question as to what will happen to the HA-AA agreement.

As a NW flyer, HA joining the SkyScream mix would be a lovely benefit.

Edit: I take it back, Delta and HA recently announced (or TBA) an agreement. See: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=794668

That throws more weight on HA joining SkyScream...

I wonder how reciprocal lounge access would work. Not so well, I imagine..

Probably not. But luckily the SkyTeam benefit is that only those designated as SkyTeam Elite + (on most carriers, the highest level attainable; e.g., Plat) are allowed access to lounges while traveling on international itineraries. So it's not like the masses of SkyTeam elites would be filling the HA lounges or vice versa.

I'm sure they will be suitably impressed with our pretzels and fruit punch!

That's what all the UA elites are enjoying right now over at the AQ lounges.

except for the CO/NW/DL reciprocal lounge access for all members of all 3...

That's when you purchase a lounge membership. We're talking about lounge benefits that come from simply being a SkyTeam elite member. See above.

Just because HA joins SkyTeam, doesn't mean HA will have a reciprocal membership agreement for CO/NW/DL lounge members.

if true, this would be much welcome news for CO flyers who go to west coast destinations and LAS...we won't need to go to a main hub first (i.e. LAX) in order to get to say SAN, SMF, LAS, SJC, etc. i hope it pulls through. i think it's a win-win for both the airline and the alliance.

Checking out the HA website it currently shows Delta as a partner which is news to me from 3 - 4 weeks ago. I have a R/T flight on Delta booked for 4/8 returning 4/13 and when I booked it I was bummed that I couldn't get a partner flight from SMF to SLC, well it looks like things have change half way.

The HA website shows this partnership but Delta has not reciprocated. Anyone know what gives?? I'll check the Delta board also...

Very interesting. As DL awards seem so hard to book(availbility wise), I'd probably credit all mileage to hawaiian, where awards are easy to book.

As a DL FF, I can echo what Ripper says. DL awards are not only hard to get, but showing signs of getting even harder and costlier in terms of miles. Check out the DL forum for a lot of grousing about this. I still hope this partnership comes to fruition because I would love to get HA miles for those DL flights for which I can't seem to find viable alternatives for business travel.

Other than the pending (?) arrangement with DL , what other redemption options does HA offer for the Central and Eastern US mainland? It won't do me as much good if I can only get HA awards as far as their own destinations since over half of my travel is beyond the Western US. Unlike most Hawaii residents, I have no interest whatsoever in going to Vegas, which seems to be the most value for your FF miles on HA. It would make me sooooo happy if HA would use some of their new airbusses to go places like DFW, EWR, ATL, IAD, etc, but breaking into legacy fortress hubs might be hard.