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Contrary to previous announcements, Alaska Airlines will not be joining the Oneworld alliance this year. As recently as July, the stated intention was to complete the process by the end of 2020, but this has been postponed for unknown reasons.

Alaska Airlines will not join Oneworld until 2021

As things stand, Alaska will now join the Oneworld alliance in the first quarter of 2021.

In July this year, Alaska received the official invitation to join Oneworld. Alaska wanted the process to be completed as quickly as possible, given its existing cooperation with American Airlines, British Airways , Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Finnair and Japan Airlines.

In particular, Alaska Airlines is already working intensively with American Airlines. At Seattle airport (a key Alaska hub), American is extending its network considerably and now flies internationally to London, Bangalore and Shanghai.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

If you are wondering why you should care about an airline that is focused predominantly on the US west coast, the answer is Alaska’s loyalty programme: Mileage Plan.

Alaska Mileage Plan offers a number of truly great miles redemption sweetspots. However, the big question is whether these will be preserved when Alaska becomes a full Oneworld member. At the moment, Alaska has a separate award table for each partner airline, but we can only guess whether it will continue to do so. It is also questionable whether Alaska Airlines will still offer redemptions with non-Oneworld airlines.

Image Credits: Alaska Airlines