News from the oneworld / Alaska Airlines press conference

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

As Rob wrote on Thursday, Alaska Airlines is now a full member of the oneworld alliance with full British Airways Executive Club earn-and-burn opportunities.

To mark the occasion a short press conference was held with oneworld and Alaska Airlines CEOs Rob Gurney and Ben Minicucci. There wasn’t a lot of new information but they did have an interesting discussion regarding airline alliances.

Alaska Airlines is second airline to join oneworld recently, following on from Royal Air Maroc which jointed this time last year. This reversed the trend of airlines appearing to favour bilateral partnerships over airline alliances.

With all three major alliances now over 20 years old, the “challenge for [oneworld] is ensuring maturity doesn’t slip into obsolescence” according to Gurney. This is why oneworld announced deeper IT integrations and joint oneworld-branded lounges at its 20th birthday event in 2019.

Minicucci called Alaska’s decision to join oneworld in the midst of a pandemic “contrarian” but both he and Gurney agreed that airlines would be more dependent on alliances moving forward. Reductions in fleet size meant that “the ability to be able to offer a global network is going to be more dependent on partners than anytime before.”

By far the highlight of the evening was the Alaska Airlines Safety Dance, now configured as the ‘oneworld Global Safety Dance’ featuring a lot of awkward middle-aged airline CEOs breaking out their moves.

You’ll notice that British Airways is conspicuously absent from the frivolities …. Sean Doyle managed to dodge a bullet, I think.

oneworld lounges are still on track

oneworld CEO Rob Gurney wasn’t drawn out on the alliance’s lounge plans when I asked him. The first of oneworld’s joint airline lounges will still be Moscow, although the timetable has slipped slightly due to airport development delays.

“Ongoing discussions” continue with other airports and airlines. Could Manchester get a joint oneworld lounge now that British Airways has closed its lounge?

American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways all had long haul flights from the airport pre-covid and Aer Lingus has now joined them. There are also short haul flights on Finnair, Iberia and Vueling. It would make a lot of sense.

Category

oneworld alliance partners

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Liam says:

2 Apr2 April 06:30

There is already a oneworld lounge in the international terminal at LAX. Do any others like this already exist?
- Ed says:
  
  2 Apr2 April 07:02
  
  Technically it’s a Qantas lounge branded as Oneworld- these would be Oneworld operated.
  - Liam says:
    
    2 Apr2 April 16:50
    
    Interesting, I didn’t realise that. Thank you.
Phillip says:

2 Apr2 April 06:51

OW should re-instate checking through luggage when connecting between OW carriers on separate tickets!
- Mouse says:
  
  2 Apr2 April 07:26
  
  Amen to that. Less dancing, more offering useful services to customers.
- John W says:
  
  2 Apr2 April 07:37
  
  100% agree . When they stopped doing this I thought it was crazy decision. One of the main benefits of staying in Cineworld throughout your journey should be checked in luggage to final destination
  - Chrisasaurus says:
    
    2 Apr2 April 09:00
    
    Plus the surround sound and popcorn…
    - AJA says:
      
      2 Apr2 April 09:08
      
      Plus no jetlag. 😀
      - Chas says:
        
        2 Apr2 April 14:25
        
        And films on a much bigger screen with better sound capability…
  - John W says:
    
    3 Apr3 April 09:25
    
    Ha ha ha
    Sorry
DS says:

2 Apr2 April 07:08

When did you get the info. that Moscow would be first?

October 23 2020
“Moscow lounge still en route, but may not arrive first”
https://www.executivetraveller.com/news/oneworld-ceo-lounges-moscow-berlin-alaska
- Rhys says:
  
  2 Apr2 April 09:07
  
  That’s what Rob Gurney said when I asked him on Wednesday!
Mouse says:

2 Apr2 April 07:27

What chance the virgin bonus points won’t be reclaimed after voluntary cancellation? Or will they only be awarded after flying?
- Rhys says:
  
  2 Apr2 April 09:08
  
  Awarded after flying
Amy Carpenter says:

2 Apr2 April 08:21

Don’t get this Virgin bonus thing. Just been doing dummy bookings on Virgin’s website and I get 12K points for an Economy Classic booking yet only 8K on a Prem Economy booking!
Mikeact says:

2 Apr2 April 08:44

As a retired long distance walker, I can thoroughly recommend Alaska particularly if the great outdoors is your thing. Thanks to Alaska I’ve been to remote outlets only accessible with them and stayed and met some really interesting people. It’s obviously not for all, if Dubai or the Caribbean is your annual choice but otherwise it is a fascinating place to visit, particularly using the ferries in combination with flights.
Fraser says:

2 Apr2 April 10:54

You mention Cuba but I thought Virgin only offered that as part of a flight + hotel holiday package. No flights show up when you search and you’re prompted to call instead. Does this mean you cannot redeem miles to Cuba?
- Paul Pogba says:
  
  2 Apr2 April 12:08
  
  I don’t know the detail but few flights to Cuba seem to show up on flight searches. I believe it has something to do with US sanctions. A guess might be that they only sell over the phone so they’re able to verify you’re not a US citizen or to prevent any IT with US integration being involved.
Nick says:

2 Apr2 April 11:11

BA did send someone for the safety dance! Not Sean, clearly, but they weren’t ‘absent’ as you suggest!