Hawaiian Airlines to Join Oneworld Alliance

Hawaiian Airlines has announced that it will merge with Alaska Airlines, a Oneworld member based in Seattle.

As part of this merger, Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines will retain separate brand identities. However, in good news for frequent flyers, Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines will share a combined loyalty program – most likely the existing Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program, or a variation of that. Hawaiian Airlines also intends to join the Oneworld alliance.

This is what Alaska Airlines said about the increased loyalty program benefits coming:

The transaction will connect Hawaiian Airlines’ loyalty members with enhanced benefits through an industry-leading loyalty program for the combined airline, including the ability to earn and redeem miles on 29 global partners and receive elite benefits on the full complement of oneworld Alliance airlines, expanded global lounge access and benefits of the combined program’s co-brand credit card.

Alaska Airlines joined the Oneworld alliance in 2021. Hawaiian Airlines would become the third US airline to be part of the alliance, along with Alaska and founding member American Airlines.

This arrangement could work similarly to the relationship between Air France and KLM. Both airlines merged to become part of the Air France-KLM Group, are both part of the SkyTeam alliance and share the same loyalty program, Flying Blue. But both airlines have retained separate brand identities and continue to be run as independent (but complementary) airlines.

What could this all mean for frequent flyers?

For HawaiianMiles members, this is epic news. Hawaiian Airlines will continue to serve the destinations it currently does, but HawaiianMiles members will soon receive reciprocal loyalty benefits on way more airlines than they currently do.

In its current form, HawaiianMiles is a fairly niche loyalty program. But it is still useful to Australians because you can transfer points from Amex Membership Rewards into HawaiianMiles and redeem for almost any seat on any Hawaiian Airlines flight.

When Hawaiian Airlines joins Oneworld, you’ll also be able to earn and redeem Qantas points for Hawaiian Airlines flights. However, on the downside, this could result in much greater competition for Hawaiian Airlines award seats – reducing award availability overall.

Qantas and Oneworld frequent flyers would also receive reciprocal Oneworld Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald loyalty benefits on Hawaiian Airlines.

It’s not yet clear whether Velocity Frequent Flyer would retain its partnership with Hawaiian Airlines, but it is possible. It would not be unprecedented for an overseas airline to partner with both Qantas and Virgin Australia, as Qatar Airways does (and Airberlin did in the past).

What happens next?

The boards of both Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines have approved the merger. However, Hawaiian Airlines shareholders still need to vote on this.

As shareholders are being offered a generous sale price, this is unlikely to be a major roadblock. But the merger also requires US government approval – something that could be significantly harder to get. There is every possibility that the merger will be approved, however US competition regulators have shown reluctance to approve airline mergers in recent years if they believe they could substantially reduce competition.

The airlines expect the merger process to take around 12-18 months. In the meantime, it’s still business as usual for both airlines and their loyalty programs.

Alaska Airlines already merged with Virgin America

Alaska Airlines merged with Virgin America during the last decade. That merger was different because the Virgin America brand was absorbed into Alaska Airlines. Virgin America no longer exists as a separate airline.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.