Tag Archives for hawaiian airlines.
That play was created by Alaska’s acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, and won’t last. I spoke with Alaska’s Vice President of Loyalty, Alliances, and Sales Brett Catlin about next year’s Mileage Plan program changes, and I took the opportunity to ask about their co-brand credit card relationship going forward, now that Alaska Airlines has acquired Hawaiian.
It’s now possible to consolidate points from various people’s Alaska Airlines frequent flyer accounts for free. Your friends and family may have Alaska miles, and you can move those miles into your account. You might have them sign up for Alaska Airlines credit cards, but you actually want the miles in one place.
Alaska Airlines acquired Hawaiian Airlines last week and promised that points transfers between the two programs would come the same month. And they’re here.
Alaska Airlines is raising $1.5 billion in debt against its Mileage Plan frequent flyer program, which it expects to use in part to pay down the $900 million in Hawaiian Airlines debt it’s taken on as part of acquiring the Honolulu-based carrier.
With the deal for Alaska Airlines to buy Hawaiian Airlines ,now done, they’re beginning to move forward on integrating the two carriers.
The Department of Justice didn’t oppose Alaska Airlines buying Hawaiian. That meant the Department of Transportation would allow it, but it was clear they were going to require specific concessions. That’s all happened. Alaska can now close the transaction to acquire Hawaiian Airlines.
Earlier in the month I took a trip to Honolulu and back on Hawaiian Airlines. They operate Austin – Honolulu non-stop three days a week, and since I hadn’t flown Hawaiian in a year and a half it seemed worth passing along some observations.
With DOT still to approve the deal, the opportunity for parties to get their wish lists in appears to be now. Approval so far has been helped by Hawaii’s supportive politicians. In exchange, Alaska has offered promises about what their stewardship of the brand and its routes will look like. It seems reasonable to expect some of those promises will be written into binding commitments by the federal government.
United Airlines disclosed in a filing that they had a conversation with the Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Transportation regarding Alaska Airlines acquiring Hawaiian Airlines. United had to file this to avoid having had an improper ex parte communication over an active matter before the Department.
The Department of Transportation is expected to approve the deal – after consultations with both the Office of the President and of the Vice President, according to Alter. DOT may still extract concessions from Alaska prior to doing so.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
