Yesterday we reported that Delta Air Lines and Alaska Air were going to make a joint statement regarding their expanded alliance. Today, both the Puget Sound Business Journal and USA Today gave more details on the alliance.
Both airlines said they will become “preferred alliance partners” along the Pacific Coast. This means that each airline’s customers will have improved access to routes and access to each other’s airline lounges. Gold and Platinum frequent fliers will have priority boarding, check-in and seat assignments on both airlines.
Both Delta chief executive Richard Anderson and Alaska Air chief Bill Ayer said that the alliance will allow expanded access to each other’s routes. Delta said that it will also be able to expand “the reach of its planned West Coast route expansions.” This will be useful when Northwest starts its Seattle-to-Beijing route and Delta, pending approval, starts its Los Angeles-to-Sao Paulo route.
When Anderson was asked about a future acquisition of Alaska Air Group, Anderson said that he has not talked about it with Ayer and that “[w]e never speculate about those kinds of things.”
Of course, in this industry, never say never.
