With the Alaska-Hawaiian merger in full swing, it looks as if Alaska Airlines is looking to expand its ground services in the islands. This is especially true at their new hub, as news recently broke that an Alaska lounge may be coming to Honolulu. This news may also reinforce Alaska’s commitment to maintaining two separate brands.
The other week, I went over the future of the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard. Well, when that news broke, several high-profile bloggers were given time with Alaska Airlines’ of Loyalty, Sales, and Alliances, Brett Catlin. The first (that I saw) to publish was Gary Leff of View from the Wing. From his reporting, we learned the fate of the aforementioned card, along with knock-on effects that would have, such as the disappearance of free transfers amongst friends and family. However, Catlin said that he likes that idea, so it’s possible the ability may come back.
At any rate, in a separate conversation, the folks at TPG learned the an Alaska Lounge may be coming to Honolulu, among other bits of information.
Alaska Lounge May Be Coming to Honolulu
In speaking with TPG, Catlin hinted that an Alaska Lounge may be coming to Honolulu, stating, “there is clearly an opportunity for us to go and create an experience that’s more reflective of what the Alaska Lounge portfolio looks like today.”
I know what some of you are thinking “well, they could just close the Plumeria Lounge and Apartment 1929 and turn that into an Alaska Lounge.” Yes, true, this could be the case, as Catlin’s statement isn’t all that concrete, though his following statement leads me to believe that they are looking at a separate space, “there’s space in Honolulu, which is the good news. It’s just a question of how quickly you can get it done and up to the standards that Alaska guests are used to.”
One has to question, though, if he’s not referring to Hawaiian’s existing lounges, where is this space he speaks of? Also, this would be a pretty strong departure from what’s going on at Honolulu with Oneworld members today, as American Airlines and Japan Airlines share an Admiral’s Club/Sakura Lounge, though JAL subsequently opened another lounge called the Sakura Lounge Hale back in 2018. Otherwise, the only other Oneworld lounge in the airport belongs to Qantas.
Loyalty
While this topic is well-covered right now, TPG’s discussion with Catlin uncovered some new, interesting bits. First off, Catlin describes the new loyalty program as the “connective tissue” holding together the Alaska and Hawaiian brands. And when asked by TPG is Flying Blue, which is the shared loyalty program of Air France and KLM, both of which are owned by Groupe Air France KLM, Catlin says “I think you could take that and apply it to what we want to do.”
However, he also brings up his own example – Marriott Bonvoy. Catlin says “if you think about [Starwood Preferred Guest] and Marriott, what they did with Bonvoy – the construct of bringing them together, having that ‘house of brands,’ is really interesting.”
That’s, perhaps, not the best example to go by, at least in my opinion. After all, Marriott took the much beloved SPG, and ported some of its best benefits over to Marriott Rewards. However, they didn’t put anything in their terms and conditions to back up those benefits, so it all became fairly pointless at worst and an inconsistent mess at best. Of course, they then did away with SPG and renamed Marriott Rewards Marriott Bonvoy, and are continuously devaluing that program into oblivion.
I don’t think that’s what will happen here, but the comparison does give me pause. Ironically, the acquiring program – Alaska Mileage Plan – is better in this case that the acquired one.
Amex Transfers
Outside of loyalty and that an Alaska Lounge may be coming to Honolulu, Catlin also touched on points transfers. And, well, he’s not a fan. Specifically, he’s not a fan of the ability to transfer flexible credit card points into Mileage Plan. That means as soon as the current agreement with American Express goes away, that ability is likely to vanish for good. When that’ll happen, though, is anyone’s guess. So if you want to transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to HawaiianMiles, you should do so ASAP.
Now, this is kind of contradictory since Mileage Plan is one of BILT’s newest transfer partners, and even has exclusive Alaska Airlines Visa Signature earn rates, so I’m not sure if the above is in reference to just Amex and Hawaiian, or BILT, too.
Alaska Lounge May Be Coming to Honolulu, Final Thoughts
That an Alaska Lounge may be coming to Honolulu lounge is great, but it does nothing for me, as I’m not an Alaska Lounge member, nor do I fly first class. But it would be interesting to see, especially since their lounges typically have a PNW vibe to them, which may not translate all that well to Hawai’i. That said, if they do this, and they use a currently vacant spot at HNL, it’ll be further proof that the Alaska Air Group remains committed to maintaining both brands.
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