This morning Alaska Airlines closed the acquisition of Virgin America. Starting today, Alaska Airlines will have:

  • 5 West Coast hubs (Seattle, Portland, Anchorage, San Francisco, Los Angeles)
  • 1200 flights to 118 destinations
  • Combined fleet of 286 aircraft

So what does this mean for those flying on Alaska and Virgin America?

First nothing should change for the foreseeable as integration of the two airlines should take some time. Beginning next week (12/19), elite members of both airlines will receive priority boarding and check-in. Beginning January 9, 2017 Virgin America Elites will be status matched to Alaska Mileage Plan and Mileage Plan members will be able to use their miles for award travel on Virgin America.

The most interest piece of this seems to be Virgin America Elites will status match to Alaska Mileage Plan but not the other way around. I’m guessing Virgin America’s Elevate reward redemptions will go away very quickly. The other interesting note is Alaska has already announced 3 new routes from SFO. The destinations are Minneapolis – St. Paul (MSP), Orlando (MCO) and Orange County (SNA). These flights will be starting in summer 2017.

What this acquisition means for the overall airline? Time will tell. Alaska still hasn’t made a public decision about the Virgin America branding and whether they will continue to be an all Boeing fleet. I’ll be following this very carefully in the months to come and provide updates.

More information about the acquisition can be found at the Different Networks website