Today’s post is going to be a catch-all for everything else I didn’t cover in my write-ups on Alaska Air Group’s (AAG) international aspirations, the future of the Hawaiian brand, and domestic network changes. This, of course, includes the new premium Alaska Air credit card, which was teased on investor day.
In case you’ve been living under a rock 😉, here’s a brief recap of the absolutely insane amount of news Alaska Air Group has dropped on us:
- International Flying: will commence next year with flights from Seattle to Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon utilizing Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330s and crews
- Domestic Flying: network optimization continues, including deployment of Hawaiian aircraft wholly in continental North America
- Brand Strategy: Hawaiian Air is the airline of Hawai’i. Anything that touches Hawai’i will be Hawaiian-branded. Alaska brand will cover everything else. Cannot happen until SOC is received, but work is already taking place where possible (see above)
- Fleet: Airbus aircraft are here to stay, Hawaiian will fly Boeing 737s, and 787s are going to leave Hawaiian for Alaska
So, today, I want to expand on some of the above, talk about the new premium Alaska Air credit card that’s coming, and touch on some other points I haven’t previously covered.
A Premium Alaska Air Credit Card is Coming
First, let’s tackle the low-hanging fruit. Though the mainstream media largely ignored this piece of info in favor of the coming network changes, a premium Alaska Air credit card position above the current Alaska Mileage Plan Visa Signature was announced amongst everything else last Tuesday. Scant details were made available via a dedicated landing page on alaskaair.com, but what we do know is enticing!
- Companion Certificate: this new card takes the existing card’s companion certificate and puts it on steroids! This new certificate will be valid for ANYWHERE Alaska flies, including the roughly one dozen international destinations they’ll have by 2030.
- Award Tickets: cardholders enjoy fee waivers when booking award tickets
- Bonus Miles: eligible foreign transactions will earn 3 miles per $1 spent, along with 3 miles per $1 spent on dining in the U.S.
- Alaska Lounge: cardholders will receive lounge passes
- Connectivity: cardholders also receive Wi-Fi vouchers
- Elite Status: there will be an accelerated path to elite status for cardholders
- Same-Day Fee Waiver: not sure what this means – same day confirmed change fee waiver, perhaps?
- Innovative Travel Disruption Program: sure sounds like marketing BS to me
This card sounds like a great addition to Alaska’s existing portfolio, though it’s also reminiscent of the Delta SkyMiles Platinum Card from Amex. As such, I’m thinking that the annual fee on this it could be around the $300 to $400 mark, which will probably be worth it if you can make use of that certificate every year. But, at that price, I hope you don’t have to “earn” that certificate every year.
Reading Between the Lines
Did you notice that in the bullet points for the new premium Alaska Air credit card? Wi-Fi vouchers are a benefit for cardholders. This leads me to believe that Alaska won’t be moving to offer free Wi-Fi onboard its aircraft. How that impacts Hawaiian remains to be seen. Though, being that all airlines offering Starlink are doing so free of charge, there’s reason to believe that Starlink requires airlines offer the service free of charge? If that’s the case, Starlink-equipped aircraft will continue to have free Wi-Fi, while others won’t.
That’s not going to be fun as Hawaiian gains Boeing 737s and loses some of its Airbuses to Alaska. That’ll make the availability of free Wi-Fi a game of chance, and is rather disappointing.
Aircraft Interiors
I know current Mileage Plan MVPs are probably grimacing at the prospect of status becoming easier to get thanks to the new premium Alaska Air credit card. Trying to get an upgrade out of major hubs like Seattle is already nearly impossible. So, what’s the point of having status if you’ll never get upgraded. Well, even prior to the merger closing, Alaska Air was committed to installing 29% more premium seats across its fleet. That commitment continues to hold true today, while Minicucci stated that retrofitting the A330s is going to be high priority item.
I’d agree with Minicucci, here. The A330s interiors are getting pretty tired. Moreover, most airlines try to have similar hard products across their aircraft types, especially those that operate similar missions. This should be the case here, though they may opt to have retrofitted A330s less premium heavy than the 787s.
The Seattle Issue
While Alaska Air has global aspirations, their primary hub doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate this. To tackle this issue, Alaska Air is taking a multi-pronged approach, the first of which we’re seeing today. With Hawaiian’s widebody aircraft, AAG can upgauge aircraft on routes that make sense, which should be able to open up some capacity.
That said, Minicucci also said that they plan on massively increasing their presence in Portland to build it into a major connecting hub for them. And, now that Portland International Airports massive transformation project is mostly done, Minicucci feels that his team can begin executing their plans there.
What About California?
With a premium Alaska Air credit card coming and capacity constraints at Seattle, you’d think that more focus on one of the most populous states in the nation would make sense, right? And, domestically, that’s certainly going to be the case. San Diego is going to become a major connecting hub, too, and especially to Hawai’i from further east. However, what it won’t become is an international hub. Minicucci strongly asserted that all international routes will open via Seattle. That’s not to say this may not change in the future, but I wouldn’t expect it in the next decade.
Lounges
With crowding already an issue, which may become worse since at least some level of access is part of the upcoming premium Alaska Air credit card, something must be done. Well, now we know that three new lounges are coming. One is the Alaska Lounge company execs have hypothesized on previously, along with an Alaska Lounge in San Diego.
However, Seattle is going to get another lounge, too. This will take the form of a new “flagship lounge” aimed at the international service building out there and will be ready “by 2027.”
A Premium Alaska Air Credit Card is Coming, Final Thoughts
There you have it, all of the other announced changes to Alaska an Hawaiian Air, including the all-important bit about how a new premium Alaska Air credit card is coming. I will say, the timing on this addition is interesting. With the loyalty program combination coming up in roughly six to eight months, this card will have dated branding soon after launch. Unless they plan on combining loyalty programs even sooner or won’t launch this product until the merging of the programs is complete.
Either way, to me, that a new premium Alaska Air credit card is coming was one of the most interesting bits of new to come out last week, and probably the most overlooked by those outside of the points and miles community.