Alaska Airlines fast tracked to join Oneworld in 2020

In some good news for the aviation sector, Alaska Airlines is set to announce that it will join Oneworld much earlier than anticipated, by the end of 2020. The airline is expected to join the alliance six months ahead of schedule; a rarity in aviation terms.

This is great news for Oneworld frequent flyers, who can access sooner an array of benefits when flying under Alaska.

Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire status-holders will have access to the Alaska lounge network  as well as associated perks such as increased checked baggage allowance and priority check-in-in and boarding.

The addition of Alaska Airlines to Oneworld comes after the recent inclusion of Royal Air Maroc in April 2020.

 

Lufthansa A380s and B747s fall victim to Coronavirus

The impacts of the Coronavirus keeps going from bad to worse for the aviation sector. This time the national carrier for Germany, Lufthansa, has announced that it will sadly will retire around half of its Airbus A380s and Boeing 747 fleet due to the falling numbers in flying passengers.  The airline cited that the damage caused by the Coronavirus will take years to repair, let alone the fact travel restrictions on global travel may not be lifted til later this year.

Six of Lufthansa’s 14 Airbus A380s, 13 Boeing 747-400s, and seven of the 17 Airbus A340-600s will be retired. It’s also understood a number of A320s could be set to be removed in a bid to reduce the Lufthansa fleet.

On a side note despite this sad news, it’s heartwarming (despite the circumstances it’s being flown under) to see five A380s and a number of B747s being flown to Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand respectively to bring home a number of European citizens left in the kiwi nation. This is a rarity in Southern Hemisphere skies around Australia and New Zealand as the German carrier does not fly to either country.

 

Virgin set make Velocity fully Virgin owned again

Loyalty programs are a cash cow for airlines to the point that some airlines sell a stake or the whole cow for a quick profit hit. Those who have taken the gamble tend to not seen it pay off and more often than not find themselves paying for it, or in the case of Air Canada creating a whole new competing loyalty program.

In 2014 Virgin sold part of its Velocity business to Affinity Equity Partners (AEP). Since the sale the program it has grown to be the third biggest loyalty program in Australia behind Qantas and Woolworths. Virgin now has sellers remorse and has enter an agreement to buy back the 35 per cent of its Velocity program it sold to AEP for $700 million. This is more than double what they sold it for to the group five years earlier.

Virgin has experienced some rocky annual results of late but the shining star of their company has been the Velocity division which saw earnings (before interest and tax) up 12 per cent to $122.2 million.

Personally I think this is a smart move by Virgin which in the end after a initial financial hit see the company not only in a stronger position financially but increase value with its customers for years to come!

Qantas popular Points Plane returns…this time LA

Before the wheels have even left the ground on the first Qantas Points Plane, the airline announced this week it would be doing another Points Plane…this time to Los Angeles!  What adds a bit more excitement to this announcement is that the B747 will be used, a rare appearance on the  Australian – American route hop! It’s a great opportunity for B747 lover like myself who wants to see the Queen of the Skies off in style by flying her one last time (naturally).

With Qantas set to retire all its beautiful B747 fleet by the end of 2020 I cannot stress how great of an opportunity this is. Flight QF99 will depart from SYD for LAX on Sunday 13 October 2019.

Here’s what you need (points wise and excluding those pesky taxes) that you’ll need to secure the seat of your dreams:

• 96,000 Qantas Points for business class
• 72,000 Qantas Points for premium economy
• 41,900 Qantas Points for economy

Qantas as part of its transition fleet plan will gradually replace its 747-400s with the company’s favourite plane of late, the B787 Dreamliner (I’m still yet to be a fan like Mr Alan Joyce).

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Will you be booking an seat on the second Points Plane? Keen to hear your thoughts.

Qantas launches new Frequent Flyer Program changes

Qantas a couple of days ago without notice announced cryptically that it would be overhauling its frequent flyer program. Like many I was in a bit of a sweat about it thinking the potential was endless for the airline to come in with the wrecking ball and make the program to be frank, a lot worse. Today, I am glad to report that it isn’t anywhere near the doom and gloom that was reported online. So what has been announced and how will it affect you?

First up Qantas has announced there’ll be more seats up for grabs, with those dreaded carrier charges on most international Qantas flights reduced by as much as half. This is a big win for many as the carrier charges for QF currently have a large sting to them compared to their rivals when redeeming. You” require fewer Qantas Points when booking an economy seat on international flights but here’s the sting. Those looking to book something with a bit more leg room will be hit with higher amount of points for seats in premium economy, business class and first class.

The next bit of news is something I was apart of in terms of research late last year by the airline and this is the Qantas Points Club. Details are still sketchy but basically the Qantas Points Club will operate adjunct to the Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme, unlocking flight and travel benefits for non-flying members including lounge access and bonus status credits. I think this has a lot of potential and am keen to see how it is delivered when it is launched December 2019.

Thirdly Qantas has earmarked five million seats on Qantas domestic and international flights annually, with up to 30% more premium economy, business class and even first class seats to popular destinations such as Singapore, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo. This is on top of 3-5 million seats on partner airlines, including new partners such as Air New Zealand, KLM Bangkok Airways and Air France.

Finally Qantas has opened up a new level of lifetime status, the coveted Lifetime Platinum but the catch is, to achieve it, it’s an eye watering and almost impossible 75K status credits to achieve. The new Lifetime Platinum status will commence in September 2019.

So what do you think of the announcement? Anything that excites or annoys you? Keen to hear your thoughts…