Alaska Airlines has confirmed plans to join American Airlines' two big international joint ventures: the transatlantic bloc with British Airways, Iberia, Finnair and Aer Lingus, and the transpacific one with Japan Airlines. If the Department of Transportation grants antitrust immunity, these carriers will be able to coordinate fares, schedules and sales rather than just codeshare — and that could reshape long-haul flying from the West Coast.
The backstory is tangled. American and Alaska have partnered on and off for roughly 40 years, but after Alaska bought Virgin America the relationship soured, with mileage perks cut in 2018. American then tried to use Seattle as its own long-haul gateway with Alaska feeding domestic traffic. That plan flopped: the announced Bangalore and Shanghai routes never launched, and the Seattle–London service ran from March 2021 to October 2023 before being dropped entirely.
Alaska regrouped by buying Hawaiian, giving it widebody aircraft and its own international ambitions. It's targeting 15 long-haul destinations from Seattle by 2030 and already flies to Tokyo, Seoul, Rome, London and Reykjavik, with Athens and Paris launching in May. Joining the joint ventures gives Alaska's partners a financial stake in filling those planes — JAL selling in Japan, the European carriers selling through their corporate accounts — and spreads the risk if a new route struggles.
For American, the upside is a credible West Coast network without buying Alaska or merging workforces. It gains a claim on Alaska's international revenue pool, a say in jointly building the schedule, and a stronger pitch for corporate travel accounts on the coast where it's weakest.
For travellers, the picture is mixed but mostly positive. Mileage earning, redemptions and elite benefits already work between the two airlines, so the direct perks are modest. The real benefit would be more flights and better-timed connections — about 85% of US long-haul capacity already operates inside these immunized ventures. A stronger Alaska could also push Delta to work harder in Seattle and give West Coast passengers a real alternative to United. There are competition wrinkles, though: Alaska currently competes with British Airways on Seattle–London and with JAL on Seattle–Tokyo, and those overlaps would disappear.
Approval isn't guaranteed. The DOT has latitude to grant it — it's done so for US airline pairs like United–Continental and Delta–Northwest before their mergers — but foreign competition reviews and pilot contract scope issues still need sorting. Watch this space if you're booking long-haul from Seattle or Portland in the next couple of years.
