The takeover of Hawaiian Airlines by Alaska Airlines has now been fully approved and will take place.

While both brands will be retained, both airlines will actually merge under one single operating certificate. In terms of loyalty, you should expect that over time Hawaiian Miles will be merged into Alaska’s Mileage Plan.

Both programs are rather attractive by US standards, so there is not a worst case scenario you might need to fear. But as always, there will be details to be watched out. With Alaska being a oneworld member (though very flexible when it comes to its own airline partner network) and Hawaiian now being a designated member in the alliance, it seems to be obvious, for instance, that some of Hawaiian’s airline partners, like Virgin Atlantic, will be lost.

But in an immediate first step, we will certainly see a simple FFP partnership between Alaska and Hawaiian to start with, increasing dramatically the award opportunities for Mileage Plan members to Hawaii!