Alaska Air, Air Italy Announce Interline Agreement

June 16, 2019

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4 min read

Alaska Air, Air Italy Announce Interline Agreement

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Alaska Airlines and Air Italy passengers will soon have access to new destinations through an interline agreement between the two airlines as announced on Friday. The agreement means Air Italy will add 10 new destinations throughout North America for its passengers.

The interline agreement will allow passengers booking with Air Italy to travel to the following destinations:

Anchorage
Honolulu
Las Vegas
Seattle
Portland
Palm Springs
San Diego
Newark
San Jose (CA)
Guadalajara

Cities of origin served by Air Italy that are included in the interline agreement include:

Milan
Rome
Naples
Palermo
Catania
Lamezia Terme
Cagliari
Olbia

When an Air Italy passenger books a trip to one of the new destinations, the passenger's itinerary will look somewhat like the following:

Flight #1 — Operated by Air Italy: From a European city to US city served by Air Italy and Alaska Air.
Flight #2 — Operated by Alaska Air: From US city to the passenger's final destination, or to a connection city in the US.
Flight #3 (if needed) — Operated by Alaska Air: From a connecting city to the passenger's final destination.

Though Air Italy has confirmed the interline agreement and shared details of the partnership, Alaska Airlines has not officially confirmed on its end.

Questions Raised About Partnership

An interline agreement is a very basic partnership between airlines. For example, even American Airlines and Delta — airlines that compete both domestically and internationally — operate interline agreements. However, Alaska Airlines' and Air Italy's interline agreement has raised questions about a future partnership between the two airlines.

An example of an interline agreement between Alaska Airlines and Japan Airlines. The two airlines also partner on award ticketing. (Image via jal.com)

Alaska Airlines is not a member of a major airline alliance. Instead, Alaska Airlines partners with dozens of airlines globally to offer its passengers and members of Alaska Air's MileagePlan additional options. These partnerships are what has made Alaska Air's MileagePlan such a valuable and lucrative frequent flyer program.

Recently, Alaska Airlines added El Al to its list of partners. Alaska Airlines and El Al frequent flyers can earn miles for travel on both airlines with the option to redeem miles for travel on either airline coming soon.

With Alaska Airlines' track record of partnerships with numerous airlines, the airline's latest interline agreement with Air Italy has raised questions as to whether or not the two airlines might expand their partnership in the future. An expanded partnership between the two airlines might allow members of the two airlines' frequent flyer programs to earn and redeem miles for travel on either airline.

Photo by Alberto Riva/TPG — Air Italy Economy Class aboard an Airbus A330. (Image by Alberto Riva/The Points Guy)

For now, however, the interline agreement is the only confirmed partnership between the two airlines. Additionally, while Air Italy's official press release makes it sound as if the interline agreement has already gone into effect, interline travel is not yet bookable on either airline's website or through online travel agencies (OTAs).

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