Virgin America Flights Will Become Alaska Airlines Flights in April 2018
The Alaska Airlines-Virgin America merger has been a long time coming. Since Alaska first announced its acquisition of Virgin in December 2016, the merger process has advanced at a slow pace. The carriers have been working to integrate the Mileage Plan and Elevate programs, allowing elites to earn reciprocal benefits, and now we know when the Virgin America brand will cease to exist.
April 24, 2018, will be the last date you can fly with Virgin America. Beginning April 25, all flights for both Virgin and Alaska will be booked through Alaska Airlines.
As reported by FlightGlobal, Alaska sent an internal memo to employees, reading, "Alaska Airlines has posted the new Airbus schedule for flights after April 24. The flights will be Alaska flights and will only be available through Alaska channels... or through travel agencies and booking sites." In addition, the memo added, "Guests who try to book an Airbus flight scheduled for after April 24 through Virgin America's website or app will be redirected to Alaskaair.com."
Travelers can already see this when searching for flights. Google Flights has stopped showing flights with Virgin America after April 24.
Virgin's own website shows that there are no dates available after the same date. As of April 25, what were once Virgin America flights are now Alaska Airlines flights. If you book a flight with Alaska after April 24, chances are it could be on one of Virgin's Airbus aircraft.
As of April 25, the carriers will have a single inventory of flights, bookable on alaskaair.com. Alaska is calling this the next step in completing the merger, which it expects to operate as a single passenger service system by the second quarter of 2018. When the merger was first announced, Alaska said it expects to obtain a single operating certificate from the FAA in early 2018.
The two carriers have dropped news about the future of the singular airline and frequent flyer program in small bits. Most recently, we learned that Alaska elites now get free seat upgrades on Virgin America.
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