The oneworld alliance has introduced a new platform for joining up airlines called oneworld connect. This essentially allows smaller airlines to join the alliance without having to go to the cost and expense of being a full member.
Fiji Airways will be the first carrier to join the alliance as a oneworld connect member. There are some differences between being a standard member of the alliance, which I will outline below.
Oneworld Connect
Frequent flyers from any airline in the alliance will receive priority check-in as long as they are Ruby, Sapphire or Emerald which is the same as today. Emerald and Sapphire members will also receive priority boarding. There are differences though, which can be seen in the table below.
Airlines must sponsor another airline to be a oneworld connect member. Those airlines and the new connect member offer the full suite of products such as earning and redeeming miles, status points and importantly, lounge access. With Fiji Airways, these are Qantas, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and American Airlines.
Future Members
There are three airlines that instantly spring to mind for the new product. The obvious one is Ireland’s Aer Lingus which was previously a member of the alliance and who still has frequent flyer affiliations with British Airways, Qantas and Cathay Pacific.
Next up, I would think Alaska Airlines would be a prime candidate. They also have frequent flyer links with many oneworld alliance airlines such as American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Qantas and LATAM. They even have links with Aer Lingus and Fiji Airways.
The other prime candidate would have to be Canada’s WestJet, though only Qantas is a frequent flyer partner from the alliance. Their other partners are all from SkyTeam. It would be great to have a Canadian carrier back in the fold.
Perhaps there could be other carriers that may be eligible as well. I certainly would be happy to see something interesting like India’s IndiGo joining as a connect member.
Overall Thoughts
This new way of adding airlines to the alliance is a good idea. What is telling is that the frequent flyer benefits for the oneworld connect members are only relevant if that airline has a programme. This leads me to believe that some airlines will be low cost carriers.
What do you think of the potential new members for the oneworld alliance? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image and table via oneworld.
Aer Lingus A320 by captainflorent on Instagram.
Alaska Airlines and WestJet images via the respective companies.
What about Royal Air Maroc? They were supposed to allign their frequent flyer programme with Avios, but that doesn’t seem to have happened yet. In any event, oneworld is in desperate need of a member in Africa.
I agree with you there, they do need a member in Africa and Royal Air Maroc is a solid choice. They should have grabbed Ethiopian years ago to be honest.
I think that Interjet of Mexico will be next to join. Then it’s a tossup between Hainan of China or China Southern which both of which Cathay Pacific opposes, and then possibly Air Italy which is backed by Qatar airways and really wants to grow into the biggest carrier in Italy.
Westjet is in bed with Delta so I don’t see them joining especially since AA chased them out of DFW and ORD. AA won’t allow Alaska airlines in. They are direct competitors out of JFK, PHL & LAX.
Aer Lingus could and should join the alliance. Time will tell.
Interjet would be a cool choice actually. It would be nice to see Hainan in the alliance, especially since they are China’s only 5 star Skytrax rated airline and I think oneworld needs a Chinese carrier. I think they would join as a full member though, rather than through oneworld connect. It’s shame about WestJet, though being part of oneworld doesn’t preclude them from having agreements with other airlines. Alaska would be great, but I think they do rather well from the single agreements they have., so they may be unlikely. You are right, time will tell. Thanks for the… Read more »
AA is already a partner of AS. They do not code-share on competing nonstops out of their hubs, but they do on markets beyond their hubs. AA sponsoring AS would be a no-brainer.
They’d certainly be nice to see as part of oneworld!
I would say Air Italy is a strong contender as well given that they use Avios are mileage currency and are being backed financially by Qatar Airways already.
I think you might be on to something there – makes sense to me, 100%. Let’s hope you’re right, cause that would be pretty cool! Thanks for the comment.