Alaska Airlines flyers on the US West Coast will now be able to connect to Finland and the rest of Europe this summer, thanks to a new code-sharing agreement between Alaska and Finnair.
From May through December, Finnair operates a three-times weekly non-stop between Helsinki and San Francisco that flies the 5416-mile distance in 10 hours, 40 minutes. Codeshares, like the new one with Alaska, connect with Finnair on the West Coast through SFO. So starting on May 20, Finnair’s code will be added to flights operated by Alaska Airlines between San Francisco (Finnair’s West Coast hub) and Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County and Palm Springs.
On the European side, once a passenger arrives at Finnair’s Helsinki (HEL) hub, Finnair has connectivity to popular European destinations such as Copenhagen, Berlin, and Moscow. Codeshares can also be used to fly additional routes through Finnair’s Atlantic Joint Business with American Airlines, British Airways, and Iberia.
For Alaska flyers, “Mileage Plan members are now able to fly Finnair to over 60 destinations in Europe from San Francisco, as well as from Chicago, New York, JFK, and Miami,” said Charles Breer, Alaska Airlines managing director of alliances. The codeshare announcement follows last year’s frequent flyer partnership between Finnair and Alaska Airlines, which enables members of the Finnair Plus loyalty program and the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan to earn and redeem miles or points on flights operated by both airlines.
Finnair might be a bigger airline than you think, as it carries more than ten million passengers annually between Helsinki and Asia, Europe and North America. It was the first European airline to fly the new Airbus A350 XWB, which it currently operates on routes between Helsinki and Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, and Tokyo, but not yet to North America.
For its part, Alaska is trying to create more international alliances and codeshares, since the acrimonious ‘divorce’ from its partnership with American Airlines this year. That followed last year’s “falling out” with Delta Airlines. The relationship with American ended after Alaska bought Virgin America and with its newly acquired routes became a competitor.
To compete, Alaska has added a number of new codeshare agreements, including Finnair, Aer Lingus, and Qantas. There are some bumps in the road, as Qantas business class flyers switching to a domestic US Alaska flight will no longer get lounge access at San Francisco Airport. Alaska previously shared the American Airlines Admirals Club at SFO’s Terminal 2, but that ended this year after Alaska became a competitor.
Finnair apparently does not have to choose sides in the Alaska/American divorce, as its new codeshare arrangement with Alaska will coexist with its joint business and codeshare deal with American, coding on more than 200 American Airlines flights daily.
Codeshares, to the uninitiated, can often seem mysterious. (“Why is my Japan Airlines flight leaving from the American Airlines terminal across the airport?”) The idea, as with the Finnair/Alaska announcement, is for airlines to strengthen or expand their market presence and competitive ability.
According to the US Department of Transportation, “Code sharing is a marketing arrangement in which an airline places its designator code on a flight operated by another airline, and sells tickets for that flight.” Air carriers that want to operate code-shared services need to get authorization from the Department of Transportation. The US Department of Transportation publishes an “informal list” of such arrangements; the most current codeshare list runs 99 pages.
While codeshares are a powerful weapon for airlines to expand their reach and ally themselves with travel partners, today’s reality is that many passengers, particularly Millennials, are driven not by points or perks, but by price.
So how will Finnair compete going forward with low-cost carriers, particularly transatlantic ones like Norwegian Air? While Finnair says they are focused on delivering the best customer experience, like every other airline “we are also continuously evaluating how we can tailor our products for the demanding environment and changing trends in the industry,” says Juha Järvinen, Finnair’s Chief Commercial Officer.
So while Finnair might not call it the dread “Basic Economy” fare, the airline is experimenting with lower-cost, lower-frill (if you consider luggage on a Trans-Atlantic flight a ‘frill’) fares. “We recently launched, alongside our Atlantic Joint Business partners, a new Light fare which includes hand baggage only. The Light fare offers more choice and flexibility for our customers as they have the freedom to select the ticket type that best suits their needs.”
For now, Light tickets will be available on Finnair’s Helsinki-New York route, in addition to several Trans-Atlantic routes operated by Finnair’s partners.
