EL AL and Alaska Airlines Celebrate Expanded Global Partnership
With the inaugural EL AL flight between Tel Aviv and San Francisco, EL AL and Alaska Airlines signed an expanded global partnership allowing their members to more easily connect and earn miles
El Al and Alaska may seem like odd bedfellows but an intensifying partnership is bringing the carriers and destinations they serve closer together. EL AL Israel Airlines and Alaska Airlines have announced an expansion of their commercial relationship to include a reciprocal frequent flyer agreement. The agreement was signed by the CEOs of each airline at a ceremony soon after the arrival of the first EL AL flight from Tel Aviv to San Francisco. The agreement is in addition to the codeshare agreement that recently came into effect between the airlines allowing EL AL to place its “LY” code on various Alaska Airlines “AS” flights in the U.S.
The codeshare agreement started in late April for flights starting this month departing from Newark, Los Angeles and now San Francisco onto a host of Alaska Airlines flights. From San Francisco, EL AL runs its code on flights to Seattle; San Diego; Portland, Oregon; Honolulu; Los Angeles; Palm Springs, California; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; Dallas (DAL); Santa Ana, California, Everett, Washington, Kansas City, Missouri; Salt Lake City; Kona, Hawaii and Las Vegas. Upon regulatory approval, will also include flights to various points in Mexico.
With the EL AL and Alaska Airlines partnership, customers can now continue their journey to and from North America and Israel with connections on both airlines, in either direction. Both airlines will offer the opportunity for their members to earn miles while flying with the partner airline. Base miles flown on EL AL will also count toward elite status in Alaska’s Mileage Plan program. Additionally, EL AL travelers will be able to redeem their EL AL Matmid miles to book on Alaska flights in the future.
“Alaska Airlines and EL AL can now offer more opportunities than ever before for travelers to fly nonstop between the West Coast and Tel Aviv. Through our partnership, both EL AL and Alaska Airlines offer frequent flyer benefits to our guests while sharing the genuine, caring service that is at the heart of both of our airlines,” said Brad Tilden, CEO of Alaska Airlines.
Alaska Airlines offers an option to go global differently with hand-picked partners, and Mileage Plan miles can be used at home with Alaska or with Alaska Global Partners. With the EL AL partnership, Alaska Airlines’ international connectivity out of SFO is stronger than ever; by June 2019, Alaska’s Global Partners will offer more than 80 flights per week out of San Francisco.
The EL AL flights operate three times weekly with 787 Dreamliner service, offering Business, Premium and Economy service. The flights from Tel Aviv depart on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1:05 am and arrive in San Francisco on the same day at 6 pm for a flight time just under 15 hours. The flights from San Francisco to Tel Aviv operate on Monday and Wednesday departing at 8 pm for arrival the next day at 7:40 pm and on Saturday night with a 10:45 pm departure arriving in Tel Aviv at 10:25 pm the next day for a flying time of just under 14 hours.
