Customers will likely have to wait until next year to use their Alaska Airlines miles to purchase tickets on Ravn Alaska flights, according to airline officials.
Ravn had announced earlier this month that it had reached an accord with Alaska Airlines and its customers could immediately purchase tickets for their flights using Alaska Airlines miles.
“Travelers with extra Alaska Airlines miles can now redeem [them] for travel anywhere Ravn Alaska flies,” a representative initially told KUCB in an email on Aug. 12.
But according to representatives from both airlines, that’s unlikely to happen this year.
“Systems will be in place by 2022 for travelers to apply Alaska Airlines miles toward the purchase of a Ravn flight,” a spokesperson for Ravn said.
On Thursday, Alaska Airlines spokesperson Tim Thompson confirmed the 2022 timeline, citing engineering work needed to combine online systems.
As of now, the much-anticipated frequent flyer agreement only allows customers to earn Alaska miles on Ravn flights. Still, it is a significant step towards making travel to remote Alaska communities more affordable.
Unalaska had previously relied on codeshare agreements between regional airlines, like the former RavnAir Group and Alaska Airlines, but has been without any such arrangement since a fatal plane crash at Tom Madsen Airport in October 2019.
Ravn Alaska has new owners and management from the previous RavnAir Group, which filed for bankruptcy last year.
