Got this email today:
Starting March 1, Emirates is offering new daily service from Seattle (SEA) to destinations in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the South Asian subcontinent via Dubai. With our new partnership with Alaska Airlines, travelers can take advantage of seamless connections from select cities in Western Canada to Dubai via Seattle. Passengers will enjoy the convenience of receiving their boarding passes at check-in, and checking bags through to their final destination.
In addition, passengers can accrue Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles when they fly to any of Emirates over 115 destinations worldwide, and Emirates Skywards® members can accrue miles on the Alaska Airlines network in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
For those unaware, Emirates wanted to fly daily from Vancouver and Calgary, but the Canadian government wouldn’t agree; subsequently Canadian Forces was booted out of their Gulf base in the UAE. Rumour has it Air Canada lobbied the GdC* heavily because they “can’t compete” with Emirates’ much fairer pricing structure for consumers. When I lived in Australia, Singapore and Qantas lost a lot of business to Emirates for travel to Europe.
Travelling to South Asia from Vancouver just got a bit easier–and probably cheaper. And for folks who–like me–have felt like something of a hostage to Aeroplan, Alaska Airlines already excellent frequent flyer program just got even better.
*Gouvernment du Canada
