Finnair is the latest oneworld? member airline to enable customers to buy flights on all its oneworld partners through its own website as part of a major initiative by the alliance to make it easier to book journeys involving more than one of its member airlines.
American Airlines was the first to sell flights by all its oneworld partners through its own website. Japan Airlines also already sold through its main Japanese website jal.co.jp flights operated by its oneworld partners in combination with its own services.
As one of the initiatives unveiled as part of the grouping’s 10th birthday celebrations in February, oneworld committed to be the first alliance with all member airlines selling flights by all their partners via their own websites, with the complete roll-out across all carriers scheduled by the end of this year. This responds to a clear preference among frequent flyers for on-line and self-service options.
oneworld Commercial Director Filip Lemmens said: “One of the key benefits of airline alliances is that they make it easier for people to reach many more places around the world than any individual carrier serves. Yet the rapid move towards internet sales in recent years has not built in that key alliance benefit.
“oneworld is the first to be setting that right. All oneworld carriers will in the future enable their customers to buy on-line through their own airline website flights to destinations not just served by their own airline but by their alliance partners too. So travelling to any destination on the oneworld map will become a great deal easier.”
No other global alliance sells flights operated by all its member airlines through the websites of all its member airlines.
In the first phase of Finnair’s roll out, reservations via finnair.com can be made on flights operated by all other oneworld members and affiliates only in connection with a Finnair flight. Reservations on oneworld partners can at this stage only be made in combination with an intercontinental Finnair flight. This expands the number of destinations Finnair offers on-line significantly and increases the potential number of city pairs available up to 160,000.
* While all oneworld member airlines now operate aircraft decorated in a standard oneworld livery, Finnair has taken this approach one step further by decorating one of the buses it operates between Helsinki airport and the city centre in a special alliance colour scheme, featuring the tailfins of all the alliance’s member airlines. The airline uses the buses from time to time to communicate special marketing messages – and felt the alliance was the appropriate thing to highlight as it marks its 10th birthday.