As Alaska Air pursues global aspirations, other carriers build on international success

Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci has global aspirations for the carrier as it absorbs Hawaiian Airlines and its fleet of wide-body transcontinental aircraft.

“Can you imagine seeing an Alaska Airlines plane in Europe or Asia?” he asked a group of frequent flyers in Anchorage earlier this month.

I sure can. Even Hawaiian Airlines’ existing destinations are exotic: Rarotonga in the Cook Islands and Pago Pago in American Samoa.

This week, United Airlines rolled out an impressive array of new destinations for the summer, that only a global network airline can do. The carrier is taking exotic to a whole new level.

Starting on June 14, United will begin offering twice-weekly service from its Newark hub to Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk. It will be the only U.S. carrier offering service to Greenland. The flight is just over four hours. Currently, the fastest route is more than 10 hours via Icelandair and their hub at Reykjavik.

The idea of flying to Nuuk on United jumped out at me, but there are more exotic, warmer destinations in United’s summer schedule.

Starting June 7, United will fly twice each week to the mid-Atlantic island of Madeira. The island lies more than 300 miles off the coast of Morocco and is part of Portugal.

Most of what I know of Madeira, which isn’t much, comes from my friend Cella Baker, who stopped in the capital city of Funchal. One of the popular activities there is to ride down the steep streets in sleds, steered by local “gondoliers.”

Madeira’s subtropical climate makes it a popular holiday spot, although it’s tough to reach because it’s in the middle of the ocean. United also is launching nonstop service to Faro, Portugal, near the southern tip of the country.

The last time we flew to Sicily, we first took Condor’s nonstop to Frankfurt, then collected our bags. From there, we flew to Zurich and finally boarded a flight on Swiss Airlines to Palermo.

[Hub airports are important, and utilizing them can maximize a traveler’s experience]

Starting May 21, United will offer the only nonstop service from the U.S. to Palermo, three times per week. Sicily is a fascinating island, with Roman and Greek ruins, and fantastic cathedrals built in part by Muslim craftsmen and friendly people. The island has been ruled in turn by Arabs, Romans, Greeks, Norman kings and Spanish monarchs, among others. I lost count of the number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites on the island (there are seven).

Flights from United’s hub in Newark mean more to Alaskans now that United flies nonstop Anchorage-Newark, starting May 22. There are several more new flights from Newark to Europe, including nonstops to Bilbao, Mallorca, Dubrovnik, Venice and Athens.

In addition to its daily nonstop Anchorage-Newark flights, United will resume its Anchorage-Washington, D.C., nonstop to its hub at Dulles Airport.

United offers a robust international schedule from Dulles, with flights to Lagos, Nigeria, Cape Town, South Africa and Sao Paulo, Brazil. New this year: nonstop service from Dulles to Dakar, Senegal.

United also offers seasonal service from Newark to Marrakesh, Morocco between October and March.

Across the Pacific, United is offering new service to several destinations through its hub in Tokyo.

Alaskans don’t have nonstop flights to Tokyo and United doesn’t fly to Seattle, the logical gateway. Travelers have to go to San Francisco to catch United’s flight to Tokyo. From there, choose from three new destinations: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Kaohsiung, Taiwan or the island nation of Palau.

Ulaanbaatar is the capital of Mongolia and United will be the only U.S. carrier to fly there, starting May 1.

Palau, with more than 300 islands is a world-renowned destination for divers and snorkelers looking for picturesque underwater adventures. United already flies to Palau from Guam and Manila.

Beginning July 11, United will offer nonstop flights from Tokyo to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, near the southern tip of the island. Additionally, United offers two nonstop flights each day between Taipei and San Francisco.

In sum, United’s international schedule is huge: 800 flights per day to 147 international destinations. It’s easier in the summer for Alaskans to connect, since United offers daily service to hubs: Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and Denver (plus Newark and Dulles). From Fairbanks, United flies nonstop to Chicago and Denver during the summer.

If you’re not sitting on a bunch of United Mileage Plus miles, you can get between 20,000 and 80,000 points by signing up for a credit card.

But my favorite hack is to transfer points from my Chase “flexible spend” credit card over to United. Usually, I reserve my Chase points for hotels, but United may offer some good mileage deals on some of the routes to Madeira or Greenland!

[Need a new passport? Wait times just got shorter.]

United isn’t the only global network carrier ramping up for a big summer travel season in 2025. Fly nonstop from Anchorage to Atlanta on Delta and connect to Santiago, Chile, Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro. Or fly across the Atlantic to Athens, Cape Town or Johannesburg.

American Airlines, an Alaska Air partner, has a big schedule from its hub in Dallas, as well as from New York’s JFK Airport.