Alaska Airlines now plans to launch its comprehensive partner award chart in March 2024, which, from the looks of it, would finally allow the mixing and matching of partners; at least, this is our hope.
Alaska has promised this for a while, and redemptions on many partners have been delayed months or years since the initial announcement. We hope this will be ready in March 2024, likely on the last date.
You can access Alaska’s page for partner awards here.
Experience even more rewards starting in March 2024. Redeem miles with 24 global partners and even more to come. Combine awards for one-way and round trip flights or travel to multiple cities.
Alaska has made many broken promises before when it comes to redeeming miles on partner airlines, so I wouldn’t hold my breath that this change takes place in March unless it is in 2025 and not 2024.
Premium economy is even more affordable, starting at just 30% more than an economy ticket.
Maybe.
No penalties for changing or cancelling your flight. Once you cancel your ticket, your miles will go back into your account and any taxes paid will be refunded.
I like programs that allow free canceling of awards.
Make sure to include a free international stopover. Select the “multi-city” option when shopping for a flight reward.
Let’s hope that this is genuinely allowed on ALL international itineraries.
Your dream destinations are closer than ever, with new features on the way in March 2024
We’ll see.
Short trips for less miles
Short-haul awards will start as low as 4,500 miles each way (down from 7,500).
Alaska has not been competitive on many awards, and those within Japan are way overpriced compared to AA. This change may allow me to again redeem flights on LA’s short-haul flights within Brazil that, under Alaska’s current award chart, have made no sense at all compared to AA’s pricing on GOL and United’s on Azul.
Elevated and affordable
With our new distance-based structure, 60% of partner nonstop routes in economy class and 64% of routes in business class will start at a lower price point.
The devil is always in the details, and note that Alaska here uses words NON-STOP and WILL START. Many non-stop itineraries may cost more than today, or the discount is less significant.
Use miles, near and far
You’ll have access to new award flights between and within regions outside of North America.
This would be a welcomed change because you cannot currently redeem on many partners for flights that are available BUT Alaska simply doesn’t allow redeeming on them between origin and destination.
When I read through the T&Cs, the following part sticks out:
Miles shown reflect starting at prices and are for informational purposes only. Itineraries including multiple segments and/or access to additional inventory may price at higher levels.
It is not clear how Alaska will price multiple-segment itineraries. Are they priced segment by segment, ala BA, or by total distance flown?
Americas
Includes travel from US to Americas and within Americas. Americas include North America, Caribbean Islands, Central America and South America
Some interesting flights on LATAM would be 4,500 miles each way (Sao Paulo – Rio de Janeiro is one of them).
Europe, the Middle East & Africa
Includes travel from US to EMEA and within EMEA. EMEA includes Europe, Middle East and Africa
There is a massive jump in the number of miles required from 1,500 to the next level (three times), making longer flights within Europe expensive using Alaska miles compared to Avios from BA, IB, and AY.
Asia Pacific
Includes travel from US to Asia Pacific, within Asia Pacific and between Asia Pacific–Europe, Middle East, Africa. Asia Pacific includes SE Asia, Indian Subcontinent, South Pacific, Japan/Korea.
There is even a greater bump here between the short-haul flights of less than 1,500 miles and those of above. You must pay more than three times, and the business can become pricey.
Conclusion
If you can fully mix and match partners AND it is easy to get a free stopover on ALL international award itineraries AND the mileage required is counted not per each segment but for the entire trip, then I do like these changes a lot.
I have had 200K+ AS miles sitting in my account now for a while, and I have had real trouble using them because Alaska has always either had no availability that others had OR their prices have been significantly higher compared to airlines such as AA and BA.
The devil is in the details, and we will know in March how this plays out when we can redeem per the new schedule, incorporate the stopover, and hopefully mix and match airlines.
John Ollila