In the past few weeks, major changes have been made to award pricing with the Alaska Mileage Plan program. This process hasn’t happened overnight, but rather we’ve seen the pricing change gradually. I wanted to post an update and reminder that all of the new pricing should be live as of today.
Let’s recap all the details, as just about everything has changed about Mileage Plan award pricing. Let me just say upfront that Alaska isn’t pulling a Delta SkyMiles here, in terms of trying to destroy the value of its program. While the former sweet spots have largely been eliminated, the program has become much more widely useful. I actually think changes along these lines were long overdue, and there are now some great new uses of Mileage Plan miles.
In this post:
Alaska Mileage Plan overhauls award redemptions
Alaska Mileage Plan has introduced new award pricing, which is intended to be significantly more transparent than the previous pricing system. Not only that, but Mileage Plan has rolled out award redemptions on partner airlines globally, and is even working toward allowing multiple partners to be booked on a single award. Let’s talk more about what that looks like.
New zone & distance-based award charts
With these changes, Alaska Mileage Plan has three simple award charts that are a combination of zone and distance based. The airline claims that with this new distance-based structure, 60% of partner nonstop routes in economy start at a lower price point, while 64% of partner nonstop routes in business class start at a lower price point.
There is the Americas award chart, which covers any travel from the United States to anywhere in the Americas, including North America and South America.
Then there’s the Asia-Pacific award chart, which includes travel from the United States to Asia-Pacific, within Asia-Pacific, and between Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Then there’s the Europe, Middle East, and Africa award chart, which includes travel from the United States to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and travel within Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The most significant thing to understand here is that the “starting at” prices are actually what you’re going to pay if there’s saver level award availability. All partners have the same award pricing, assuming there’s saver award availability. That’s a big improvement over the previous situation, where different partners had different pricing.
There are a few other important things to mention:
- Award pricing is based on the cumulative distance of one-way travel
- As you can see above, there’s a hierarchy of award charts, so the Americas chart only applies if you’re traveling within the Americas, while the Asia-Pacific chart applies if traveling from the United States to Asia, and the Europe, the Middle East, and Africa chart applies if traveling from the United States to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
- Award routing rules remain the same as they previously were, though of course the more distance you travel, the more you’ll pay
Award redemptions opened up globally
Under the previous Mileage Plan system, you could only redeem Mileage Plan miles for travel within and between select regions. That has changed with the new program, as Mileage Plan has opened up redemptions on partners globally. This is an exciting and long overdue change, as there are no longer geographic restrictions on redemptions.
More redemption options on more partners
Not only has Alaska Mileage Plan opened up redemptions globally, but the program has also rolled out more kinds of awards:
- Mileage Plan has introduced premium economy redemptions on American Airlines and Japan Airlines
- Mileage Plan has rolled out more non-saver award options on partners than before
- This is very specific, but for travel in Icelandair Saga Class (business class), pricing is now based on premium economy rather than business class, given the type of product that Icelandair offers
Multi-airline awards coming in late 2024
Currently Alaska Mileage Plan doesn’t let you mix partners on a single one-way award ticket. You can fly Alaska Airlines to a gateway, and then a partner airline for the rest of your journey. As of later in 2024, Mileage Plan intends to allow members to mix two partners on a single one-way award ticket, which is an exciting development.
For those wondering why it has taken so long, it’s my understanding that this has been a technology limitation up until now, though the airline is working on resolving that.
Partner award sales will become a regular thing
Going forward, Mileage Plan will offer regular global partner award sales. The intent is that there will be quarterly, limited-time promotions featuring special pricing of up to 50% off, on specific partners or routes, or to specific destinations. That sounds great, though let’s see what the execution is like.
Stopovers are here to stay
With these Mileage Plan changes, Alaska hasn’t made any changes to its stopover policy, which continues to be extremely generous. As before, you’re able to make a stopover on most redemptions at partner hubs, so nothing has changed there.
My take on these Alaska Mileage Plan changes
Here’s the thing — if it were still 2016, I’d say that these Mileage Plan changes are a massive devaluation. For those of us who are savvy with redeeming miles, the Mileage Plan program has historically been so useful because of a few sweet spot awards, particularly for transpacific travel. For example, being able to redeem 70,000 Mileage Plan miles for a Cathay Pacific one-way first class award to Asia or beyond was an incredible value.
But times have also changed, and that’s not Alaska’s fault, frankly. The sweet spot awards that we used to love Mileage Plan for are basically theoretical at this point, as there’s no availability. When the last time we saw a transpacific Cathay Pacific first class award bookable through Mileage Plan? I don’t remember the last time I saw one…
The way I view it, with these changes, Mileage Plan redemptions are switching from being theoretically aspirational, to being much more practical. With that in mind, a few thoughts about these changes:
- I’m thrilled to see Mileage Plan finally introduce redemptions globally, rather than only in select regions
- It’s great that Alaska is bringing back a transparent and simple award chart, where we’ll know exactly how much we’ll pay for saver awards
- The new redemption rates are extremely lucrative for shorter distance travel, and this chart is useful given Alaska’s unique airline partners beyond oneworld, ranging from Condor, to Icelandair, to Singapore Airlines
- I’m also happy that Alaska is planning on introducing multi-partner awards in the coming year
- These changes definitely devalue some sweet spots considerably, but I’d say they do a good job of distributing value across redemptions more equally; that’s useful right now, given that the sweet spots were largely theoretical
- Call me naive, but I think these changes are actually intended to make the program more broadly useful, rather than intended as a devaluation; there are a few loyalty programs run by avgeeks who are genuine with their intentions, and Alaska Mileage Plan is one of those programs
Crunching numbers on Alaska Mileage Plan award changes
Let’s use some real life examples of how award pricing has changed. First, here are a few situations where the increase in award pricing is awful:
- A Qantas first class award from Los Angeles to Sydney would go from costing 70,000 miles to costing 130,000 miles
- A Qantas business class award from Los Angeles to Sydney would go from costing 50,000 miles to costing 85,000 miles
- A Cathay Pacific first class award from Los Angeles to Hong Kong would go from costing 70,000 miles to costing 130,000 miles
- A Cathay Pacific business class award from Los Angeles to Hong Kong would go from costing 50,000 miles to costing 85,000 miles
Of course as mentioned above, the issue is that there’s almost never any availability with these redemptions, so that’s largely a moot point.
There’s also so much more broad usefulness with the new program, though. Let me just give examples of a few redemptions that stand out to me:
- The new program offers huge value for short haul awards within the Americas, as you’re able to redeem 4,500 miles for an itinerary of up to 700 miles, and 7,500 miles for an itinerary of up to 1,400 miles
- An Icelandair business class award from the United States to Europe via Iceland (with a stopover) costs just 35,000 miles (due to this pricing being updated to premium economy)
- Flying from the Northeast of the United States to Ireland or England costs 45,000 miles in business class, or 67,500 miles in first class
- A Qatar Airways business class award from Doha to Mumbai decreases in price from 40,000 miles to 15,000 miles
- A Japan Airlines business class award from Tokyo to Shanghai decreases in price from 35,000 miles to 15,000 miles
- A Malaysia Airlines business class award from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok decreases in price from 65,000 miles to 15,000 miles
Bottom line
Major changes have just been implemented at the Alaska Mileage Plan program. We’ve seen the introduction of new zone and distance based award charts, which determine award pricing.
Obviously these changes are a mixed bag. The sweet spot redemptions that previously existed with the program have largely been devalued. However, those sweet spots were largely theoretical, given the lack of availability we’ve seen on carriers like Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, and Qantas.
Instead, Mileage Plan has switched to a program that’s much more practical, with particularly good value for short haul redemptions across the globe. Mileage Plan is finally allowing redemptions without geographic restrictions, and later in 2024, we’ll even see multi-carrier redemptions introduced.
What do you make of these Alaska Mileage Plan changes?
Alaska demands miles to purchase flights in a very arbitrary way. Yakima WA to Seattle WA is a flight distance of 103 miles. To purchase 1 coach ticket 1 way with miles is anywhere from 10k miles to 20k miles. A monopoly by Alaska from Yakima to Seattle allows the gouging. You can fly from Seattle to Maui for 20k miles.
And then Alaska complains that not enough people use their service. Ummmm....
This is terrible for those of us that reside in Alaska. It puts us in the bracket that we have to use more miles just yo get to Seattle from here. You would think they would have done something better for the locals here.
Don't know if this is due to the recent changes, but I just booked round trip, DFW-LGA for this weekend in First Class (both segments) on AA metal for 15,000 Alaska miles each way. I'll take that every day of the week!
It is becoming crystal clear to me what is happening: airlines are making a ton of money from selling their air miles… and by making them as difficult or as unpleasant as possible to redeem, they are counting on those air miles they sold to just sit there and never get used. This way they are getting “free” money without ever having to give anything in return for the miles they sold. They are making...
It is becoming crystal clear to me what is happening: airlines are making a ton of money from selling their air miles… and by making them as difficult or as unpleasant as possible to redeem, they are counting on those air miles they sold to just sit there and never get used. This way they are getting “free” money without ever having to give anything in return for the miles they sold. They are making a fortune off selling the illusion of redeemable miles. Sure, they will release a few teaser flights that only a few hard core players can get to reinforce the illusion of redeemable flights that are “possible” while protecting themselves from being sued. It is despicable what they are doing.
Was nice while it lasted! Glad I got to try CX and JL F via Alaska.
That pic of Hong Kong from the air is so beautiful. Too bad that the CCP destroyed the territory. Sadly I'll never visit again.
Alaska seems to have lost all CX capacity, even economy. There are no award flights available to any destination in any cabin.
They had quite a few availability in economy prior to this update for 35k (one-way to SE Asia) and 42.5k for the same routes now. Premium Y and Business are very difficult to find.
Look, I can moan about change as well as anybody, but not many of you joined AA program in 1988 when you could get 2 (TWO!!) RT economy tickets on Quantas for 100K miles (I still have my award chart to prove it). My wife and I claimed it and flew Anchorage to Perth, train to Sydney, flew to Cairns, then home to ANC. AND, in 2004, how about the AS award PDX LAX LHR,...
Look, I can moan about change as well as anybody, but not many of you joined AA program in 1988 when you could get 2 (TWO!!) RT economy tickets on Quantas for 100K miles (I still have my award chart to prove it). My wife and I claimed it and flew Anchorage to Perth, train to Sydney, flew to Cairns, then home to ANC. AND, in 2004, how about the AS award PDX LAX LHR, 10 day stopover, then LHR CAPETOWN, both 12 hour BA legs in upper deck 747, then back home to PDX. Great memories for about 140K each (I think). Always sad to see devaluations, but happy to have enjoyed the "Golden age" of award travel.
I see a lot of comments about the devaluations on premium seats. How about economy seats? I’ve got about 80k AS miles that I want to use. Being based in HNL, not many short haul trips for me. I do need a flight from TYO to ICN one way this summer. I wonder how low that’ll be priced on JAL.
Eleventy bajillion miles still required for Starlux. (In fact, it went up from 165k to 176k per direction for business from TPE to SFO.)
A few days ago, Starlux business class with Alaska miles had good availability for 75K each way for TPE-SEA but they got gobbled up pretty quickly.
That's likely because the SEA route was just introduced. It doesn't exist from LAX and SFO anymore. :(
Farewell, SIN-JFK(SO)-FRA for 110K in SQ J
A Japan Airlines business class award from Tokyo to Shanghai decreases in price from 35,000 miles to 15,000 miles
Two years ago, you can pay 25k and fly SIN-TYO-HKG in J for 25k anyways
"Award pricing is based on the cumulative distance of one-way travel". I don't believe that is true.
I just tried to book a miles flight from JFK/NYC to Berlin with a "free stopover" in Helsinki on Finnair in September; it's pricing at 35000 even though a direct flight to Berlin from JFK is ONLY 3460 Nautical miles. This should price it at 27,500. I actually waited to book this since I knew they were...
"Award pricing is based on the cumulative distance of one-way travel". I don't believe that is true.
I just tried to book a miles flight from JFK/NYC to Berlin with a "free stopover" in Helsinki on Finnair in September; it's pricing at 35000 even though a direct flight to Berlin from JFK is ONLY 3460 Nautical miles. This should price it at 27,500. I actually waited to book this since I knew they were changing to actual miles based pricing to Europe and elsewhere (e.g, it priced at 30,000 to berlin through Helsinki before). So, this should be 27,500 NOT 35,000. so, they aren't being upfront! I've called Alaska and their agents are either clueless or completely belligerent when asking a simple question: Why is Germany (Berlin) being priced as if it's another, more expensive zone? maybe the Alaska miles person who's in charge reads this blog. You've mentioned he's a "friend" to the the "miles/points" community. Nevertheless, either a mistake or something else is going on...
@ Frank S -- Maybe I'm not expressing myself properly, or maybe you're just not understanding the intent. When I say pricing is based on the cumulative one-way distance, that means you add the distance of all the segments. So for JFK-HEL-BER, that distance is 4,818 miles, and that's the distance that determines the pricing.
Understood and thanks for the reply, Ben. I was too quick posting with my opening line about cumulative miles-- Sorry, it wasn't my intent to insinuate that YOU were wrong although it read that way. yes, you're correct; the problem IS even with the cumulative miles of 4818 IT still is under 5001-7000/35,000 Alaska points and should be 27,500 points one way economy (3501-5000 miles). And I still can't get an answer from Alaska even...
Understood and thanks for the reply, Ben. I was too quick posting with my opening line about cumulative miles-- Sorry, it wasn't my intent to insinuate that YOU were wrong although it read that way. yes, you're correct; the problem IS even with the cumulative miles of 4818 IT still is under 5001-7000/35,000 Alaska points and should be 27,500 points one way economy (3501-5000 miles). And I still can't get an answer from Alaska even though it clearly is wrong on their part. Thanks...!
Yeah, the point is stopovers are no longer 'free'. Stopovers are *allowed* but you must pay the cumulative one-way price. This assumes "saver" availability is there.
Pathetic. Horrible. Intra-Asia J awards over 1500 miles (HKG-Sin etc) go from 15,000 miles to 50,000. So for what a J award from USA to HKG in J on CX used to cost you can now pay the same for a 4 hour flight.
Simple egregious and not worth anything here - even under 1,500 miles in J are cheaper on other sources.
That's AS smart actuarial part, virtually no AS partners offer key city pairs in APAC close to 1500miles, except for maybe TYO-TPE
SIN-KUL on MH KUL-BKK on MH CX TPE-HKG etc a few under 1500 miles, 15K points in J
Over 1500 miles? 50K. SIN-HKG using other points program is a fraction of this.
Best use of Alaska miles? Cant find much maybe under 5000 miles USA-Europe in J but those will probably be vanishing soon, like the utility of AS miles
AKL-KUL on MH in J has come down from 120k to 75k and lots of availability. Cost is still on the high side. No one was going to go there for 120k though anyway.
Not live so far. Inventory is down and prices are god awful. The Icelandair has zero premium economy seats anywhere
Alaska miles are useless
Randomly checked SCL-LPB a distance of under 1,200 miles, which should price to be 7,500 on the new chart. It is pricing at 12,500, which is the old price on the chart.
So either not fully updated or the charts are not accurate.
And yes there is saver availability.
"Starting at" didn't translate to what the bloggers seem to be claiming. Any routes that cost more before the change are still pricing more for me after the change. Prices stayed the same (for awful redemptions) or went up (for previously good and ok redemptions).
There has been a trend of airlines progressively restricting partners' access to premium cabin award inventory. In the end, the question is what partner award inventory will be open to Alaska. Then, there's Alaska's new award ticket tier status benefit restriction, which can only be described as calculated and hostile. We can only hope it does expand to other airlines or an alliance-wide restriction of benefits on award tickets.
Totally. Do you blame the airlines for limiting award availability on their premium cabins. With the US credit card companies printing currency like there’s no tommorrow it has totally degraded who is flying in premium cabins now.
I agree with most of the comments that the aspirational flights that were basically a wish, are now completely gone. Also no American Space and no nonstop space internationally for business on anyone. I can find limited Condor business for 85k miles (extreme devaluation of miles) out of SFO if I originate anywhere else, however same flight out of SFO nonstop is 255k.
This is absolutely ridiculous. They do these mileage sales if buy...
I agree with most of the comments that the aspirational flights that were basically a wish, are now completely gone. Also no American Space and no nonstop space internationally for business on anyone. I can find limited Condor business for 85k miles (extreme devaluation of miles) out of SFO if I originate anywhere else, however same flight out of SFO nonstop is 255k.
This is absolutely ridiculous. They do these mileage sales if buy 100k miles get 70k free. Total bait and switch. Any miles bought last year have been evaluated 75%. also, I’m sorry but I don’t fly Doha to Mumbai enough to enjoy a 15k seat. American 57.5k business/first class is now in the history books.
This kind of stuff is what leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth about Alaska, and it’s being talked about.
You used to love Alaska Mileage Plan for all the reasons that have disappeared. Too good to be true is now not true at all.
Will Alaska be charging the same number of miles for Condor flights as they do for BA or AY? That would be absurd to price a low fare airline with limited IRROPs support and poor reliability at the same price as a network carrier.
I think the debate of good and bad with this change is subjective. Surely, it is great for those that can take advantage of the short hauls flights but for those that seek long haul awards this is definitely a huge devaluation. The new pricing for the short haul is the same as CX Asiamiles and CX releases a lot more seats to their own program. The Mileage Plan was once a fantastic value prior...
I think the debate of good and bad with this change is subjective. Surely, it is great for those that can take advantage of the short hauls flights but for those that seek long haul awards this is definitely a huge devaluation. The new pricing for the short haul is the same as CX Asiamiles and CX releases a lot more seats to their own program. The Mileage Plan was once a fantastic value prior to COVID. I bought miles in early 2020 to redeem for a CX First to HKG and then J to AKL and another 60K from AKL - LAX. When they give away miles so freely through dining, shopping and credit cards, that value has to come from somewhere whether it's in cash or in miles.
Another program considerably devaluated, what program do you think we shoud stick to for Business seats?
They needed to have this devaluation happen at the same time as allowing multiple partners on the same award. That’s the only main positive and it doesn’t even even out. look, I get it, but the extremity at which the rates went up make AS miles a lot less valuable
There’s not really a lot of value in the program until they introduce the multi partner awards. And if they are at ridiculous points cost as well and not competitive with Aeroplan then AS will be on a slippery slope.
Expect to see more AS mileage sales at rock bottom points prices as their devalued chart and lack of partner awards kick in.
Why did thi site continue to promote buying Alaska miles as “one of the most valuable awards programs” if his was the case? “The sweet spot awards that we used to love Mileage Plan for are basically theoretical at this point, as there’s no availability. When the last time we saw a transpacific Cathay Pacific first class award bookable through Mileage Plan? I don’t remember the last time I saw one…“
I'm lucky enough to have caught the tail end of the glory days of award redemptions.
Not much outsized value to be had with any programs anymore. But as you said, it's moot since the best awards ceased being available in the last few years.
Nothing good or bad lasts forever.
There are still bargains out there with the dynamic award pricing but only available close in and if you have maximum flexibility on dates. I’ve found anything to and from the US is severely lacking award space especially in the premium cabins. It’s better now to have status on your airline programs as that is where more availability is to be found.
So is alaska gonna start charging and making available like American where you can fly seattleto say bangkok which is what coulddo on emirates where now alaska doesn't allow that and itsstill 175k to doha for business and a second ticket to thailand.. where American offers the whole distance at Round 85k
Or combination of say cathay and qatar from bangkok to austria for 75k business where alaska never has anything but finnair and...
So is alaska gonna start charging and making available like American where you can fly seattleto say bangkok which is what coulddo on emirates where now alaska doesn't allow that and itsstill 175k to doha for business and a second ticket to thailand.. where American offers the whole distance at Round 85k
Or combination of say cathay and qatar from bangkok to austria for 75k business where alaska never has anything but finnair and I see that went from 50k miles to 75k miles now. Solooks to me like it's only a increase in cost withstill zero added improvement or benefit to the loyal flyer..
Plus when selling miles American seems to have much better bonus offers when available as best I've seen is 60% from alaska.. where is the upside of this strange company man type postfrom Ben?
I see a lot of dates for JFK - FRA for 185K in business on Condor but also see plenty of dates for 55K. I happened to be checking the last couple of days for travel this summer and it seems those dates that are 185K were simply not available but the ones that were available for 55K yesterday, are still the same today. So it definitely looks like there's more availability it's just some of it is ridiculously
I stopped using my Alaska credit card. There’s never any flights available. Moved it to delta. I will pay more but at least there’s availability.
Going to be a harsh tough love post! Sorry Alaska groupies
The game is not only somewhat over but far more costly now due to alliances and industry collusion. Pure greed in disguise of aligning themselves so all/most OW partners about the same price on awards which is typically non existent for partners.
I guest its hard to prove anti trust when its miles we are talking about
And Alaska has become...
Going to be a harsh tough love post! Sorry Alaska groupies
The game is not only somewhat over but far more costly now due to alliances and industry collusion. Pure greed in disguise of aligning themselves so all/most OW partners about the same price on awards which is typically non existent for partners.
I guest its hard to prove anti trust when its miles we are talking about
And Alaska has become a stinker when problems occur these days unlike their former great culture. Done with them
They once had outstanding customer relationship management sometime before Covid
Alaska has been a submissive partner in One World and gets crumbs in award availability if at all.I couldn't even combine two one world partners on one award where I can on American.And they frequently have the worst inventory of all partners and no agent will dare request space when there is availability and their computers show nothing
Alaska's agents while fine/nice within North America
fail mostly with International training and understanding
I had one agent argue with me that a connecting flight is considered a stopover(WTF) clueless.
Only when a supervisor corrected her after escalating did we get the matter settled
Happy to deal with cranky AA agents who at least know their job more often than not.
You can put anything you want in to terms and conditions
However as the Lucky one states when is the last time you've seen a first class award on Qantas, Cathay Pacific etc So if the stars align in Mileage Plan and you actually get a seat you'll pay more and bend over to get it
Cash back credit cards anyone? Farewell Alaska pathetic
Your like all the rest of them now and shame on you.And for all your overpricing we members get stuck with a partner award fee if we go or don't go.You want to be a world class global airline but your Alaska MP stubborn head is still stuck in Seattle with how to evolve and grow up with your former awesome legacy behind you.
A salute to many of Alaska's nice front lines they/we all deserve better.
Party is over! it was a great run and lots of fun :)
My question is will there actually be award seats available regardless of the mileage? On the SFO NRT sector all biz seats seem to have been eliminated regardless of date? I mean you can go on Starlux via TPE on some absurd mileage level but anything practical in business or First has vanished regardless of mileage
As the old Army saying goes “the first shot kills you and the other shots just make your body flop around. Alaska has been dead a long time and this just makes them flop around.
Glad I booked my JAL business class flight on the new airbus a350-1000 before this kicked in. Whew.
And I'm glad I booked FIJI business on their A350-900 from LAX > SYD > LAX. Seems like it'll go from 110k miles round trip to 140k miles round trip.
I remember in the late 1990's, Alaska considered the state of Alaska as the same as the other states and also allowed a stopover. It was 20,000 miles round trip. My trip was supposed to be from an East Coast city to Seattle and back but since stopovers were allowed, I was ticketed from the East Coast to Nome then return with a stopover in Seattle, which was my real destination. Nome was just a...
I remember in the late 1990's, Alaska considered the state of Alaska as the same as the other states and also allowed a stopover. It was 20,000 miles round trip. My trip was supposed to be from an East Coast city to Seattle and back but since stopovers were allowed, I was ticketed from the East Coast to Nome then return with a stopover in Seattle, which was my real destination. Nome was just a 1 day side trip done because it was odd.
It's now more than 20,000 miles round trip.
"Stopovers are here to stay"
"not making changes"
Really??
The new terms have a significant change. Only stopovers for up to 14 days are allowed. That's not good.
"One (1) enroute stopover of up to 14 days is allowed per one-way on eligible international itineraries."
That itself is a MASSIVE devaluation. Not for a lot of people, but for those who were taking maximum advantage of the open stopovers it'll be painful.
I was excited at first about Icelandair Saga class pricing, but I just checked from YVR and there is ZERO availability. Only economy is available, and it's pricing at 40,000 one way just for YVR-KEF.
So all good changes remain theoretical, while all practical redemptions increased by a lot.
I paid 22,500 for FCO-DFW-OGG in economy on AA, now it costs 42,500?
See, how less expensive it is?!
Everybody wins!
It's a win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win!
What's not to love?!!!!!1!!
I know this is an attempt to put lipstick on a pig. But this devaluation has been catastrophic.
Essentially in the past few weeks TK and AS have both murdered their programs.
I will second that sentiment.
Have spent quite a bit of time playing and nothing comes up at starting at levels. I will give them few more days to work things out but it does not look good. Starting at doesn’t mean anything if nothing is available at that level.
There's exactly as much available as there was before at this point. Awards that were cheaper are now the "starting at" price. Awards that were more are just as much. Some astronomical skypesos-type pricing also opened up.
Stopover options HAVE changed. I just tried to conduct a search that I have done numerous times in the past: multistop award ticket LAX to TPE, stopover for 1 or 2 days, then TPE to all Toyko airports. I did a similar search reversing the order of the TPE and TYO to stopover in Japan instead. Both times I was not allowed to proceed. Instead I received an error message saying the TPE and TYO...
Stopover options HAVE changed. I just tried to conduct a search that I have done numerous times in the past: multistop award ticket LAX to TPE, stopover for 1 or 2 days, then TPE to all Toyko airports. I did a similar search reversing the order of the TPE and TYO to stopover in Japan instead. Both times I was not allowed to proceed. Instead I received an error message saying the TPE and TYO pairing “cannot be booked because all travel on Alaska Airlines needs to be from or to a U.S., Canadian, or Mexican city.” I have been searching the above routes for several years now, planning possible family trips. One of the remaining and best reasons for continuing to accumulate Alaska miles has been the free stopover option on international flights. Now that Alaska is removing this option, all the recent award red emotion inflation changes mean doing anything extra to accumulate Alaska miles no longer make sense to me. It’s time to use up what I have and go the paid route as that’ll give me the most flexibility in terms of flight options.
Is this devaluation/overhaul of the Alaska Mileage Plan program still happening?
I just called up Alaska as the 1 March is fast approaching and the lady at Alaska said she has heard a few people ask this question but she went and talked to some supervisors while putting me on hold, and she came back and said the only thing that is changing is how members can earn status in the program, but they didn't...
Is this devaluation/overhaul of the Alaska Mileage Plan program still happening?
I just called up Alaska as the 1 March is fast approaching and the lady at Alaska said she has heard a few people ask this question but she went and talked to some supervisors while putting me on hold, and she came back and said the only thing that is changing is how members can earn status in the program, but they didn't know anything about a change to a zone/distance based system?
So is this old news that has changed or what exactly?
And now with announcement of AS/HA merger, I wonder if this was an early "hint" to the merger.
New Zealand based commenter here.
Large devaluations for me on the J routes (sweet spots!) I fly with AS.
AKL-HKG, was 30k, now 75k (150% devaluation),
AKL-NAN-LAX-JFK was 55k, now 85k (54% devaluation),
AKL-SIN was 65k, now 75k (15% devalution).
I guess I’ve had a good run with them but certainly won’t be buying their miles speculatively now, hoping the proposed ‘award sales’ are going to be any good. In fact...
New Zealand based commenter here.
Large devaluations for me on the J routes (sweet spots!) I fly with AS.
AKL-HKG, was 30k, now 75k (150% devaluation),
AKL-NAN-LAX-JFK was 55k, now 85k (54% devaluation),
AKL-SIN was 65k, now 75k (15% devalution).
I guess I’ve had a good run with them but certainly won’t be buying their miles speculatively now, hoping the proposed ‘award sales’ are going to be any good. In fact last night I used the last of my AS miles to go AKL-NAN-LAX-SFO in J on FJ in Sept. Seats.aero has been a game changer in using my AS miles, to find unicorns on FJ.
The only good thing I can see coming out of it is that their ridiculously priced Malaysia Airlines NZ-Asia J awards will come down from 120k to 75k. And they always seem to be available. Conversely SQ seems to have stopped releasing award space to AS.
It seems to be that it would be better now for me to fly to SYD to go to Asia as it’s 3907 miles for SYD-SIN which is inside one of the bands whereas AKL-SIN takes it up to the next band. But that's a pain in the a** if I have to get two tickets.
Wonder if these changes will just be a lesser, worse executed version of Aeroplan. Will be interested to see how this goes in practice. No point in having options with mixed partner awards if they are all too expensive, as we often see with aeroplan.
Worse than Aeorplan 2.0? Is that even theoretically possible? Let's see how much puff the bloggers give AS for this event. The narrative seems to be "the cheap stuff was unavailable (untrue btw) so ignore that, this is an improvement for people who aren't you!
Fellow kiwi here. losing 30k in J for AKL-HKG and then onwards to TLV for another 30k was a great way to get almost to Europe (not that TLV is on at present). The loss of 55k AKL/CHC to the USA in J is also huge. Basically Alaska is just another miles programme now as opposed to something worthwhile putting your oneworld flights to. Better to wait and just buy points when you have a...
Fellow kiwi here. losing 30k in J for AKL-HKG and then onwards to TLV for another 30k was a great way to get almost to Europe (not that TLV is on at present). The loss of 55k AKL/CHC to the USA in J is also huge. Basically Alaska is just another miles programme now as opposed to something worthwhile putting your oneworld flights to. Better to wait and just buy points when you have a trip comming up where Alaska is the best option, which in due course will lead to further devaluations.
Definitely a huge devaluation in my book. My sweet spots are SFO-HKG on CX J which is going from 50K to 75K and that's a 50% increase. SFO-HKG-AKL-HKG (stopover)-SFO in CX J is going from 120K to 220K, that's an 83% increase. Sitting on 160K miles, I must get rid of them before the new chart takes place.
Sorry for a second post. Will the new mileage plan still offer the companion tickets? In the same class? Or is/was this an exclusively Bank of American deal with having their credit card?
Again thank you.
Is the special, companion fly’s free being being scrapped? Well almost free that is or is this a Bank of America credit card only deal? Lots of changes by all airlines.
I kind of confused about this new mileage plan, is it going to be my current Alaska Miles of 962956 be added or merged with my American Air miles of 157000? Giving me a total of 1,119,956 miles for booking flights on any...
Is the special, companion fly’s free being being scrapped? Well almost free that is or is this a Bank of America credit card only deal? Lots of changes by all airlines.
I kind of confused about this new mileage plan, is it going to be my current Alaska Miles of 962956 be added or merged with my American Air miles of 157000? Giving me a total of 1,119,956 miles for booking flights on any airlines within the OneWorld group?
Thank you. Sorry if this has already been asked.
Why would it be merged with AA?
What about the destruction of value of domestic awards in other countries?
e.g. Transcontinental Australian awards go from 20k to 50k in business class.
A 150% increase on the current award is pretty significant.
> Mileage Plan is introducing premium economy redemptions on American Airlines and Japan Airlines
Mileage Plan already had been making premium economy redemptions available on JAL. It was harder to tell in the old UI, but with the refresh premium economy awards would regularly show up in results with rates same as what’s shown in these charts (e.g., 50,000 from the US West Coast).
> the issue is that there’s almost never any availability...
> Mileage Plan is introducing premium economy redemptions on American Airlines and Japan Airlines
Mileage Plan already had been making premium economy redemptions available on JAL. It was harder to tell in the old UI, but with the refresh premium economy awards would regularly show up in results with rates same as what’s shown in these charts (e.g., 50,000 from the US West Coast).
> the issue is that there’s almost never any availability with these redemptions, so that’s largely a moot point.
Well, how about JAL first class US West Coast to Japan going from 70,000 to 110,000? That’s been regularly available even after reopening so long as you were comfortable booking close-in (or more realistically booking an C award earlier and then waiting for A availability). Only reason it hasn’t been available in the past few weeks is because of a combination of the A350 launch delay and a 777 being taken out of service for maintenance, so a 787 is serving ex-SFO.
I got a F ticket Del -> HND-> SFO for 70k AS miles before things started to get crazy!
Burnt abt 220k AS points in late 2022, snagged a HND to DEL in J for 25k points too.
Have 70k points left. Was waiting for CX J or F redemption, guess that aint happening anymore.
So round trip first class to Europe goes from 120,000 to 260,000? Hmmm
Strange choice of image to illustrate Alaska's stopover policy... they have disallowed stopovers in Hong Kong for some years now, presumably because Cathay didn't like that (CX banned stopovers in HK around the same time).
I booked a biz award flight last January from YVR to Taipei with a stopover in Hong Kong on CX. In fact, I'm sitting in Hong Kong right now on that exact CX redemption so this statement is simply incorrect. Harder to come by perhaps, but not entirely gone.
"A Cathay Pacific first class award from Los Angeles to Hong Kong would go from costing 70,000 miles to costing 130,000 miles"
If I have to pay 130k instead 70k I preffer NOT to have award space on Catahy and take profit of the same route with any other airline at the old cost
There will be also a LATAM devaluation from SCL, EZE, GRU to EEUU.
This si SO bad news.
Hi. I try to travel Alaska airlines always. I am a single traveler and never use my buddy pass. Is there an alternate choice for me? Perhaps I could exchange it for a boardroom pass. And why are award seats mostly middle seats? I have not had a problem with them that was not taken care of immediately. I love them!! And 99% of the agents and staff are “A-+”.
Best news for me is increase in availability for international flights.
"A Qantas first class award from Los Angeles to Sydney would go from costing 70,000 miles to costing 130,000 miles"
why wouldn't I just book with AA @ 110k? and not have to pay a partner award booking fee? More reason to stay away from their program
Alaska now officially sucks sorry Alaska defenders lovers
Did I say they have many inexperienced agents that don't know how to book Int awards? (sigh)
I'm curious as a Canadian. The award charts for EMEA and Asia Pac both say "Includes travel from US to..." Does this mean we'll have to add on an Americas connection to the US point of departure? Does this also mean we won't be able to depart from Canada on a direct flight to the appropriate region (i.e. KE from YYZ to ICN) anymore?
Yes it means we'll have to pay more, get less. This is a Deval with bloggers giving it lots of puff, just like they did with Aeroplan 2.0. I'm just gonna give up and find a way to earn twice as many AS points.
Even if you're just a domestic AS flyer, I think you're going to see this generally as a devaluation. I routinely find cross-country trips (e.g., SEA-IAD, SEA-EWR) for 12,500 miles. Those will be no more.
You win some and you lose some, mostly losses in the last ten year due to how well the economy is, but the cycle will come full circle again. Like others, if this opens up bit more availability then I think it’s okay… especially shorter distances… I had my fair share of unicorn redemptions in AS over the years, like 100k one way from SFO to DXB stopover then down to MRU in EK first....
You win some and you lose some, mostly losses in the last ten year due to how well the economy is, but the cycle will come full circle again. Like others, if this opens up bit more availability then I think it’s okay… especially shorter distances… I had my fair share of unicorn redemptions in AS over the years, like 100k one way from SFO to DXB stopover then down to MRU in EK first. 60k business from SFO to HKG (stop over) then on to JNB on CX J. Fiji as well to Australia, Air Tahiti J, and most recently Starlux J (when it was first launched) Now days we have good amounts of convertible points from banks, which opens up more options than before. We are seeing more discounts on mile purchases and larger credit card sign ups.
AS still remains a cheap options to achieve OW emerald, especially if you are able to fly BA J and F class of service. I do suspect they will patch this as well sooner or later.
I mean heck, you can get up to 100k miles per year every year just for making 100k status. People with 100k status that flies on BA metal with some frequency can earn like 300k+ miles every year. So increased in miles with availability increase is good… but we will need to see.
As someone who lives in Southeast Alaska where we are literally held hostage by Alaska Aitlines if we want to travel, I think it will be interesting to see if it effects us because we never get any “deals” on air travel to anywhere. I’m betting these new awards do not apply to our region.
You guys get a free checked bag with needing status or have a credit card!
If this improves availabiity, I'd be 100% fine with these increases. Right now it's insane, borderline useless when trying to get asian biz redemptions.
they won't improve much on availability....just a minor change.
Instead devaluation will be a huge change
I have to agree with Sonny. I think we imagine the demand/supply curve changing when things get more expensive. Some of this comes down to partner availability, and frankly if I can't find it on AA tomorrow, I'm not going to find it on AS either.
End of an era. Not sure why you're putting positive spin on it. Was inevitable eventually.
Does this mean we will be able to book on JAL from Tokyo to Seoul for example?
Or on Qatar from Doha to Barcelona one way?
Did Alaska pay to write this article?
The 42,500 redemptions on Qatar economy to Asia will increase to 60,000
The 85,000 redemptions on Qatar Business to Asia will increase to 130,000
This is a devaluation and nothing else.
Looking at award availability in C for Sep '24 from LAX to TYO: 235k is shocking. 75k in Y from HNL to TYO equally disappointing. An end of an era indeed.
I live in HNL and just booked HNL to NRT last night using Chase points transferred to Virgin with a 30% bonus (expires tonight), Found 3 Y tickets on ANA and paid 17,333 points each for a trip in July. Stoked about that. United was charging 47.5k for the same flight and Hawaiian was charging like 50k. Glad to see ANA had availability, but know that J and F are pretty nonexistent.
I agree that these changes were probably inevitable and they aren't as bad as some other devaluations with other airlines recently, but it's still disappointing. I really liked being able to get from the US west coast to Europe, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand in business class for 50k-60k points and Africa and the Maldives for 80-90k points. Most of those redemptions will require almost 40% more points after this change. It also sounds like...
I agree that these changes were probably inevitable and they aren't as bad as some other devaluations with other airlines recently, but it's still disappointing. I really liked being able to get from the US west coast to Europe, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand in business class for 50k-60k points and Africa and the Maldives for 80-90k points. Most of those redemptions will require almost 40% more points after this change. It also sounds like the biggest upside of this (multi-partner redemptions) will take months longer to arrive too. It would have been nice if they could have at least applied the positive and negative changes simultaneously.
It's even worse flying to OZ from the east coast, as Qantas J increases from 55,000 to 130,000 on many one-stop itineraries. For F, it will increase from 70,000 to 195,000.
While we're on the subject of practical improvements, how about finally figuring out how to collect taxes for lap infants so they don't need their own redemption?
Will we be able to finally book SQ without having to phone them for availability?
This program has been useless for a while now. It just became even more useless.
Its getting to a point where its more rewarding to just search for the lowest fare on the dates you want to travel. The sweet spots have all but disappeared.
Mostly negative for West coast flyers (most of Alaska), who use their miles for biz/first for Asia and Europe travel. I've never had issues finding JAL, BA, Condor, Finnair, or AA availability for routes I like to take, e.g. SFO - NRT, SFO - LHR, LAX - LHR. I usually use Delta or BA miles for domestic, so this is a loss for AS elites.
Definitely agree that more expensive but bookable redemptions are an improvement over amazing deals that only exist in theory.
I am not sure about fixed price. This is just starting price. I can still see lots of mileage requirement in 280k for Europe in Aer Lingus. Qatar is still in 200 for non saver dates ( i understand this is extended availability - i can book the same with Qatar Avios in 170 miles which is easy to acquire)
I have used multiple good redemption over the years. Alaska is dead for me . I dont even check these days !
I use my AS CC because of the long haul Southeast Asia trips. It looks like this being devalued. Guess it's time for me to look for another credit card. And airline.
I'm curious if Alaska will continue to have access to Singapore Airlines as a partner with this new chart, which is vastly superior from the user perspective than their current individual chart for Singapore Airlines. My suspicion is that they will not.
I'm thankful that I was able to use our AS miles for r/trip business class to Fiji Airways for Spring Break next year. 55k each way was a sweet deal. Presumably starting March 24, the miles needed for biz on this route will almost double?
And...my normal Alaska route clocks in a 2143 miles.
So this is a 50% deval.
Beyond the aspirational sweet spot redemption, this is largely positive for the program. The points will be much more useful overall.
Remains to be seen whether AS will get more access to say, CX award space with the new charts. Forget First Class, it's even pretty much impossible to find premium economy on Cathay to/from US. It's not all bad; I'm look forward to some lower redemption costs on JAL, for example, compared to now.
@ Trey -- I wouldn't expect much change in Cathay Pacific saver award availability. Unfortunately Cathay Pacific is just releasing fewer award seats to partners than ever before, and that's not something partners have control over. Same issue with American AAdvantage...
Lack of saver award availability on Cathay Pacific is primarily due to the current demand for flights to/from China. If and when that abnormality goes away, I'd expect CX to release significantly more saver awards. Unfortunately, AS miles wouldn't be the top choice for award redemption when that happens.
Hmmm.. My normal Alaskan redemption is DFW to HND for 60k in business (decent award availability). It's going to 75k which is a bummer. We all knew this was going to happen, but maybe the increased functionality won't make this the worst devalue ever.
Huge thumbs up to Alaska for giving us a couple of months notice before the changes take place. A stark contrast from the most recent United devaluation, where they did it overnight with no heads up whatsoever.
This change is great for the general public, but for us nerds who look for the best value, this is the fall of the last bastion, an end of an era.
AS is never meant to be a global program, as it is not a global carrier. Very few who qualified 75k by flying 12 segments on AS wish they could redeem miles for CPT-LVI on BA or MLE-FRA on DE. Instead, some, like...
This change is great for the general public, but for us nerds who look for the best value, this is the fall of the last bastion, an end of an era.
AS is never meant to be a global program, as it is not a global carrier. Very few who qualified 75k by flying 12 segments on AS wish they could redeem miles for CPT-LVI on BA or MLE-FRA on DE. Instead, some, like me, switch from others to AS on some once-in-a-lifetime redemption that we can brag every thanksgiving dinner. Maybe I am naive to assume that, but globalization of the chart eliminates the only thing standing out for AS MileagePlan: carrier specific charts with restricted use but great value. You plan your trips around great sweet spots, instead of checking redemptions for your needs.
And yes, CX is mostly gone, but recently, many QF redemptions have popped up for even first class redemptions. I have seen a handful of LAX-MEL and multiple 55k redemptions in business class. And not to mention, nuked along with QF is FJ, all routes they fly to North America have been devalued from 55k to 70k, and if you add on the stopover priviledges, it is even worse, to 85k.
Also, this chart largely eliminates the advantage of a free stopover, as adding a separate leg is virtually identical to having a stopover as many itinerary. In some cases, it is actually cheaper to book 2 awards instead of 1 award with stopvoer, for example, adding a 700 mile leg onto a 1400 mile leg in the Americas.
Overall, a positive change for many, but a death blow to the enthusiasts who love AS for the quirky usages that may benefit a few times a year.
My feelings exactly. AS was great for aspirational trips but I never flew them regularly enough to actually care about them. I flew just enough that I had a couple thousand miles available so they wouldn't think I was just using their program to get award flights (which I totally was). I would, however, scour award availability, purchase miles when there was a sale, then - as you mentioned - plan a trip around a...
My feelings exactly. AS was great for aspirational trips but I never flew them regularly enough to actually care about them. I flew just enough that I had a couple thousand miles available so they wouldn't think I was just using their program to get award flights (which I totally was). I would, however, scour award availability, purchase miles when there was a sale, then - as you mentioned - plan a trip around a sweet spot. I hit the two sweet spots I cared to - Sydney on QF and HK and beyond on CX, both in F - a few times to satiate me. But it was never about flying AS or being loyal to them. But we (points and miles folk) are a group of people that don't represent the masses in any real way. It's great being a DINK and working remote and finding an LH F award 4 days out and being able to turn to your spouse/partner and say, "Should we go to Germany on LH than hop a tag flight to Greece and work remote for 10 days in, I dunno, Crete?" because an award popped up and there's a hotel you saw on Instagram that looks nice. But I think all of us have kind of killed that (for now) plus Covid and the current economy and a host of other things has caused airlines to reevaluate, for lack of a better term. I'll miss trips to HK "just because", but I think this was pretty inevitable. And who am I to stand in the way of the the greater flying public having more accessibility. I had my fun, but the needs of the many...
The game is always changing. Some changes will be good for some awards and bad for other awards. Skilled players will adapt. Unskilled players will whine. Those not in the game won't know and won't care.
And some skilled players will whine and then adapt ( me ).
I'm very skilled and I'm gonna whine like a SOB. But mostly what I'm whining about is all these people running around applying the lipstick for them.
NOT TRUE that sweet redemptions were unavailable. JFK/ORD/SFO-TYO (either direction) F has been available consistently in recent months, T-7/6/5/4/3/2/1. I have always booked my sweet spot flights a week (or less) before travel. So there is Zero upside to the changes, only a masive apocalyptic price increase. Add...
I'm very skilled and I'm gonna whine like a SOB. But mostly what I'm whining about is all these people running around applying the lipstick for them.
NOT TRUE that sweet redemptions were unavailable. JFK/ORD/SFO-TYO (either direction) F has been available consistently in recent months, T-7/6/5/4/3/2/1. I have always booked my sweet spot flights a week (or less) before travel. So there is Zero upside to the changes, only a masive apocalyptic price increase. Add AS to the list of villians, re-engineering the loyalty program for civilians, at our expense. Party over.