Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan program will be introducing more flexible rewards on American Airlines, and I’d say that’s probably going to be good news.
Continue reading: Alaska Adding Dynamic Award Pricing On American
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Alaska’s mileage plan is so complicated and deceiving. I am going back to American. I have over 700,000 miles on AMERICAN before I switched to to Alaska under their status match program. I now have about 26000 miles since I joined an now I find out it was a con job and so complicated. I am now going back to fly AMERICAN.
AA can be very difficult with reasonable award space available through their Oneworld partners. My experience with booking AA through BA, it has to be a flight with plenty of availability. Seasonal flights like before and after Christmas, forget it. BA thus far has been blocked out. Alaska, you can get AA flights and somewhat reasonable. However, with hardily any Alaska miles, I could transfer Amex to Singapore to Alaska, but with my Platinum business card, the 35% rebate beats the Alaska price. So why do a transfer when I'll get miles using my Platinum business card? It's a game. Oh, AA award price, usually forget it. You might as well throw your points out the door. I guess AA has to make up for Ben's SimplyMiles haul! (joke, go Ben)
I think your view that any kind of “dynamic pricing” can be a good thing is hopelessly naive. Dynamic pricing is the euphemism for gigantic rises in rates when most people would want it. A chart, even which goes by season rather than year round as originally, would be more reasonable and public for people to have some idea how many miles is needed. And while I know that this is also a way to raise rates without saying so, “dynamic pricing” often comes up with absurd amounts which are insults. Airlines should go back to a chart even with raised prices and based on seasons.
Coach may have done deals, but business awards will be sky high. Right now, you can find the flights lower in J than what AA has for the same AA flight.
Does Slaska have feed to cancel award tickets?
Sorry for the spell check, meant does Alaska have fees to cancel partner awards.
They do not. They charge $12.50 for a partner award booking fee that is nonrefundable however. I have cancelled both AY and IB award tickets without any penalty except for that booking fee. I expect the same for AA.
I have used AS miles to book flights from Hawaii to California (in 1st class) as a stop-over then 2 months later, continued onward on same reservation to east coast in AA Flagship lie-flat seats where I can connect to my final destination (also in business class) in the Caribbean or Central American, or Mexico. All of that for 27,500 AS miles. The same reservation with AA miles would have cost me 3x or maybe even 4x. I feel like with this new update, I won't be able to make these bookings for the same amount of miles anymore 🙁
Here are some examples of flights with stop-over I booked for only 27,500 AS miles (all in first/business)
HNL-SFO-JFK-SJO
OGG-LAX-MIA-AUA
PUJ-DFW-HNL
CUN-MIA-LAX-OGG
Would Alaska like us to view this new development as an 'enhancement' ? I suspect so.
I view the idea of dynamic pricing of awards, not just AS, as a giant step away from the spirit of awards generally. There was a time when you could score a very desirable flight as an award where it may have been high-cost if bought for cash. No more!
Dynamic pricing of awards is simply shadowing revenue inventory.
Of course UA id the biggest offender here!
So the free stopover also works on American flights? I didn’t realize these kind of routings were possible!