Emirates to be added as an Alaska Mileage Plan member as of March 1, 2012

I think Korean is also a viable option, especially so as its a Chase transfer partner.

Do you know when can we see the award chart. How soon?

@ caveman -- They say the option to redeem on Emirates starts late in the year, so I suspect we won't see the chart for at least another six months or so. Who knows...

How many miles is SEA-DXB? Seems like a very fast way to make MVP Gold.

Or maybe fly SEA-LAX-DXB or even SEA-IAH-DXB to maximize the EQMs and RDMs

I can't wait to find out what the award chart will be like for EK flights, particularly in the premium cabin. However, I am embracing myself for some eye-popping amounts for F awards [in the 200-300K range for a long haul F R/T award maybe].

Before I got into the points game, I took a flight through Dubai on Emirates, and now I have 18.5K points stuck in an Emirates Skywards account. Any advice on how I can use these in a valuable way? Will I be able to book Alaska miles using Skywards miles?

@ Carl -- It's about 7,500 miles, so you're right, miles will add up quickly.

@ Golfingboy -- Only time till well, though I suspect it won't be *that* bad. Maybe 180,000 for first class, similar to what JAL charges. But I am curious, because I wouldn't be surprised if it's as high as you suspect.

@ marzman -- While they haven't announced their redemption chart yet, chances are you'll be able to redeem your Emirates miles for travel on Alaska.

Thanks lucky! I've recently started following points/travel blogs and I find that you're the most responsive of them all (even though this is my first post here). Love your work!

@ marzman -- Thanks for reading, and let me know if I can ever be of assistance! 🙂

Hang on a sec, I can't redeem continental miles for emirates flights any more? Ouch, I was planning to redeem some onepass miles to gift an award ticket to a relative.

Does anyone know where I can redeem 2500 spare Braniff miles? 🙂

I just love Alaska's program! Am actually thinking of switching from UA to AS for my domestic travel.

My CX F award to JNB was fantastic, and now this. Too bad I already burned the UA miles on EK F for my trip to the UAE in March. But at least it was an easy award, as EK F is wide open.

Lucky,

I am flying JFK-DXB-MAA in February on Emirates. I live in Northeast USA. Would I be better off earning the miles for this trip in Alaska or Emirates? I cant figure out if I can earn Alaska miles for that trip.

Also, my dad (who lives in Canada) goes to Dubai on EK every year. Should they start to accrue miles on Alaska instead? What do you suggest for a Canadian?

Thanks.

Do you think it will be possible to use the bank of America card to get bogo lights to Dubai?

@ Jason -- Unfortunately the certificate is only valid for flights on Alaska Airlines.

I wonder If this Is why Alaska decided that Passengers will no longer get a free Psalm with their meal on board......we must not offend any muzzlims.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/26/alaska-airlines-ends-prayer-cards-on-flights/?hpt=tr_c2

I flew from SMF-DXB-MAA. I was able to fly Alaska from SMF (Sacramento) and check my bags all the way through to Madras (India) via Emirates. This is a great convenience for those of us who don't want to drive to SFO to use Emirates.

In addition the increase in fare for this extra leg is minimal so its much better than driving your car and leaving it near the airport or taking a flight to LAX as we had to do before the new Emirates SEA-DXB flight was announced in March.

There were some hiccups since I was among the first customers using the Alaska Emirates partnership. I was able to book my ticket on Emirates.com however it did not know (or care) about my Gold Status on Alaska and wouldnt upgrade me on Alaska nor could I print Alaska's boarding pass.

However if you call Alaska they have it in their system and you should get Alaska's confirmation number and have them add your FF number since it does not always transmit correctly and hence you will not get upgraded.

My miles also did not post to Alaska even though I had them put it in the record, the Miles went to Skywards instead for the SEA-DXB but for the DXB-MAA they showed up on Alaska..wierd.

I have not seen the miles posting to Alaska yet for my return trip since I just got back, but I think its 8000 miles for SEA-DXB, plus with the double miles program its a good deal.

Skywards miles are sometimes useful to have to upgrade on Emirates. For short legs like DXB-MAA (4 hours) it took about 25000 miles which seems worth it since you can get Chauffeur service. I upgraded on DXB-MAA and MAA-DXB and booked Chauffer service from MAA and at DXB (since I had a 2 day stopover). A shiny white Mercedes E class picked me up in Madras and took me to the airport, while a Volvo in DXB picked me up and dropped me off at the Hotel.