Earlier this year, we saw the Alaska Mileage Plan program overhauled, with all-new redemption rates for award travel. As part of this, Alaska Airlines introduced Global Getaways, a quarterly promotion offering discounted award travel, with savings of up to 50%.
In some cases the discounts are on specific partner airlines, while in other cases the discounts are on certain routes or to certain destinations. The program has just unveiled the details of its third Global Getaways offer, as flagged by Frequent Flyer Bonuses…
In this post:
Save on Mileage Plan awards to select destinations
For the third Alaska Mileage Plan Global Getaways promotion, you can save up to 50% on award travel to select destinations:
- This is valid for bookings made between December 3 and December 31, 2024
- This is valid for travel between January 1 and April 30, 2024
- This is valid specifically for redemptions in economy, and not for redemptions in premium economy, business class, or first class
- You can receive discounts as long as you’re traveling to one of the eligible destinations, as it doesn’t matter where you’re originating or which airline you’re flying
The theme for the third Global Getaways promotion is “snowy destinations in Europe, Canada, and Central Asia.” So with this sale, you can save on one-way redemptions with any of Alaska’s partner airlines to the following destinations:
- Geneva, Switzerland: now starting at 20,000 miles
- Zurich, Switzerland: now starting at 20,000 miles
- Vienna, Austria: now starting at 20,000 miles
- Kelowna, Canada: Now starting at 10,000 miles
- Almaty, Kazakhstan: Now starting at 30,000 miles
- Yerevan, Armenia: Now starting at 30,000 miles
My take on Alaska’s Global Getaways promotion
I very much appreciate Alaska Mileage Plan’s creativity with this quarterly promotion, as nowadays it’s pretty rare to see programs offer partner award sales. Now, admittedly I wish there weren’t quite as many restrictions in terms of the booking period, travel period, the class of service limitations, and the one-way discount, but still, there will be value here for some, and it’s better than nothing.
If you’re simply looking for the lowest cost award, some of these award prices are very tough to beat. For example, getting to Kazakstan for just 30,000 miles in economy is an attractive price.
Now, I do hope that over time we see some first and business class award sale as well. Many of us have historically loved Mileage Plan for the value it offers for premium cabin travel, so this promotion doesn’t help us much with that.
This is basically Alaska’s version of Air France-KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards or Singapore KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes, except the promotion is quarterly (rather than monthly), and it applies for travel on partner airlines (rather than for travel on the program’s airline).
Bottom line
Alaska Mileage Plan has launched its latest Global Getaways promotion, which is a quarterly redemption deal offering up to a 50% discount on awards. For the third promotion from the program, you can save miles on economy tickets to select destinations. You need to book in December, and then travel in January through April.
While this won’t be useful for everyone, I imagine some people will get value from this.
What do you make of Alaska’s Global Getaways promotion?
We used the previous promotion to fly from Fiji to the USA. Alaska charged us $25 'partner award fee' for each passenger to use the miles. Fiji Airways charged us for luggage and seats. Free isn't free anymore.
I found most of Alaska's most recent changes to their MP to be positive. I'm not happy about the bonus miles being cut in half, but other than that, I'm pretty content.
I'm not sure what constitutes a "long time AS enthusiast," but I've been primarily flying AS since they absorbed VX. I am still getting high quality redemptions using AS points on international flights: 10.83¢/point in Business Class on JAL HNL-KIX; 8.2¢/point in...
I found most of Alaska's most recent changes to their MP to be positive. I'm not happy about the bonus miles being cut in half, but other than that, I'm pretty content.
I'm not sure what constitutes a "long time AS enthusiast," but I've been primarily flying AS since they absorbed VX. I am still getting high quality redemptions using AS points on international flights: 10.83¢/point in Business Class on JAL HNL-KIX; 8.2¢/point in Business on AA FCO-JFK; 8.5¢/point in Business on BA OPO-LHR-SFO.
Now obviously, YMMV, but I'm not sure what the complaint is...
By "long time AS enthusiast," I mean I too was happy when they took over VX. Although, I was sad when AS did away with that cool VX first class cabin. Lets hope they don't do away with the HA first class seats.
I started really flying AS when my first kid started college on the east coast. The direct LAX to BOS flights were great. I got more invested when my second kid started...
By "long time AS enthusiast," I mean I too was happy when they took over VX. Although, I was sad when AS did away with that cool VX first class cabin. Lets hope they don't do away with the HA first class seats.
I started really flying AS when my first kid started college on the east coast. The direct LAX to BOS flights were great. I got more invested when my second kid started college in Seattle. I was head over heals for that short time that AS was a partner with AM and had a direct flight from LAX to MEX. Unfortunately, now all I have left is that straight shot from LAX to SEA. The direct flights from LAX or SFO seem to be on the chopping block these days.
I've made 75k or 100k for the last 4 years and things have been great, up until this year. As you pointed out YMMV, but it just seems like AS has watered the loyalty program down to much. The elite ranks have gotten too big.
I think it started with the offer to status match up to 100K made to all the disgruntled Delta loyalist, despite AS swearing they would never status match to 100K. Then came the credit card spend your way to elite status promos. The swelling of the elite ranks along with the monitization of first class upgrades has greatly reduced the perks. It is true: if everyone is elite, no one is.
No doubt there are still some deals to be had using AS miles to book award flights, I snagged a few TN business seats earlier this year which were nice. However, I find the award flight inventory to be a lot worse than it used to be. Too many miles out there to be redeemed maybe? I'm not sure. But, now I primarily use AS miles for direct AA flights out of LAX so I don't have to stop over in SEA or PDX when I want to go somewhere.
It pains me, but this will be the first year in sometime that I don't reach any elite status with AS. I still fly AS when I can, but now I don't count on getting an upgrade unless I pay for it and I credit the flights to BA. I just joined BA's elite program this year and made BA Gold pretty quickly. The great part is I can go to any Oneworld lounge now when I fly domestically, even the AS lounges. And truth be told, there are several lounges out there that put the AS lounges to shame. I'm talking about you Qantas First LAX :)
In terms of award flights, I know BA isn't the answer. I am still trying to figure that one out. I'm hopeful I can find some sweet spots transferring those Avios over to IB, EI or some other BA partner. I just don't feel that the AS program is headed in the right direction at this time. I'm hoping its just growing pains and AS will work things out. But until it does, I'm taking a different approach. Again YMMV.
For all 3 people who want to go to Kazakhstan in economy class during the winter, Alaska has a great deal for you!
Actual premium redemptions on AS partners has mostly become a thing of the past. The old days are very gone.
Lately, Alaska's motto has become "it’s better than nothing." So many changes to the program and so few positives. For long time AS enthusiasts, the last few years have been a real let down.
Bullseye. Alaska's been gradually devaluing into the basement, but Lucky apparently hasn't noticed this.
I bought Hawaiian miles to use for Alaskan redemptions (I’m a long time user of Alaska miles on Cathay jal and Qantas to Australia.
Sadly Cathay releases basically zero premium space these days and Alaskan blocks most premium space on Qantas and jal. Sad.
Ended up burning some American miles last week for qf biz syd to Tokyo and some actual premium economy space on jal via Alaska miles back. Most of the...
I bought Hawaiian miles to use for Alaskan redemptions (I’m a long time user of Alaska miles on Cathay jal and Qantas to Australia.
Sadly Cathay releases basically zero premium space these days and Alaskan blocks most premium space on Qantas and jal. Sad.
Ended up burning some American miles last week for qf biz syd to Tokyo and some actual premium economy space on jal via Alaska miles back. Most of the premium economy space shown on jal on the Alaska website was phantom.