In this post I wanted to take a look at award availability on Royal Air Maroc. Morocco has been an increasingly hot travel destination in recent years, and on top of that Royal Air Maroc has joined the oneworld alliance, so what’s the best way to redeem miles on the airline?
In this post:
Basics of redeeming miles on Royal Air Maroc
First let’s discuss some of the basics of flying with Royal Air Maroc in business class, including what the carrier’s inflight experience is like, what routes the airline flies, and what award availability is like.
Royal Air Maroc’s business class product
Royal Air Maroc flies Boeing 787s on long haul flights, and the airline has both 787-8s and 787-9s. These planes have two different kinds of inflight products.
Royal Air Maroc’s 787-8s have fully flat business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration. It’s an odd configuration, but still good when you consider how short the flights are.
Royal Air Maroc’s 787-9s have fully flat business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. Specifically, the airline has reverse herringbone seats, so this is an excellent product, and I’d seek out this plane if possible.
All around I find Royal Air Maroc’s service to be friendly, and the carrier’s food is pretty good as well.
If you’re connecting on Royal Air Maroc to Europe or another destination, there’s another cool thing to be aware of. Royal Air Maroc’s 737s feature proper business class seats, similar to what you’d find in domestic first class within the United States.
This is much better than what you’d usually have access to on an intra-Europe flight, for example, where business class is just economy with a blocked middle seat. In many cases Royal Air Maroc is a comfortable way to get to Europe as well.
Royal Air Maroc’s routes
As far as transatlantic routes go, Royal Air Maroc flies from Casablanca (CMN) to the following destinations:
- Miami (MIA)
- Montreal (YUL)
- New York (JFK)
- Washington (IAD)
While the airline used to fly to Boston (BOS), that route was suspended during the pandemic, and hasn’t been resumed.
I think it’s important to mention one major catch with traveling on Royal Air Maroc if you’re looking to visit Morocco. Most tourists to Morocco want to visit Marrakech (RAK), yet all of Royal Air Maroc’s long haul flights are to Casablanca, meaning a connecting flight is needed.
The reality is that for many people, this will minimize the appeal of flying with Royal Air Maroc. There are all kinds of airlines offering one-stop service from North America to Marrakech (Air France, British Airways, Iberia, Lufthansa, SWISS, etc.), so there’s no real reason to choose Royal Air Maroc over another airline.
For what it’s worth, Royal Air Maroc has a much more extensive route network within Africa, and to Europe.
Royal Air Maroc’s business class award trends
Royal Air Maroc is pretty inconsistent when it comes to making award seats available. The best place to search Royal Air Maroc award space is through American Airlines’ website, aa.com. Just search any nonstop Royal Air Maroc city pair (like JFK to CMN).
When you get to the search results, select the “Calendar” option. Once you see the calendar, select “Nonstop only” and “Business / First,” and then you’ll see all the dates that have nonstop award availability. You can’t beat being able to search an entire year of availability this way in about a minute.
Generally speaking:
- Royal Air Maroc releases award space in spurts, so sometimes you may see a ton of award space, while other times you won’t
- More often than not, the airline releases up to one business class award seat per flight, so it can be tough to find multiple seats
- Award availability tends to be best in summer, when it’s also the hottest in Morocco
The best programs for booking Royal Air Maroc business class
What are the best programs for booking Royal Air Maroc business class awards? Let me share a few popular options, ranked roughly based on the overall value offered.
American AAdvantage
I’d argue booking Royal Air Maroc awards through American AAdvantage represent the best value:
- Awards can be booked directly online, on aa.com
- There are no carrier imposed surcharges on these Royal Air Maroc awards, so you’ll just pay whatever the taxes are
- There are no change or redeposit fees if you need to cancel your award
- American AAdvantage considers Morocco to be part of Europe for the purposes of awards, meaning you can redeem just 57,500 AAdvantage miles for a one-way business class ticket
- You can also fly Royal Air Maroc from the United States to Europe via Morocco, which could be a fun way to fly, given Royal Air Maroc’s good short haul product
- If you want to connect in Morocco to travel elsewhere in Africa, you can expect to pay a total of 75,000 AAdvantage miles for one-way business class
Etihad Guest
While Etihad isn’t in the oneworld alliance, Etihad Guest has a great partnership with Royal Air Maroc. You can find the Etihad Guest award chart for travel on Royal Air Maroc below.
The above pricing is one-way and per segment, meaning that if you have multiple segments, the pricing is additive. As you can see, a nonstop business class segment of over 2,001 miles (covering all long haul routes) would cost 44,000 Etihad Guest miles, which is quite a good deal.
If redeeming Etihad Guest miles on Royal Air Maroc, there are some things to be aware of:
- You need to book by phone, by calling Etihad Guest, which can be reached at 877-690-0767; that can be a rather time consuming adventure
- There are carrier imposed surcharges when booking through Etihad Guest, which would currently run you $186 one-way
- This is ideal if traveling to or from Casablanca, given that this is Royal Air Maroc’s long haul gateway
- This is valuable if you have transferable points currencies, since Etihad Guest is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, and Citi ThankYou
- You can change your itinerary for a fee of 100 AED (~$27), or you can redeposit an award up to 24 hours in advance for a fee equal to 10% of the miles redeemed
British Airways Executive Club
British Airways Executive Club has a distance based award chart, and a single segment covering a distance of 3,001-4,000 miles one-way will cost you 60,000 Avios in business class. I’d generally say Etihad Guest is a better value here, especially since British Airways also passes on carrier imposed surcharges.
Furthermore, at the moment British Airways Executive Club seems to have an issue with accessing Royal Air Maroc awards, as they’re not bookable on ba.com, for whatever reason. Hopefully that’s fixed soon.
Do keep in mind that British Airways Executive Club partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Capital One.
Alaska Mileage Plan
Alaska Mileage Plan added redemptions on Royal Air Maroc in early 2022, and unfortunately it’s not a particularly good value. Specifically, you’ll pay 100,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles for a one-way business class ticket between the United States and Africa.
I’d really only consider booking through Alaska Mileage Plan if you’re looking to connect onward to elsewhere in Africa, while also having a stopover in Morocco. Alaska Mileage Plan allows stopovers on awards, which is the main advantage of the program.
Other than that, I’d much rather use American AAdvantage or Etihad Guest miles. There are better uses of Alaska Mileage Plan miles.
Bottom line
Royal Air Maroc is now a member of oneworld, so there are lots of options for redeeming miles on the airline. While I wouldn’t consider there to be some huge sweet spot opportunity, I’d generally recommend booking these awards through either American AAdvantage or Etihad Guest.
American AAdvantage is great for the very reasonable pricing, while Etihad Guest is great for getting you access to these awards through transferable points currencies.
Just keep in mind that if you’re traveling to Marrakech, there’s not a real advantage of traveling with Royal Air Maroc over another airline that offers one-stop service.
If you’ve redeemed miles on Royal Air Maroc, what was your experience like?
Eithad has gone crazy, its no longer 44k miles for one-way. I found (1) seat MIA-CMN business class on AA website for the 57.5k. But Eithad site says 99k now...
Etihad has changed the redemption rates, all of the miles required are significantly higher now.
IAD - CMN would now start at 45k miles for economy and 80k miles for business. One way.
It's really not a good value anymore.
Booked for Sept 2023 for IAD to BCN via CMN. I don’t mind the layover. I booked on AA like you recommended. Flying business to Europe for 57.5k miles is outstanding.
Problem is, just exactly as you stated, RoyalAirMaroc released one Econ and one business ticket for the flight. I grabbed em both.
I am Trying to sit next to my wife for the flight. Any creative ways to either: a) use AA...
Booked for Sept 2023 for IAD to BCN via CMN. I don’t mind the layover. I booked on AA like you recommended. Flying business to Europe for 57.5k miles is outstanding.
Problem is, just exactly as you stated, RoyalAirMaroc released one Econ and one business ticket for the flight. I grabbed em both.
I am Trying to sit next to my wife for the flight. Any creative ways to either: a) use AA points for an upgrade, b) timing for when more seats will be released (checking weekly is exhausting).
Any ideas are appreciated!
Etihad availability seems screwed up and definitely not the same as AA. I ended up with 176k stranded Etihad miles when they were showing zero availability for the entire schedule after confirming availability through AA. (which I subsequently booked)
Was about 7 months before the flights I wanted and had several workable options on AA that Etihad couldn't see/book. Called three times over a week to try with different folks with no luck.
Just as an inside for booking between Morocco and Europe, RAM considers Morocco to be in Europe (a big plus...) but its Oneworld partners do not:
Personal example last month: I needed to come back to the US from Madrid via CMN.
The 2 RAM flights were wide open for awards in both classes (departing around 1 PM and 5 PM), but the Iberia flight, departing at 11 AM was not even offered on AA.com...
Just as an inside for booking between Morocco and Europe, RAM considers Morocco to be in Europe (a big plus...) but its Oneworld partners do not:
Personal example last month: I needed to come back to the US from Madrid via CMN.
The 2 RAM flights were wide open for awards in both classes (departing around 1 PM and 5 PM), but the Iberia flight, departing at 11 AM was not even offered on AA.com rewards, although Expertflyer showed it as equally empy. I wanted to arrive early in Casablanca, so I booked and paid for the Iberia flight (IB Business Class FAR inferior to RAM's, on all counts). I ended up alone in J (plus 2 upgrades which seemed to be working for RAM and were moved only when the door was closed). coach did not have more than 30 pax (on a 737 Max).
I first did not see why IB had not released its own awards on this flight, even if it charged the miles corresponding to a One-Way Europe to Africa, then realized that IB would have looked terribly uncompetitive.
Apologies.... The MAD-CMN on IB was of course an A319.
The 737 Max was in the other direction (on an award).
There may be a workaround on the one award business class ticket per flight limitation. That is, if you book an award business class seat early enough, and wait three months, a second one may become available. That’s what happened with me, when I booked a business class award ticket JFK-CMN nonstop in late October 2022 for a flight in late September 2023 through AA. My strategy was to check the AA website periodically to...
There may be a workaround on the one award business class ticket per flight limitation. That is, if you book an award business class seat early enough, and wait three months, a second one may become available. That’s what happened with me, when I booked a business class award ticket JFK-CMN nonstop in late October 2022 for a flight in late September 2023 through AA. My strategy was to check the AA website periodically to see if a second ticket became available, and if not, I would purchase it with MR points. Almost exactly at the three month mark, I was able to snag a second award business class seat on the same flight through the AA website. Two business class nonstop seats for 115,000 miles total and nominal surcharge. Not bad at all!
Royal air Maroc awards have a ton of phantom space on AA so be careful. Though sometimes I will have awards show on AA and not BA but still bookable.
Wonder if AF US-CDG-RAK would work with their new free stopover policy.
I only use this airline for a status match to get a year of admirals and Alaska lounge entry when flying domestic, including flagship. Thanks Luck!
"Most tourists to Morocco want to visit Marrakech (RAK), yet all of Royal Air Maroc’s long haul flights are to Casablanca, meaning a connecting flight is needed."
Disagree; there are numerous destinations in Morocco that tourists want to visit. Rail connection from Casa to Marrakech, Rabat, etc. are great. Some trains are high-speed rail as you'd have in France — infinitely better than any train in the United States.
But yes if you are visiting...
"Most tourists to Morocco want to visit Marrakech (RAK), yet all of Royal Air Maroc’s long haul flights are to Casablanca, meaning a connecting flight is needed."
Disagree; there are numerous destinations in Morocco that tourists want to visit. Rail connection from Casa to Marrakech, Rabat, etc. are great. Some trains are high-speed rail as you'd have in France — infinitely better than any train in the United States.
But yes if you are visiting cities further away such as Essouira then it's likely easier to fly directly to there from Europe. Ryanair often has incredible fares.
Which program offers best value for Economy award seats? Have a family of four and limited to a few signup bonuses per year. Thanks!
I’ve seen lots of availability from the west coast for 22,500 each way. Domestic sectors to IAD/JFK/MIA on AS and B6 since AA transcon can be hard to find availability,