While Alaska Airlines joined the oneworld alliance as of March 2021, the airline hasn’t yet rolled out award redemptions on all oneworld partners. For now the airline is maintaining separate award charts for each airline partner, and redemptions are slowly being added.
In recent months we’ve seen Alaska add awards on Iberia, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, and Royal Jordanian. Mileage Plan has just rolled out its newest redemption partner — SriLankan Airlines — and the award redemption values are a bit better than some of the other partners we’ve seen added lately.
In this post:
Mileage Plan redemption rates on SriLankan Airlines
Alaska Mileage Plan has just added SriLankan Airlines as an award redemption partner. For those not familiar, SriLankan Airlines has a fleet of roughly 24 aircraft, including 11 Airbus A330s. The airline operates a large regional network within Asia, as well as some flights to Europe.
Here are the Alaska Mileage Plan saver level one-way award costs for travel on SriLankan Airlines in eligible regions:
- Indian Subcontinent to Indian Subcontinent costs 17,500 miles in economy, 30,000 miles in business class
- Indian Subcontinent to Middle East costs 17,500 miles in economy, 30,000 miles in business class
- Indian Subcontinent to Asia costs 20,000 miles in economy, 40,000 miles in business class
- Indian Subcontinent to Europe costs 30,000 miles in economy, 50,000 miles in business class
A couple of further things to note:
- When traveling long haul between regions, stopovers in Colombo are allowed
- There are no fuel surcharges on SriLankan Airlines award redemptions
This is potentially a good value
Historically Alaska Mileage Plan has been my favorite individual airline mileage currency, because you can’t beat the value of redemption rates on airlines like Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, and Qantas, especially with a free stopover.
Unfortunately the redemption partners we’ve seen added in recent months have offered absolutely horrible value. Like, beyond terrible. For example, Alaska charges 175,000 Mileage Plan miles for a one-way business class ticket on Malaysia Airlines from Asia to Europe.
By comparison to recent additions, awards on SriLankan Airlines represent quite a good deal. Being able to redeem 50,000 Mileage Plan miles to fly from Male to London via Colombo (with a stopover) is a very good deal.
Admittedly this is more of a niche redemption option, though. SriLankan Airlines doesn’t fly to the United States, and most people aren’t necessarily seeking out a flight on SriLankan Airlines, as the airline is just okay (see my review of SriLankan’s A330 business class and SriLankan’s A321neo business class). So this is a useful new partnership, but definitely niche.
Bottom line
Alaska Mileage Plan is continuing to roll out redemptions on oneworld partners, and the latest airline to be added is SriLankan Airlines. Unlike some of the other partners we’ve seen added, the value here is quite good. Admittedly this is more of a niche redemption, though, given SriLankan Airlines’ route network, plus the lack of ability to mix partners on Mileage Plan awards.
Could you see yourself redeeming Alaska miles on SriLankan Airlines?
Glad to see some good news coming out of Mileage Plan for once. There are very high surcharges when redeeming Avios so this is potentially a good deal given the lack of fuel surcharges.
Had a very bad experience. I have to travel from Melbourne to Pakistan in April 2022. They changed my arrival and departure dates twice. I had to talk to my employer twice because of the changes they are making in my flights/dates. Ruined my whole trip.
That is great. Sri Lankan is a good airline
Based in BKK, this is AWESOME :).
SO I have a question does anyone want to fly them? I am serious and not be flipped
Yes. They are actually quite a nice little airline...their A330 J is pretty decent, especially from CMB to Europe.
This is super for RTW via HKG (when that opens up again) or SIN, with the stop in CMB. Easier than taking SIN to JNB (when you can find it) then trying to get back north on DE. We'll see what availability looks like...
I think this datapoint does seem to indicate that the new partner values don’t indicate impending devaluation, but more likely that alaska is just passing fees on their end onto consumer.