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Tag: Alaska Airlines

  • Earn 60% bonus when you buy Alaska Mileage Plan miles

    Earn 60% bonus when you buy Alaska Mileage Plan miles

    Alaska Airlines is kicking off 2021 with a sale of up to 60% bonus.

    Alaska Airlines is offering a whopping 60% bonus on its latest round of miles-buying offers, working out to a cost of US 1.85 per mile.

    Again, these bonus offers are personalised for each member, so you will have to log and check what are you given.

    This time round, here’s my offer:

    Remember, if you are not an elite member, you can only be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles (acquired through buying miles) in a calendar year, whether through purchasing miles or having it gifted to you. Given that this is the start of 2021, it’s unthinkable that you may have already hit the limit, but there’s no guarantee that there’s no better offer down the road.

    The offer closes at 11.59pm Pacific Standard Time on 14 Feb 2021 (Sun), which is 3.59pm on 15 Feb 2021 (Mon), Singapore time.

    What are Alaska Miles good for

    This is still an incredible offer, given that Alaska Air has historically offered only up to 50% bonus miles before Covid-19. Even at 1.85 US cents per mile, the famed Singapore-Tokyo redemption on JAL business class will only set you by USD462 (S$613), or somewhere close to USD924 (S$1,226) for a roundtrip ticket, an incredible value for a business class mid-haul ride.

    When travel do recover, there are also other decent redemptions you can make with your Alaska miles, such as:

    AirlineClassOne way /RoundtripRoutingMileage Required
    Cathay PacificFirstOne waySoutheast Asia to USA70,000
    Cathay PacificBusinessOne waySoutheast Asia to USA50,000
    Korean AirBusinessRoundtripSingapore to USA120,000
    QantasBusinessOne wayDomestic Australia20,000
    Japan Airlines business class

    Final thoughts

    The key risk here is obvious: we still don’t know when the global travel economy is going to recover, and that has a hinge on flight capacity. Historically, airlines will prioritise revenue tickets over award tickets, so if there’s a situation where demand outpace the available air capacity, you could be left in a situation of too many miles, too few redemption options.

    While Alaska Mileage Plan last for two years before expiring, bear in mind that Alaska is due to join oneworld later this year, so award prices may change by then.

  • Alaska Airlines plans to join Oneworld by June 2021

    Alaska Airlines plans to join Oneworld by June 2021

    The non-affiliated airline is finally hopping on the alliance bandwagon.

    2020 is proving to be a really exciting year with a lot of unexpected twists.

    After so many years of cultivating eclectic airline partnerships and wow-ing the world with crazy miles-buying deals, Alaska Airlines has announced a deepened partnership with American Airlines, and along with it, its intentions to join Oneworld by Summer 2021.

    By ‘summer’, it can means anything between June to September.

    Deeper partnership with American Airlines

    The pledging of allegiance to Oneworld comes on the back of its latest partnership with American Airlines. Effective immediately, Alaska Airlines passengers and Mileage Plan elite members have greater access to American Airlines inventory, as well as benefits.

    What this means for Alaska Airlines and its customers:

    • Customers can redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles on all American Airlines flights (subject to award availability),
    • Alaska Lounge members can access American’s nearly 50 Admirals Club locations,
    • Customers can also continue to earn and redeem miles on Alaska Airlines’ current partners, including Singapore Airlines & Emirates.

    In a few months’ time, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members can also earn miles on all American Airlines flight, both domestic and international.

    Oneworld benefits come Summer 2021

    Of course there are perks when Alaska Airlines officially joins Oneworld. These include a mapping of Alaska’s own frequent flyer tiers to the Oneworld tiers, as well as its corresponding benefits.

    Alaska Airlines
    Mileage Plan tier    		Oneworld tier
    MVPRuby
    MVP GoldSapphire
    MVP Gold 75kEmerald
    Alaska Airlines tier mapping to Oneworld

    What does this means for Alaska’s own partners?

    Alaska Air has some of the most interesting mix of partners, which are all individually negotiated. This has resulted in a very special award pricing, where each award partner gets their own award chart, and a mixed carrier chart is somewhat impossible (with the exception of Alaska’s own metal plus a partner).

    Also, the earn rates are incredibly generous at the moment. Just a case in point: a customer flying business class on Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to London and back will earn a whopping 26,892 miles if they accrue their miles on Mileage Plan, while getting only 16,620 miles on Asia Miles.

    On the redemption front, Alaska Airlines is also incredibly generous now. For 25,000 miles, you can redeem a one-way business class ticket on Japan Airlines within Asia, while a Oneworld member (e.g. Cathay Pacific) can charge up to 45,000 miles for a similar trip.

    So with Alaska Airlines joining the Oneworld ‘family’, they will almost definitely be forced to keep in line. This could go a few ways:

    1. Earn rates will definitely go down, while burn rates will definitely go up.

    On a reciprocal basis, Alaska Airlines will be more than definitely be forced to ‘align’ their earn and award charts to what other member airlines are offering. So if you have been hoarding Alaska Airlines miles, time to use them, quickly.

    2. Changes to partnerships with non-Oneworld airlines

    While being a Oneworld member does not mean they have to cut off ties with non-Oneworld aligned carriers, you can almost imagine that these partnerships may just widening in time to come. Some partnerships may fall through, while others may be diminished.

    Final thoughts

    As the saying goes, good things don’t last. In this case, the benefits of being an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan member – especially in this part of the world – is slowly eroding.

    While you still can and is looking to burn your miles, credit your premium cabin revenue tickets to Alaska to bump up your mileage balance, but be sure to use them quickly before summer next year.

    Time for another Tokyo run, perhaps?