Alaska makes huge improvements to awards — more partners bookable online, more one-ways, and stopovers on one-ways!

Alaska makes huge improvements to awards — more partners bookable online, more one-ways, and stopovers on one-ways!

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Alaska has been improving the mileage redemption opportunities of their Mileage Plan program lately by adding one-way awards. They rolled out the functionality slowly at first, with American being the first partner carrier on which you could book one-way awards, followed by British Airways.

Well it seems they’ve made a huge leap today, as they’ve added the functionality to book one-way awards online on the following carriers today:

That means aside from a few partners, like Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, and LAN, it’s now possible to book awards online and for one-way travel.

I’m especially excited about the ability to book one-way awards on Emirates, as they were added as a partner on which you could redeem miles earlier this year.

But here’s the best part — you can do a stopover on a one-way international award in most cases.

Take the below for example — you can travel on Emirates from New York to Dubai to Kuala Lumpur, with a two day stopover in Dubai, for 72,500 miles in business class.

That’s huge news, and makes Alaska miles so much more valuable, in my opinion. That being said, unfortunately they don’t seem to be displaying Emirates first class award space correctly at the moment (not that there’s much to speak of), so let’s hope that’s fixed soon.

Now if only Cathay Pacific was eligible for one-ways, so you could book a trip from the US to South Africa via Hong Kong with a stopover for 70,000 miles in first class…

(Tip of the hat to Mike)

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  1. lucky OMAAT

    @ MintWanderlust -- Yep, that's perfectly legal.

  2. MintWanderlust Guest

    Hi Lucky,

    Quick question: Can I book an one-way flight like this online YVR-LAX-DXB(Stop)-LHR ?

  3. lucky OMAAT

    @ Steve -- You can search directly on Alaska's website.

  4. Steve New Member

    How do you search for an Emirates F class?

  5. lucky OMAAT

    @ Daytripadvisor -- Don't hold me to it, but don't believe you can do a stopover on a Cathay Pacific award within one region. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

  6. Daytripadvisor Guest

    Hi, Wonder if redeem Alaska miles on Cathay Pacific intra-asia flight, can I have a stop-over on one-way award? Ex. TPE-HKG-SIN w/stop@HKG for 2+days

  7. Dale Reardon Guest

    Hi,

    I see Cathay now appears to be eligible for one ways on the award chart.

    But I am sure Cathay had an award published on the Europe chart for travel between Europe and Australia. It now seems that you have to book 2 awards to travel with Cathay from Australia to Europe.

    Am I correct in this?

    It is great though that you can get a reasonable priced award for Australia to North America with Cathay though as AA Aadvantage doesn't let you route via HKG.

    Dale.

  8. lucky OMAAT

    @ Ying -- If you book it as one-ways as opposed to a roundtrip then you could get a stopover in each direction.

  9. Ying Guest

    If I'm booking an AA flight to Asia from the US with alaskan miles, am I allowed a stopover in both directions?

  10. lucky OMAAT

    @ Dale -- Ah, missed that. In that case that would be your best bet.

  11. Dale Reardon Guest

    Thanks Lucky.

    The Europe chart has points to Hong Kong with Cathay and then the Australia Chart has points with Cathay from Hong Kong to Australia so will have to put 2 separate awards together.

  12. lucky OMAAT

    @ Apurva -- I just searched JFK-DXB for April 12 and see the same flight available in business class. Do you want to maybe check again?

  13. lucky OMAAT

    @ Dale -- The major downside to Alaska is that they only publish award charts between certain zones, so in many cases it's not possible to fly within zones. Unfortunately best I can tell they don't allow redemptions at all between Australia and Europe (unless you want to book an award from Australia to the US and then the US to Europe).

  14. lucky OMAAT

    @ george -- Yep, you can do it in either direction, either originating in North America or Australia. And you are allowed a stopover at no additional cost.

  15. Dale Reardon Guest

    Hi,

    I am having trouble understanding Alaska award chart.

    If I want to fly from Australia to Europe with Cathay do I have to do 2 award redemptions - Australia to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to Europe? Or is there a chart that has mile levels for crossing regions?

    Thanks,
    Dale.

  16. george Guest

    Hi Lucky,

    I see "Between North America and Australia / New Zealand" is 120k roundtrip.
    - Can you stopover in HKG as well? eg LAX-HKG-SYD
    - Can you travel Australia-North America-Australia? Or do you have to start in North America?

    Cheers!

  17. Mike @ The #hustle Blog Guest

    They seem to only be putting out availability for EK206 which is the flight that stops in MXP before continuing to DXB. I scrolled through a few months and didn't find anything for the nonstops which are EK 202 and 204.

  18. CDKing Guest

    One ways awards for 1/2 the round trip are available on all partners except Delta, Korean and LAN. I'm waiting for some CX space to open up for my return from HKG in August

  19. CDKing Guest

    @Aprurva Something to do with married segments. Almost makes me think Z space doesn't mean anything. I'm hoping its just a glitch

  20. Apurva Member

    Can anyone explain why, when I search for the exact above itinerary (posted by Lucky) - it shows me the availability as posted above.

    However, when I look for only JFK-DXB for the same date - it does NOT show me the BIZ on EK... is it the funda of availability only if connecting thing?

  21. lucky OMAAT

    @ Julian -- Nope, you can only redeem between the regions for which Alaska publishes an award chart for Emirates.

  22. Julian Guest

    Can I use Alaska miles to fly between Sydney and Auckland on Emirates first?

  23. lucky OMAAT

    @ Apurva -- No, Alaska doesn't publish an award chart out of South America for travel on Emirates.

  24. Apurva Member

    Can you do something like GRU to Asia via DXB?

  25. lucky OMAAT

    @ Brian -- The only economical transfer partner of Alaska's Mileage Plan is Starwood. You can transfer from Starwood to Alaska at a 1:1 ratio, with a 5,000 point bonus for every 20,000 points transferred.

  26. lucky OMAAT

    @ Euro -- You're still allowed an open jaw.

  27. lucky OMAAT

    @ harry -- Nope, Alaska doesn't publish a chart for travel to Australia on Emirates.

  28. Brian New Member

    Sorry, but what I meant is, aside from using Alaska miles, what other point currency can I use (Starwoods, Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards...)

  29. Brian New Member

    Sorry for the noobish question, but what miles, aside from AA, can I use for award booking through Alaska? Honeymoon planning and this may stir up my original plans...

  30. MEOW Guest

    Lucky, you might just be in luck on the US to SA via HKG....check out the reward chart...it's reflecting oneways for CX now.

  31. Joey Diamond

    This is really awesome!!!

  32. Euro Gold

    So if you're booking Delta via Mileage Plan which requires a round-trip itinerary, are you allowed an open-jaw at the end of your journey or must you end your journey where it began?

  33. harry Guest

    can you fly to australia on EK via DXB?

  34. lucky OMAAT

    @ sil -- You can position to New York on any Alaska flight. They don't fly from LAX-JFK, though they do fly LAX-SEA-EWR, so you could probably include those flights.

    You can go anywhere in Asia, KUL was just an example.

  35. sil Guest

    Is it possible to go from LAX-JFK, JFK- DXB, DXB - KUL on 72.5k? Also, is KUL the only Asian city that would work from DXB?

  36. lucky OMAAT

    @ Gene -- Post coming on that shortly!

  37. lucky OMAAT

    @ Ozaer N. -- Yes, you're allowed to include flights to the gateway on Alaska Airlines (though they don't fly to JFK, just EWR).

  38. Andy Guest

    Alaska award chart site shows one way award prices for Cathay..

  39. Ozaer N. Guest

    Ben ..is this routing possible using AS miles....PDX-JFK-DXB(stopover)-KUL ?

    As you know I love KL but also love DXB, but live in PDX!

  40. Gene Diamond

    Any opinion on DL's lying about AF not making inventory available to DL SkyMiles members?

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MintWanderlust Guest

much thanks! :D

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lucky OMAAT

@ MintWanderlust -- Yep, that's perfectly legal.

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