Alaska Airways Mileage Plan members can now mix award flights operated by each American Airways and British Airways as a single redemption.
Beforehand, Mileage Plan had solely allowed members to combine and match redemptions throughout companion airways when one of many working airways was Alaska Airways. So, redeeming miles for an itinerary involving journey from Dallas Fort Value Worldwide Airport (DFW) to Taiwan Taoyuan Worldwide Airport (TPE) that included a mixture of Alaska Airways and Starlux flights may very well be booked as a single award — whereas flying the identical itinerary however with American Airways and Starlux couldn’t.
As first reported by Upgraded Factors, Mileage Plan members can now mix two non-Alaska companions on the identical redemption — although, in the meanwhile, that is restricted to American Airways and British Airways.
TPG was unable to mix different companions — akin to from this system’s spectacular roster of Asian airline companions, together with Cathay Pacific and Japan Airways — on a single redemption with out Alaska as one of many working airways. For now, solely American and British Airways seem like bookable as a single redemption.
Associated: Cathay Pacific unveils its swanky new ‘Aria Suite’ business-class seat
Every day Publication
Reward your inbox with the TPG Every day e-newsletter
Be a part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s consultants
TPG contacted Alaska Airways about the potential of including extra airways as multipartner redemptions however didn’t hear again in time for publication.
It is value noting that these mixed American and British Airways redemptions are priced greater than reserving redemptions operated by only one airline companion. For instance, flying British Airways for all the journey from Miami Worldwide Airport (MIA) to Frankfurt Airport (FRA) is extra inexpensive than combining British Airways flights with these operated by American Airways.
This pricing anomaly seems to be as a result of though Mileage Plan permits the mix of those two carriers in a single award, it nonetheless costs the awards individually and combines the prices, charging 27,500 miles for a flight of three,501 to five,000 miles in size, plus 7,500 miles for a flight of lower than 750 miles in size.
Nonetheless, there are advantages of paying the additional mileage to make sure a easy journey when it’s a must to change planes someplace like London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR). Your baggage can be checked by to your remaining vacation spot, which some airways would refuse to do on separate tickets — even for a companion airline in the identical international alliance — and you can be protected ought to a delay on one flight trigger you to overlook a later flight on the identical itinerary.
Backside line
The Alaska Airways Mileage Plan program has improved its redemption choices by permitting the reserving of two airline companions as a single award. At the moment, the one two carriers permitted are American Airways and British Airways, although we hope extra companions can be added to this perk.
Members will save miles by sticking with one companion for all the journey, because the multicarrier awards are priced as two separate awards. Nonetheless, for those who can not discover availability with a single service, it is smart to e-book American Airways and British Airways collectively as one award to take pleasure in a seamless journey expertise for a similar worth as reserving individually.
