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 associate 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 could possibly be booked as a single award — whereas flying the identical itinerary however with American Airways and Starlux couldn’t.
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As first reported by Upgraded Factors, Mileage Plan members can now mix two non-Alaska companions on the identical redemption — although, in the interim, that is restricted to American Airways and British Airways.
TPG was unable to mix different companions — reminiscent of 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 look like bookable as a single redemption.
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TPG contacted Alaska Airways about the potential for including extra airways as multipartner redemptions however didn’t hear again in time for publication.
It is price noting that these mixed American and British Airways redemptions are priced larger than reserving redemptions operated by only one airline associate. For instance, flying British Airways for your entire journey from Miami Worldwide Airport (MIA) to Frankfurt Airport (FRA) is extra reasonably priced 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 mixture 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.
Nevertheless, there are advantages of paying the additional mileage to make sure a clean journey when you need to change planes someplace like London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR). Your baggage will likely be checked via to your closing vacation spot, which some airways would refuse to do on separate tickets — even for a associate airline in the identical international alliance — and you’ll 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 present, the one two carriers permitted are American Airways and British Airways, although we hope extra companions will likely be added to this perk.
Members will save miles by sticking with one associate for your entire journey, because the multicarrier awards are priced as two separate awards. Nonetheless, in the event you can’t discover availability with a single provider, it is smart to e-book American Airways and British Airways collectively as one award to get pleasure from a seamless journey expertise for a similar worth as reserving individually.
