Alaska Airlines officially joined oneworld alliance on 31 March 2021 and this allows you to earn valuable Alaska miles on flights with oneworld members like Qatar Airways and Malaysia Airlines.
Unfortunately, it is a horrible idea to redeem Alaska miles on these new partners.
Alaska’s award chart for Malaysia Airlines
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan maintains separate award charts for each partner airline.
How many Alaska miles are required for each route on Malaysia Airlines? Here’s how Alaska’s award chart for Malaysia Airlines looks like:
| Route | Economy | Business |
|---|---|---|
| Asia – Asia | from 25,000 | from 65,000 |
| Asia – Indian Subcontinent | 25,000 | 65,000 |
| Asia – Middle East | 40,000 | 120,000 |
| Asia – South Pacific | 40,000 | 120,000 |
| Asia – Europe | 50,000 | 175,000 |
It’s hard to believe that you need more Alaska miles to fly Business Class on a 45-minute flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore than a 20-hour one from Singapore to New York.
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Is it good value to redeem Alaska miles for flights on Malaysia Airlines?
Absolutely not.
Alaska miles are only great for Business and First Class flights on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines and nothing has changed since I shared the sweet spots last year.
Related: Sweet Spots: Best ways to redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
Cathay Pacific warning
It is nearly impossible to find award availability for flights on Cathay Pacific right now because Hong Kong is still imposing strict border rules during the pandemic.
For that reason, if you are based in Southeast Asia, Alaska miles are only good for redemptions on Japan Airlines at the moment.
Bottom line
It is great that you can earn Alaska miles on Malaysia Airlines flights that are paid in cash. However, it is becoming nerve-wrecking that Japan Airlines is the only good way to redeem Alaska miles in the last couple of years.
If you have too much Alaska miles in your account at the moment, consider redeeming them for a trip to North America on Japan Airlines to burn off those miles.
Although an Alaska Airlines spokesperson shared that the airline “hopes to provide at least 90 days notice of any award chart changes” it is never a good idea to have too many eggs in one basket (Japan Airlines).