Sweet Spots: Best ways to redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles in 2024

Because of accumulation limitations, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is known as an “exotic” frequent flyer program (FFP) for travellers in Asia but it should be strongly considered, for a more rewarding travel-hacking experience.

In this article, I will be sharing the best ways to accumulate and redeem Alaska miles.

Alaska’s partner airlines

Alaska Airlines is part of oneworld alliance and as a bonus, it is also partners with other great airlines that are not part of oneworld alliance!

oneworld Alliance partners		Other partners
American Airlines	Malaysia Airlines	Aer Lingus	LATAM Airlines
British Airways	Qantas	Air Tahiti Nui	Ravn Alaska
Cathay Pacific	Qatar Airways	Condor	Singapore Airlines
Fiji Airways	Royal Air Maroc	EL AL Israel Airlines	STARLUX
Finnair	Royal Jordanian	Hainan Airlines
Iberia	SriLankan Airlines	Icelandair
Japan Airlines		Korean Air

As shown above, Alaska has an impressive list of partners with some of the best airlines in the world.

Notable airlines that are not partners with Alaska Airlines are: All Nippon Airways, Emirates, Etihad and Turkish Airlines.

How to accumulate Alaska miles?

The biggest pain in accumulating Alaska miles is that it is not a transfer partner of credit cards from Asian countries.

However, there are other ways to earn them.

1) Flight credit

Crediting your flights to Alaska Mileage Plan is the most natural way to accumulate Alaska miles. Yes, you can credit your Singapore Airlines flights (that are paid in cash) to Alaska too!

Almost always, especially in premium cabins, I credit partner flights to Alaska’s FFP for the following reasons:

1. Earn more miles when crediting to Alaska, when flying with partner airlines
2. No fuel-surcharges on all award bookings
3. Requires fewer miles for award redemptions on key routes
4. Low-maintenance FFP with easily-extendable miles validity

2) Buy miles

The great thing about this FFP is that if you are short on miles, you can buy them directly from the airline during regular offers throughout the year.

3) Mileage Plan shopping portal

Mileage Plan shopping portal is similar to Asia Miles iShop. You will receive Alaska miles for purchases made after clicking through this portal. The shopping portal also runs attractive offers every week.

This is a really easy way to keep your account active and extend your miles validity!

4) Convert Marriott points to Alaska miles

Marriott Bonvoy members can convert their Marriott points to Alaska miles at a ratio of 3:1. Convert in blocks of 60,000 Marriott points to receive 5,000 bonus miles; for a total of 25,000 Alaska miles.

5) Book hotels through Rocketmiles or Kaligo

Kaligo and Rocketmiles reward you with miles when booking hotels through their websites.

Mileage Plan Award charts

Alaska Airlines has region-based award charts for each of its partners. The good thing about this is that devaluations tend to be isolated to each partner, instead of across the board.

Mileage Plan Sweet Spots

In the name of high value redemptions, these are the best routes that Asia-based travellers should consider redeeming Alaska miles for.

All bookings must be made on alaskaair.com or via the reservations hotline.

1) Within Asia

Miles required for one-way travel between Asian cities:

Region 1	Region 2	Airline	Economy Class	Business Class
Asia	Asia		12.5k	22.5k
Taipei	Hanoi, Manila, Ho Chi Minh, Seoul, Tokyo, Okinawa, Osaka, Fukuoka		7.5k	15k
Manila	Okinawa		7.5k	15k

From just 22.5k miles, you can fly between major cities like Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Jakarta.

Joyride example: If you are going from Singapore to Jakarta, you can fly in Business Class from Singapore to Hong Kong and onward to Jakarta for just 22.5k miles. Sure, it doesn’t make much sense if you need to be in Jakarta as quickly as possible. But if you are in the mood to check out the great lounges in Hong Kong, this can be a fun redemption! Just note that the booking engine will not allow you to spend more than 1 day in Hong Kong, if that’s not your final destination.

2) Between Asia and North America

Miles required for one-way travel between Asia and North American cities:

Region 1	Region 2	Airline	Economy Class	Business Class	First Class
Asia	North America		30k	50k	70k
Taipei	Los Angeles		20k	60k	–
Asia	Los Angeles		42.5k	85k	–

From just 30k miles, you can fly between Asia and North American cities like New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Vancouver.

Fly in Business Class from 50k miles and First Class from 70k miles!

3) Between Asia and Europe

Miles required for one-way travel between Asia and European cities:

Region 1	Region 2	Airline	Economy Class	Business Class
Asia	Europe		32.5k	60k

From just 32.5k miles, you can fly between Asia and European cities like London, Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona.

Fly in Business Class for just 60k miles!

Related: Review: Finnair A350 NEW Business Class Helsinki to Singapore

4) Between Southeast Asia and South Pacific

Miles required for one-way travel between Southeast Asia and South Pacific cities:

Region 1	Region 2	Airline	Economy Class	Business Class
Asia	South Pacific		30k	65k

From just 30k miles, you can fly between Southeast Asian cities and South Pacific cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.

Fly in Business Class (with better availability) for 65k miles!

5) Between Hong Kong and New Zealand

Miles required for one-way travel between Hong Kong and New Zealand:

Region 1	Region 2	Airline	Economy Class	Business Class
Hong Kong	New Zealand		22.5k	30k

If you are able to position in Hong Kong, an Economy Class flight to New Zealand requires just 22.5k miles and a Business Class flight just 30k miles!

6) Between South Pacific and North America

Miles required for one-way travel between South Pacific and North American cities:

Region 1	Region 2	Airline	Economy Class	Business Class
South Pacific	North America		40k	55k

From just 40k miles, you can fly between South Pacific and North American cities like New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Vancouver.

Fly in Business Class for 55k miles!

7) Between New Zealand and North America (via Hong Kong)

Miles required for one-way travel between New Zealand and North American cities:

Region 1	Region 2	Airline	Economy Class	Business Class
New Zealand	North America		40k	60k

From just 40k miles, you can fly between South Pacific and North American cities (via Hong Kong).

Fly in Business Class for 60k miles!

8) Between South Africa and North America (via Hong Kong)

Miles required for one-way travel between South Africa and North American cities:

Region 1	Region 2	Airline	Business Class	First Class
South Africa	North America		62.5k	70k

From just 62.5k miles, you can fly the long way between South Africa and North American cities (via Hong Kong).

Fly in First Class for the segment between Hong Kong and North America for just 70k miles in total with a “mixed-cabin” booking!

Summary

Here’s a quick look at the sweet spots that I’ve shared above:

Region 1	Region 2	Airline	Class	Miles
Asia	Asia		Economy	12.5k
			Business	22.5k
	North America		Economy	30k
			Business	50k
			First	70k
			Economy	42.5k
			Business	85k
	Europe		Economy	32.5k
			Business	60k
	South Pacific		Economy	30k
			Business	65k
Taipei	Hanoi, Manila, Ho Chi Minh, Seoul, Tokyo, Okinawa, Osaka, Fukuoka		Economy	7.5k
			Business	15k
	Los Angeles		Economy	20k
			Business	60k
Hong Kong	New Zealand		Business	30k
South Pacific	North America		Business	55k
New Zealand	North America		Business	60k
South Africa	North America		Business	62.5k
			First	70k