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:
- Earn more miles when crediting to Alaska, when flying with partner airlines
- No fuel-surcharges on all award bookings
- Requires fewer miles for award redemptions on key routes
- 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:
SIN-NRT-CGK is no longer doable.
Backtracking in Asia is forbidden now.
Still possible, as long as you leave Tokyo by the following calendar date.
Which alliance/airline loyalty program would you recommend redeeming miles for, to be able to take SG-US and SG-Europe flights in such style?
Am finding it increasingly difficult to redeem miles on SQ given the sparse availability.
Award seats are lacking on some other frequent flyer programs too. The best strategy in the long run, to me, is to continue accumulating flexible miles/points (with Citi cards) and extended miles/points expiry term (also with Citi cards).
Hi, could you advise how to access Finnair biz class flights from SIN to Europe? My search result for SIN to Frankfurt yields mainly SIA direct flights only.
Hi, there is not much availability for SIN-HEL. I am seeing some in late March 2023 though.
hi Fai
would you consider SIN-HND/NRT on JL metal with 25k AS miles as good value? thanks!
Hi Metal, yes, it is great value to me.
thanks. i was wondering how come this option was left out from your list.
because flying on CX metal requires only 22.5 k miles instead?
Yes, that is right. It’s been a couple of years since this list was posted. I’ll be updating it soon to include Finnair as well.
Hi, I am living in Switzerland and I fly often to Singapore to visit my family. I hope you will be updating the list to include Finnair soon.
Thank you.
Hi Jade, Finnair is already included! Under section 3) of the sweet spots.
Hi Fai, can you advise how to book a multi class cabin
im looking at the J+F from SIN-Tokyo on CX metal as you have in your chart in this article.
Thanks!
Hey,
I shared about how you can search and book Cathay flights with Alaska miles in the article linked below. However, it is really difficult to find availability and to fly through Hong Kong in the near future because of their strict COVID restrictions.
https://suitesmile.com/blog/2019/12/29/complete-guide-how-to-search-and-book-partner-award-flights-with-alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/#Step_2b_Search_and_book_award_flights_on_Cathay_Pacific_and_LATAM
can I add TLV-HKG for 30,000 (not sure if you can continue on to SIN/CGK/MNL etc for same price). That pretty much gets you to Europe with a great stopover including going to Jordan. I can then a get a cheap flight to anywhere in Europe, British airways are good, inc first class for about $NZ1700 to london if you are feeling rich (or book with miles on Cathy). Even better is TLV-JFK either business or first for 62500/70000. For me based in New Zealand this is brilliant as I can fly TLV to HKG stopover then pay 30,000 Alaska miles back to NZ and keep the HKG-JFK in bus/first in my back pocket for a later trip. I am a big fan of using 40,000 American Airlines miles to fly business to anywhere in Asia. I can then fly cheap to HKG and fly to USA on the Cathy ticket.
Hi Murray, TLV-HKG is indeed great value! Unfortunately, we’ll need an additional 25k to get from SIN-HKG. This makes SQ better for this route. SIN-IST in J is only 49k.
TLV-HKG-JFK is fantastic value at 62.5k! Similar to JNB-HKG-JFK.
You can position yourself in Hong Kong to fly to Europe for 42,500 miles in Cathay’s Business but there is now a better FFP for that route without any positioning hassle. Which one is which?
Hi Bruce, what do you mean?
You wrote it in the article. That there is a better redemption than this without the need to reposition from Singapore to Hong Kong first., before flying to Europe.
I have actually linked to another article in that same sentence. I was referring to Asia Miles which allows flying from Singapore to Europe on Cathay Pacific for 65,000 miles.