Last year, Alaska Airlines eliminated the separate award charts for its partner airlines and replaced them with a simplified version. At the time, however, the award pricing that actually showed up in searches did not change. Over the past few days, readers have gradually noticed a fairly significant devaluation for Alaska Airlines redemptions on JL Japan Airlines flights. In summary:
- First class: U.S. West Coast to Japan increased from 70,000 to 85,000 miles; the rest of the U.S. increased from 70,000 to 100,000 miles
- Business class: U.S. West Coast to Japan remains unchanged at 60,000 miles; the rest of the U.S. increased from 60,000 to 80,000 miles
- Business class: U.S. to Northeast Asia increased from 65,000 to 100,000 miles (a massive devaluation)
- JAL flights within Asia have also seen major devaluations
Fortunately, this round of devaluation appears to affect only Japan Airlines for now. Redemptions on Cathay Pacific and Hainan Airlines have not changed so far, though this kind of black-box pricing will probably continue.
Here is the simplified award chart that was published at the time. That “starting from” wording really feels like a clearance sale sign saying everything starts at 90% off.
