[Update 2021.7] AS miles can now be used to redeem flights on Qatar Airways. The award chart is listed below. Compared side by side, using AA miles for Qatar award tickets is still the better deal. Also, if Qatar does not have saver-level award space, the mileage required will be calculated based on dynamic pricing.

  • United States to Indian Subcontinent costs 42,500 miles in economy, 85,000 miles in business
  • United States to Middle East costs 42,500 miles in economy, 85,000 miles in business
  • United States to Africa costs 50,000 miles in economy, 120,000 miles in business
  • Middle East to South Pacific costs 50,000 miles in economy, 100,000 miles in business
  • Middle East to Europe costs 25,000 miles in economy, 65,000 miles in business
  • Middle East to Indian Subcontinent costs 17,500 miles in economy, 40,000 miles in business

In addition, the partnership between AS and Emirates will end on July 31, after which Emirates award tickets can no longer be redeemed.

Emirates: Our partnership with Emirates will end on July 31, 2021. Award bookings will be available for redemption through July 31, 2021 for future travel. Learn more.

The ability to redeem Singapore Airlines award tickets has also been temporarily removed because travel restrictions during the pandemic have made things more complicated.
Singapore Airlines award availability: Singapore Airlines has removed access to award travel due to the complexities of enforcing global travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

For partner-airline infant tickets, the same number of miles as an adult ticket will now be charged, which is really bad news.
Lap infant ticketing: We are no longer able to guarantee that lap infants will be accepted with your international partner award ticket.
Until further notice, Mileage Plan members will need to book seats for infants at the standard mileage rate on international partner award bookings. For travel wholly within the US, or wholly on Alaska Airlines, standard lap infant policies apply.

Generous stopover policy

AS not only lets you redeem one-way tickets on certain partner airlines, but also allows one stopover on those one-way awards. (For an introduction to stopovers and open jaws, see this article.) This is one of the most generous policies among major airlines. For example, American Airlines (AA) is an AS partner, and AS miles can be used to book AA flights back to China. The chart is below:

Screenshot 2015-07-24 11.22.06

A one-way economy award costs 35,000, business 55,000, and first 67,500. Compared with AA’s own pricing, the difference is not huge. But AS allows one stopover on a one-way award. (For domestic US tickets, stopovers are only allowed when redeeming AS flights; stopovers are not allowed on AA or Delta awards. In addition, intra-Asia tickets also cannot have stopovers.) What does that mean? Here is an example:

IMG_0104

For the ticket above, we used 35,000 AS miles to book an itinerary with a stopover in Dallas for more than a month. Of course, you can also choose not to stop over. Using stopovers gives us much more flexibility when traveling.

There are quite a few sweet spots when redeeming AS miles for Cathay Pacific

Part of the award chart for redeeming AS miles on Cathay Pacific is shown below:

Screenshot 2015-07-24 11.32.15

As you can see from the chart, a one-way economy ticket between China and the US costs only 30,000 miles, and business class costs only 50,000 miles. Both are better deals than using AA miles for Cathay Pacific! First class is 70,000, which saves a lot compared with AA’s post-devaluation price of 110,000. If you live in Guangdong or Hong Kong, a stopover means you can land in Hong Kong, go home and rest for a while, and then continue on to another destination in Asia, such as Tokyo or Bali, all on the same one-way award for just 30,000 miles. (Just get an SPG card.) What about the return? You can handle it similarly. If saver economy space is available on the following dates, the itinerary below can be done for 60,000 AS miles:

  1. 7.28 LAX-HKG from Los Angeles to Hong Kong
  2. 8.14 HKG-NRT after resting for a while, from Hong Kong to Tokyo
  3. 8.31 ICN-HKG travel onward from Tokyo to Seoul, then return to Hong Kong
  4. 9.14 HKG-LAX after enough rest, return from Hong Kong to Los Angeles

Now that Hainan Airlines has joined, readers based in Beijing and Shanghai can do the same thing too! For Hainan Airlines ideas, see my earlier post Introduction to Alaska Airlines Miles (3) – Redeeming Hainan Airlines Flights

Building up some AS miles can also soften the blow if AA suddenly increases the miles required for round-trip travel between China and the US. (AA has devalued without advance notice before.)

There is also an Intra-Asia option on the chart. At 12,500/22,500/27,500 one way, it offers pretty solid value, but unfortunately these are intra-region tickets, so stopovers are not allowed. So what places are included in this Asia region? According to OneMoreDay, all of East Asia and Southeast Asia count. Going west, Sri Lanka is included in Asia, but India and the Maldives are classified under Africa / India / Middle East. The award chart for that region can be found here. The biggest sweet spot on that chart is this section:

Screenshot 2015-07-24 12.24.21

See the sweet spot? A one-way Cathay Pacific first-class award from North America to Africa / India / Middle East is 70,000 miles, the same as North America to Asia. In other words, if you fly first class, the one-way stopover trick above lets you continue all the way to Africa without spending any extra miles. For example, you could fly like the itinerary below and stop in Hong Kong for a while, then continue nonstop to Johannesburg, South Africa, for only 70,000 AS miles:

IMG_0106

Also, Cathay Pacific first class from North America to Australia/New Zealand and similar destinations costs only 80,000. That price easily beats redemptions with UA, AA, and others, not to mention the one-way stopover advantage. And now that Hainan Airlines is in the program? You know what that means.

Hong Kong to Europe round-trip in business class for 85,000. After US miles were merged into AA, this became the best-value round-trip redemption between Asia and Europe.

Singapore Airlines redemptions

Alaska miles can now be used online to directly redeem Singapore Airlines flights. Taking a quick look, SFO-Sin in economy is 47,500, and Sin-PVG in economy is 17,500, which still seems to have some value. If you have Alaska miles that you otherwise cannot use, redeeming Singapore Airlines premium cabins can be a decent option.

The North America–Asia award chart is below:

For more, see:

Short-haul redemptions on Alaska’s own flights

As everyone knows, Delta miles are especially valuable for redeeming short-haul flights. Since AS and Delta split up, AS has also become competitive with Delta on short-haul redemptions. Unlike Delta’s region-based award chart, AS short-haul awards are more like Avios in that they are distance-based. Here is the award chart:

For redemptions within 1400 miles, this is a better deal than using Avios for AS flights. Since AS has many destinations on the West Coast, this is great news for those living there. On top of that, Delta’s short-haul award chart is also very favorable for West Coast travelers, so miles can make travel much more convenient for people on the U.S. West Coast.

Highlights of redeeming Japan Airlines flights

You can now also use AS miles to redeem Japan Airlines flights. The award chart from the continental U.S. to Southeast Asia (China is included in the Southeast Asia region) and East Asia is as follows (one-way):

The intra-Asia award chart is as follows:

And like Hainan Airlines, these can be booked directly on the AS website. The website can also directly ticket itineraries with stopovers like the one below, and there is no YQ:

In addition, one-way intra-Asia awards can also include a stopover. A one-way business class award to Southeast Asia for 25,000 miles with a stopover is quite a good deal.

Compared with AA miles, AS miles have a major advantage on U.S.-China routes: not only do they require fewer miles one-way (business 65,000 VS 70,000, first class 75,000 VS 110,000), but they also allow a stopover. On top of that, you can book Premium Economy, which cannot be booked with AA miles. If your travel dates are not flexible, this can also be a very good option.

Redeeming Virgin America (VX) flights [New]

Because AS acquired Virgin America (VX), starting today (1/9), AS miles can also be used to redeem VX flights. The award rates are as follows:

  • Within the same state: economy one-way 7500~12,500 miles; first class one-way 15,000 miles.
  • Within the continental U.S.: economy one-way 12500~20,000 miles; first class one-way 25,000 miles.
  • Continental U.S.-Hawaii: economy one-way 20000~30,000 miles; business class one-way 40,000 miles.
  • Continental U.S.-Mexico: economy one-way 17500~25,000 miles; business class one-way 32,500 miles.

Relatively speaking, the best value is redeeming VX first class on transcontinental East Coast-West Coast routes, which is highly regarded in the industry. There is still plenty of award space right now, so if you are interested, it is worth trying:

A few important things to note

  • On a single award ticket, only one partner airline can appear. In other words, you can redeem Cathay Pacific’s Los Angeles-Hong Kong-Shanghai itinerary, or a mixed ticket with Cathay Pacific and Alaska Airlines, but you cannot redeem a mixed AA-and-Delta ticket or a mixed AA-and-Cathay Pacific ticket (the latter can be booked with AA miles).
  • Tickets containing Cathay Pacific flights and LAN flights must be booked by phone; they cannot be ticketed directly online.

Related reading

Introduction to Alaska Airlines Miles (1) – Earning miles

Introduction to Alaska Airlines Miles (3) – Redeeming Hainan Airlines flights