The Best Ways To Redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Frequent Flyer Miles

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles are extremely popular in the frequent flyer world. Not only do we value Alaska miles more than any other airline currency, but the carrier also partners with an incredible set of airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Korean Airlines and more. So with Mileage Plan, you have the flexibility to fly to just about anywhere in the world.

See our best credit card bonuses here.

In this post, we’ll cover the best ways to redeem your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles, along with a couple redemption tricks to stretch your rewards.

The The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® card and Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business are both great ways to earn bonus Mileage Plan miles with big welcome bonuses.

Best Redemption Options	Alaska Airlines flights Partner flights
OK Redemption Options	Money & Miles discounts First Class upgrades
Bad Redemption Options	Hotel stays Car rentals Magazines Share or gift miles
Mile Valuation	$0.018/mile

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CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED^® CARD

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card currently has an offer for 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Redeeming the 60,000 bonus points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, which is praised by users, will get you $750 in value towards travel. The 60K bonus points are worth $750 because you get 25% more value whenever you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Even better, strategize with Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer partners to potentially get even more value. Each point can be worth up to 2 cents apiece (60k points = ~$1,200). Read more on this here.

Card Review

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Alaska Airlines Flights

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the best ways to redeem your Mileage Plan miles is for flights with Alaska Airlines. The carrier has hubs in:

If your home airport is one of the above, you can fly with Alaska Airlines to just about anywhere in the United States, along with several destinations in Canada and Central America.

The Mileage Plan award chart has four distanced-based levels, cleverly named Hop, Skip, Jump and Leap. Each level has a set range of miles required for an award flight:

AWARD LEVEL	MILES RANGE
Hop Flights less than 700 miles	Main Cabin: 5,000 – 30,000 First Class: 15,000 – 40,000
Skip Flights between 701 – 1,400 miles	Main Cabin: 7,500 – 30,000 First Class: 25,000 – 60,000
Jump Flights between 1,401 – 2,100 miles	Main Cabin: 10,000 – 40,000 First Class: 25,000 – 60,000
Leap Flights longer than 2,101 miles	Main Cabin: 12,500 – 50,000 First Class: 30,000 – 70,000

So for as little as 5,000 Mileage Plan miles, you can go on a one-way award flight that’s less than 700 miles in distance. The most you’d spend is 70,000 miles for a one-way Leap flight in First Class.

Best Ways To Redeem With Alaska Airlines

Below are the best ways to use your Mileage Plan miles on Alaska Airlines award flights:

Short- & Medium-Haul Flights. Alaska Airlines charges award travel by distance. This structure makes Skip (short-haul) and Jump (medium-haul) flights better deals than those offered by frequent flyer programs which charge flat rates for domestic flights.

The East Coast To Hawaii In Economy. Other carriers charge you more to fly to Hawaii from the East Coast. Alaska Airlines, however, requires 15,000 miles one way, no matter where you’re departing from in the United States. Stretch your miles even further by booking a stopover along the way.

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Partner Flights

Despite not being a member of any major airline alliance, Alaska Airlines has an extensive set of international airline partners with some of the world’s most prestigious carriers:

Before we get into the best ways to redeem on partner flights, keep in mind:

• Each Alaska partner has their own award chart, and not all flights operated by Alaska partners are available for redemption. Utilize Alaska’s online award charts to see what flights are available and to price out your award.
• You can’t combine more than one partner on a single award itinerary, but you can connect an Alaska-operated flight to an international partner.
• If you book a multi-segment award ticket, and at least one of the segments is in First or Business Class, the entire itinerary will price at the higher cabin mileage rate.
• Alaska Airlines charges $12.50 to book with a partner and a call center fee of $15. Note: You have to call in to book Cathay Pacific and LATAM award flights.
• And last but not least, you’re allowed one stopover on a one-way award ticket, with no limit to how long you stay. So if you book a roundtrip award as two one ways, you could get two stopovers on a roundtrip ticket. Note: The stopover has to be in one of the partner airline’s hubs.

Best Ways To Redeem With Alaska Airlines Partners

Without further ado, here are our favorite Alaska Airlines partner redemptions:

DESTINATION (ONE WAY)	AIRLINE	MILES
Fiji (stopover) & Australia	Fiji Airways	Economy 40,000 Business 55,000
Dubai (stopover) & India or The Middle East	Emirates	Business 82,500 First 150,000
Hong Kong (stopover) & Asia	Cathay Pacific	Economy 30,000 Business 50,00 First 70,000
Hong Kong (stopover) & South Africa	Cathay Pacific	Economy 50,000 Business 62,500 First 70,000
Hong Kong (stopover) & Australia or New Zealand	Cathay Pacific	Economy 40,000 Business 60,000 First 80,000
Vancouver (from New York)	Cathay Pacific	Business 25,000
Australia (stopover) & New Zealand	Qantas	Economy 42,500 Business 55,000 First 70,000
Tokyo (stopover) & Asia	Japan Airlines	Economy 35,000 Business 60,000 First 70,000
China (stopover) & Southeast Asia	Hainan Airlines	Economy 30,000 Business 50,000
Peru (from Miami)	American Airlines	Economy 20,000 Business 30,000
Peru (stopover) & South America	LATAM	Economy 25,000 Business 45,000
Iceland (stopover) & Europe	Icelandair	Business 55,000
Europe (off peak)	American Airlines	Economy 22,500

*We independently collected information from public sources to form our best partner redemptions. This information is subject to change without notice.

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Alaska Airlines Redemption Tricks

If you really want to stretch your miles, try our two redemption tricks below:

Pack in four cities on two one way awards with a different stopover each, plus an open jaw. For example, book a one-way flight to Melbourne with a stopover in Fiji. Then make your way to Sydney from Melbourne. And finally, fly home from Sydney with a stopover in Hong Kong.

Home – Fiji – Melbourne —– Sydney – Hong Kong – Home

Book a long stopover at your home airport to get a free one-way flight. For example, you book a flight from New York to Sydney with a stopover in Fiji. But on your return flight, you want to go directly home to New York. With a Los Angeles trip coming up in the near future, you strategically book your return flight from Sydney to Los Angeles with a long stopover in your home city of New York. So, that one-way trip from New York to Los Angeles is free!

New York – Fiji – Sydney
Sydney – New York (long stopover) – Los Angeles

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Bottom Line

You get endless options for your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles, thanks to its long list of airline partners and its stopover policy. And with our redemption tricks, Alaska miles will become one of your favorite airline rewards to stockpile.

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