More news coming out of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan’s front. Yesterday, the airline revealed the award charts for redemptions on Japan Airlines, and we have a complete guide on doing so. Just earlier today, it appears that you can also now redeem Alaska miles to Australia on Emirates.
Alaska Airlines maintains a separate award chart for each airline, and only the regions with an award chart are possible. Previously, you could only use Alaska miles for redemptions to Asia, Middle East/India, and Europe on Emirates. Alaska still hasn’t officially posted an award chart, but Emirates awards to Australia are now both searchable and bookable.
Here is the award chart for Emirates awards from the US to Australia using Alaska miles:
- Economy Class: 65,000 miles one-way
- Business Class: 120,000 miles one-way
- First Class: 225,000 miles one-way
You can now use Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles to redeem Emirates flight from the US to Australia!
It does not appear that you can redeem miles for Emirates awards between Australia and any region other than the US, so you won’t be able to book, say, Bangkok-Dubai-Sydney.
These rates are obviously still very high, and I personally wouldn’t redeem them at this rate. For example, the cost (in miles) to fly First Class is more than triple that of flying Qantas, and almost triple that of Cathay Pacific from the US to Australia. For Business Class on Emirates, you are looking at double the cost of flying Cathay Pacific or Qantas.
Emirates A380 First Class Onboard Shower Spa
However, I know some people are Emirates chasers out there, or maybe your Alaska miles are burning a hole in your pocket. In that case, redeeming an award all the way to Australia is not that much more than just flying to Asia or the Middle East, considering the marginal cost and the length of the flight from Dubai to Australia.
Here is just one crazy example. You can fly from New York—via Milan, Dubai, and Bangkok—to Sydney in Emirates First Class for 225,000 Alaska miles. That’s 4 segments, almost 15,000 miles in distance, and almost 33 hours of flying. You’ll get to enjoy the comfortable seat and bed, the onboard lounge/bar, shower at 30,000 feet in the air, and the incredible Emirates Lounges in Dubai. For some people, that might be worth splurging on.
With Alaska’s routing rules, you will be able to make one stopover en route in the Middle East or Asia, even on a one-way ticket.
You can now fly from New York to Sydney via Milan, Bangkok, and Dubai in Emirates First Class for 225,000 Alaska miles.
As I mentioned, the redemption rates are so much higher for travel on Emirates than other carriers, and I personally would rather fly Qantas or Cathay Pacific (pending availability). However, for the Emirates chasers out there, there is now a new option. For the rest of us, I’d recommend looking into booking Emirates flights using Japan Airlines miles, or even using Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
Will you be booking a trip on Emirates to Australia using Alaska miles?
(HT HesBeenVeryNaughty on Reddit)
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
2 comments
[…] Point Me to the Plane remarks, this may be an option suited for those who are sitting on a ton of Alaska miles and are just […]
[…] widely written by the travel community – such as here and here for Japan Airline, here and here for Emirate. Dan also wrote about the new JAL redemption […]