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In September 2021, Alaska and Qatar Airways launched a new partnership, offering travelers reciprocal mileage earnings and redemptions. While the redemption rates weren't the best, we were pleased to get yet another opportunity to redeem miles for incredible Qatar awards. Plus, this unique partnership offers more award availability on Qatar Airways than what's bookable through Qatar's other partners — albeit at a higher mileage rate.
However, AwardWallet recently caught that Alaska severely increased the out-of-pocket costs for awards on Qatar Airways. Rather than charging under $50 out-of-pocket each way, awards are currently pricing as high as $800 one-way — drastically reducing the value travelers can get from these awards.
The good news: Alaska has confirmed to AwardWallet that this is an error. Here's what we know about this situation — plus other redemption options that you can take advantage of in the meantime.
Alaska “Erroneously” Increases Award Costs on Qatar Awards
Late last week, AwardWallet caught that Alaska had — out of the blue — sharply increased out-of-pocket costs on Alaska awards. When this Alaska-Qatar partnership launched, Alaska Airways awards cost as little as $21 out-of-pocket for nonstop flights from the U.S. to Doha:
However, the same awards are currently pricing at a much higher out-of-pocket cost. For example, the route from Boston (BOS) to Doha (DOH) is currently pricing at 85,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles plus $533 in taxes and fees:
The worst example we could find was for a last-minute award from New York (JFK) to Delhi (DEL) through Doha (DOH). Out-of-pocket costs on awards on this route cost around $300 one-way in economy or almost $800 in business class:
Alaska's Statement About This Situation
These much higher fees seemed to be a stealth devaluation of Alaska Mileage Plan awards on Qatar Airways. But, just to be sure, I reached out to Alaska Airways to inquire about this situation. And I got some excellent news. An Alaska spokesperson confirmed that these higher fees are an error that it's already working to fix:
We discovered over the weekend that fuel surcharges are erroneously applying to Qatar Airways award bookings available on alaskaair.com. We are working with QR to correct the error and expect it to be fixed soon. We apologize to our guests for the inconvenience.
I followed up to ask if there's an estimated timeline for this fix — and if Mileage Plan members who booked Qatar awards during this time will get a refund of the erroneously high fees. At the time of publishing, I didn't receive a response to my follow-up questions.
However, Alaska has responded confirming that it “will refund the carrier-imposed surcharge to anyone who made a booking while this error was in place,” and that it hopes to fix the issue within the next day.
Other Options for Redeeming Miles for Qatar Airways Awards
While we wait for Alaska to resolve this error — or if you don't have a stash of Alaska miles — you have other options for redeeming miles for the same awards.
American Airlines AAdvantage
American Airlines' AAdvantage program remains the cheapest option for booking Qatar Airways awards. Travelers can book award flights to Doha or onward to anywhere in the Middle East or Indian Subcontinent (including the Maldives) for 40,000 miles each way in economy or 70,000 AAdvantage miles each way in business class. One-way taxes and fees are generally under $10 when departing the U.S.:
Awards connecting through Doha to anywhere in Africa are just as reasonable: 40,000 miles in economy or just 75,000 miles in business class. That's an incredible rate for some quite long itineraries — such as all the way from Los Angeles to South Africa.
The downside to this American Airlines sweet spot: AAdvantage isn't a transfer partner of many transferrable point programs. Only Bilt Rewards (1:1) and Marriott Bonvoy (3:1) points transfer to American Airlines AAdvantage.
British Airways Executive Club
Anyone who's priced out an award on British Airways knows that BA is infamous for its high taxes and fees. But that's not the case for redemptions on Qatar Airways.
For example, take that same Qatar Airways business class award from Boston to Doha that currently costs 85,000 Alaska miles plus $533 in taxes and fees. If you book the exact same award through British Airways, you'll pay just 70,000 Avios plus $103 out-of-pocket:
Awards for destinations beyond Doha cost a bit more and generally depend on the distance. See the full British Airways award chart for Qatar awards.
British Airways Avios are easy for U.S. travelers to accumulate — even without flying British Airways or its partners. You can transfer points to British Airways from a slew of major transferrable point programs:
Bottom Line
Last week, Alaska Airlines suddenly started charging much higher taxes and fees on Qatar Airways awards. While we were afraid that this was a stealth devaluation, Alaska confirmed to AwardWallet that these extra fees are being charged in error and it's working on a fix. Hopefully this fix will be put into place soon. And hopefully Alaska will refund the higher taxes and fees to any travelers who booked awards during this time.
While we wait for Alaska to resolve this issue, consider booking Qatar Airways awards through American Airlines or British Airways.
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