Last Call: Book These Alaska Mileage Awards Before Award Chart Changes in March Last Call: Book These Alaska Mileage Awards Before Award Chart Changes in March

Last Call: Book These Alaska Mileage Awards Before Award Chart Changes in March

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Alaska Airlines is adjusting its partner award charts; for some Mileage Plan members, these changes might be overwhelmingly negative.

The new charts are distance-based, meaning a handful of the most popular Mileage Plan redemptions will soon become much more expensive with the new award charts starting in March 2024.

Until those changes take effect, you can still book partner awards using the current pricing — but time is slowly running out. Here are the awards you should book now to get better prices on your redemptions.

Alaska Airlines Is Making Changes to Its Partner Award Charts

The changes coming to Mileage Plan will alleviate inconsistent pricing between Alaska's partner airlines, which is a big deal.

Alaska Airlines currently publishes one award chart for each of its partners. Having one unified chart is great in theory — if the pricing wholly reflects actual partner awards. Alaska's chart, however, didn't (and won't until March), which is forcing the change.

As a refresher, here's the active partner chart:

Alaska Airlines current non-distance-based award chart using regions
Credit: Alaska Airlines

The new partner award charts will provide that missing consistency through a shift to distance-based pricing. Starting in March 2024, the more miles you want to fly, the more miles you'll need to redeem.

And instead of one chart, there will be three — each focusing on a separate region. Here's the pricing for routes from the U.S. to and from (and within) the Americas:

Distance (miles)Economy
(starting at)
Premium Economy
(starting at)
Business Class
(starting at)
First Class
(starting at)
Less than 700 4,5006,0009,00013,500
701–1,4007,50010,00015,00025,000
1,401–2,10012,50017,50025,00040,000
2,101–4,00017,50022,50035,00052,500
4,001–6,00025,00032,50050,00075,000
6,001 and above30,00040,00060,00090,000

Asia:

Distance (miles)Economy (starting at)Premium Economy (starting at)Business (starting at)First (starting at)
Less than 1,5007,50010,00015,00022,500
1,501–3,00025,00032,50050,00075,000
3,001–5,00030,00040,00060,00090,000
5,001–7,00037,50050,00075,000110,000
7,001–10,00042,50055,00085,000130,000
10,000 and above65,00085,000130,000195,000

And, lastly, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa:

Distance (miles)Economy
(starting at)
Premium Economy
(starting at)
Business Class
(starting at)
First Class
(starting at)
Less than 1,5007,50010,00015,00022,500
1,501–3,50022,50030,00045,00067,500
3,501–5,00027,50035,00055,00082,500
5,001–7,00035,000 45,00070,000105,000
7,001–10,00042,50055,00085,000130,000
10,000 and above55,00072,500110,000165,000

Book These Partner Awards Before the Award Chart Change

With the introduction of distance-based charts, most long-haul awards involving connections or free stopovers are bound to get more expensive. We've looked at Alaska's partner airlines and found a variety of itineraries that'll soon feature higher pricing. These are the award redemptions you'll want to make now.

Here are a few examples:

Qatar Qsuite to Sri Lanka

One of the most desirable redemptions in points and miles is Qatar's famous Qsuite. And if you want to fly in style from Houston (IAH) through Doha (DOH) and on to Colombo (CMB), it'll cost you 85,000 Mileage Plan miles if you book today. Unfortunately, the pricing for this 10,292-mile itinerary will soon change for the worse.

  • What you'll pay now: 85,000 Mileage Plan miles
  • What you'll pay starting in March 2024: 130,000 Mileage Plan miles — a 53% increase
Fly Qatar Airways between IAH and CMB with a stopover in DOH for 85,000 Mileage Plan miles — in business class.
Credit: Alaska Airlines

LATAM business class awards to Argentina

Business class awards on LATAM from North to South America are due to become a lot pricier. The 5,806-mile itinerary between New York (JFK) and Buenos Aires (EZE) with a stopover in Santiago (SCL) costs 45,000 miles now, but this pricing won't last for long.

  • What you'll pay now: 45,000 Mileage Plan miles
  • What you'll pay starting in March 2024: 50,000 Mileage Plan miles — an 11% increase
Fly LATAM between JFK and EZE with a stopover in SCL for 45,000 Mileage Plan miles — in business class.
Credit: Alaska Airlines

Fiji Airways business class to Oceania

One of the best Mileage Plan sweet spots is flying 7,000+ miles on Fiji Airways from the U.S. West Coast (or Vancouver, Canada) to Auckland (AKL) or Sydney (SYD) and stopping over in Nadi (NAN). This business class award will only set you back 55,000 Mileage Plan miles — a fantastic deal.

  • What you'll pay now: 55,000 Mileage Plan miles
  • What you'll pay starting in March 2024: 85,000 Mileage Plan miles — a 55% increase
Fly Fiji Airways between YVR and SYD with a stopover in NAN for 55,000 Mileage Plan miles — in business class.
Credit: Alaska Airlines

Aer Lingus business class to Europe

Plenty of airlines will get you to Europe, but the ones that'll see price increases shortly are the ones you'll want to book now. Aer Lingus is a great example: You can fly from Seattle (SEA) to Frankfurt (FRA) with a connection in Dublin (DUB) for 60,000 Mileage Plan miles. Not bad for business class!

  • What you'll pay now: 60,000 Mileage Plan miles
  • What you'll pay starting in March 2024: 70,000 Mileage Plan miles — a 17% increase
Fly Aer Lingus between SEA and FRA with a stopover in DUB for 60,000 Mileage Plan miles — in business class.
Credit: Alaska Airlines

Air Tahiti Nui business class to French Polynesia

If you've got your eye on a business class ticket between Anchorage (ANC) and Papeete (PPT) with a connection in Seattle (SEA), you'll want to book soon. This 6,232-mile route will currently cost you 60,000 Mileage Plan miles.

  • What you'll pay now: 60,000 Mileage Plan miles
  • What you'll pay starting in March 2024: 75,000 Mileage Plan miles — a 25% increase
Fly Air Tahiti Nui between ANC and PPT with a stopover in SEA for 60,000 Mileage Plan miles — in business class.
Credit: Alaska Airlines

American Airlines business class to Japan

While it's not the fanciest way to fly to Japan, American Airlines will get you from Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) to Tokyo (HND) in business class for 60,000 Mileage Plan miles — a solid deal compared to the price that'll soon be the norm.

  • What you'll pay now: 60,000 Mileage Plan miles
  • What you'll pay starting in March 2024: 75,000 Mileage Plan miles — a 25% increase
Fly American Airlines between DFW and HND for 60,000 Mileage Plan miles — in business class.
Credit: Alaska Airlines

Condor business class to South Africa

If Cape Town is on your bucket list, you can fly Condor's business class to get there. An award ticket from New York (JFK) to Cape Town (CPT) with a stopover in Frankfurt (FRA) will cost 70,000 Mileage Plan miles now — a great deal compared to the 85,000 miles you'll pay for this 9,671-mile itinerary in a few months.

  • What you'll pay now: 70,000 Mileage Plan miles
  • What you'll pay starting in March 2024: 85,000 Mileage Plan miles — a 21% increase
Fly Condor between JFK and CPT with a stopover in FRA for 70,000 Mileage Plan miles — in business class.
Credit: Alaska Airlines

Finnair economy class to Spain

If you're keen on taking the long way to get places, Finnair will fly you from Dallas (DFW) to Helsinki (HEL) and then on to Madrid (MAD) for 30,000 Mileage Plan miles. This itinerary spans 7,057 miles, and it won't come cheap next March.

  • What you'll pay now: 30,000 Mileage Plan miles
  • What you'll pay starting in March 2024: 42,500 Mileage Plan miles — a 42% increase
Fly Finnair between DFW and MAD with a stopover in HEL for 30,000 Mileage Plan miles — in economy class.
Credit: Alaska Airlines

Cathay Pacific economy class to Indonesia

You'll absolutely want to book Cathay Pacific awards to Asia now. Business-class awards are tough to come by, but economy awards are widely available. Let's say you wanted to originate in New York (JFK), include a stopover in Hong Kong (HKG), and then head south to Jakarta (CGK). You can book this 10,087-mile journey for 30,000 Mileage Plan miles at present.

  • What you'll pay now: 30,000 Mileage Plan miles
  • What you'll pay starting in March 2024: 65,000 Mileage Plan miles — a 117% increase
Fly Cathay Pacific between JFK and CGK with a stopover in HKG for 30,000 Mileage Plan miles — in economy class.
Credit: Alaska Airlines

Related: The Best Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Award Chart Sweet Spots

Boost Your Balance of Mileage Plan Miles

Alaska's new partner charts won't take effect until March 2024, which leaves plenty of runway to book these awards (and many others) at the current rates.

If you need to build a balance of Mileage Plan miles to book one of these tickets, there are many ways to do it, including (but not limited to):

Related: Do Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles Expire?

Final Thoughts

The impending change to Alaska Airlines' partner award charts isn't welcome news for most flyers. Thankfully, there's still time to book awards at current prices before the new costs take effect.

If you've been thinking about booking any of the partner awards we've highlighted in this post and want to do so at the current rates, you'll want to book before March 2024. If you're wondering “exactly what date in March?” we wish we knew. Once that date is known, we'll make sure to provide updates.

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