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Alaska Airlines members can now redeem Mileage Plan miles for Iberia award flights via the website. This is another step forward for Alaska as a new Oneworld member, expanding what you can do with your miles. Here are the details on these redemptions — including pricing and important rules to know.
Redeem Alaska Miles on Iberia Flights
Alaska and Iberia Relationship
Alaska Airlines became a member of the Oneworld alliance in May 2021. Since then, Alaska has added award bookings — such as adding Qatar award redemptions — and mileage earning on its new partners piece-by-piece. While not everything is complete yet, this latest step comes several months after mileage earning went live.
Alaska Mileage Plan Award Charts
For those unfamiliar with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, you can read our full guide here. Some highlights include the fact that it's one of the easier airline programs to earn status with and the fact that its miles are extremely valuable when booking premium cabins with partner airlines.
You should also know that Alaska Airlines publishes different award charts for each partner in its Mileage Plan program. You can find those here. Within these award charts, you'll find that not all flights can be booked with all partners.
Iberia is based in Spain. You can redeem Alaska miles on Iberia flights between Europe and the following regions:
- United States mainland, Alaska, and Mexico
- South America
- Africa
- The Middle East
Alaska is peculiar as it doesn't allow award redemptions in all regions that a partner airline flies. The following regions do not have Mileage Plan award charts for Iberia flights — meaning you can't book flights between Spain and these regions:
- Hawaii
- All of eastern Asia
- Oceania / South Pacific
- Mexico to the Middle East (connecting via Europe)
Alaska Award Redemption Rules for Iberia Flights
There are some positives here. One of the perks of the Alaska Mileage Plan program is that you can add a stopover (in Madrid in this case) without extra mileage costs. Additionally, you won't pay fuel surcharges for award redemptions with Iberia.
A negative aspect is that Iberia offers premium economy seats, but redemptions for these aren't available with your Alaska miles yet. Lastly, remember that Mileage Plan does not allow itineraries with more than 1 partner. You can connect from an Alaska Airlines flight to an Iberia flight, but you can't add British Airways or American Airlines to this itinerary. Alaska + 1 partner is the limit on an award itinerary.
Iberia Mileage Plan Award Costs
So, what will you pay for these flights?
You will pay 35,000 miles for economy flights one way between the U.S. mainland / Alaska and Europe. It goes up to 75,000 miles for business class.
This is the same pricing for flights between Mexico and Europe.
Pay 25,000 miles for flights between Europe and the Middle East (essentially just Tel Aviv TLV airport in this region). For business class, you'll pay 55,000 miles.
You'll pay 12,500 miles for flights between northern Africa and Europe. That goes up to 22,500 miles in business class.
Pay 50,000 miles for flights between Europe and South America in economy. For business class, it's 90,000 miles one way.
For a connecting flight from the U.S. mainland/Alaska through Europe to Tel Aviv (TLV), you will pay 50,000 miles in economy or 110,000 miles in business class. Note that this connecting itinerary — which allows stopovers — is cheaper than booking 2 separate awards (U.S. to Europe + Europe to Middle East region).
Comparing to Other Awards
At first glance, you will notice that these are not the best rates we've seen — with Alaska miles or in general. Other awards between the U.S. and Europe are cheaper, even within Alaska's own Mileage Plan program. Award redemptions with American Airlines AAdvantage miles or with Alaska miles on literally any other partner aside from Iberia should be cheaper than choosing to redeem Alaska miles on Iberia flights. So, make sure to do the math and see what other options you have available. They likely will require fewer miles.
Our Take
You can now redeem your Alaska Mileage Plan miles online for Iberia flights — eliminating the need for phone calls and waiting on hold. There are some positives, such as convenience and more flight options. The main negative point, though, is the higher-than-average redemption costs. The silver lining can be the free stopovers, allowing you to string two holidays together into one award booking.
What do you think? Do you plan to redeem your Alaska miles for Iberia flights?
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Good news that we don’t have to call. yeay! I will take it. I like Alaska and am happy that they are having these additions to their options. I might have to start looking at using Alaska miles on American. American may seem easier to earn but I get more with Alaska than American.