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Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members can now redeem their miles for Royal Air Maroc 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 Royal Air Maroc Flights
Alaska and Royal Air Maroc Relationship
Alaska Airlines became a member of the Oneworld alliance in May 2021. Since then, Alaska has added award bookings and mileage earning on its new partners in a piecemeal fashion. On the other side, Royal Air Maroc become a full member of Oneworld in 2020.
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.
Royal Air Maroc is based in Morocco. You can redeem Alaska miles on Royal Air Maroc flights within Africa and between Africa and the following regions:
- United States mainland, Alaska, and Mexico
- Europe
- The Middle East
The following regions do not have Mileage Plan award charts for Royal Air Maroc flights (meaning you can't book flights between Morocco and these regions):
- Hawaii
- All of eastern Asia
- Oceania / South Pacific
- Mexico
- South America
Notice that the lack of award charts to these regions leaves out Royal Air Maroc's nonstop flights to Beijing and São Paulo. This also leaves out the ability to connect from a Royal Air Maroc flight to an Alaska Airlines flight to get to Hawaii.
Alaska Award Redemption Rules for Royal Air Maroc Flights
There are some positives here. One of the perks of the Alaska Mileage Plan program is that you can add a stopover (in Casablanca in this case) without extra mileage costs. Additionally, you won't pay much in taxes or surcharges for award redemptions with Royal Air Maroc.
A negative aspect is that Mileage Plan does not allow itineraries with more than 1 partner. You can connect from an Alaska Airlines flight to a Royal Air Maroc flight, but you can't add British Airways or American Airlines to this itinerary. Alaska + 1 partner is the limit on an award itinerary.
Award Itinerary Costs
Here's what you can expect to pay when you redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles for Royal Air Maroc flights:
- North America to Africa
- 50,000 miles for economy
- 100,000 miles for business class
- North America to Europe (with a connection in Morocco)
- 60,000 miles for economy
- 120,000 miles for business class
- North America to the Middle East (with a connection in Morocco)
- 65,000 miles for economy
- 150,000 miles for business class
- Africa to Europe
- 17,500 miles for economy
- 35,000 miles for business class
- Africa to the Middle East
- 32,500 miles for economy
- 70,000 miles for business class
- Within Africa
- 20,000 miles for economy
- 45,000 miles for business class
Notice that distance is not taken into account here. Thus, some flights are better uses of your miles than others.
Additionally, there is no mention of domestic pricing for flights entirely within Morocco. However, I found this example that indicates that it's even cheaper than within Africa flights:
This is a 50-minute flight and prices at 17,500 miles for economy. Business class awards are 35,000 miles.
Comparison to Other Award Rates
At first glance, you will notice that award prices are quite bad. You can redeem other miles at much better rates than using your Alaska miles for Royal Air Maroc flights. Here are some examples:
U.S. Mainland to Europe
| Mileage Program | Operating Airline | Economy | Business Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Mileage Plan | Royal Air Maroc | 60,000 | 120,000 |
| Alaska Mileage Plan | American Airlines | 22,500+ | 57,500 |
| Alaska Mileage Plan | Condor | 25,000+ | 55,000 |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | Royal Air Maroc | 22,500 | 57,500 |
U.S. Mainland to Morocco
| Mileage Program | Operating Airline | Economy | Business Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Mileage Plan | Royal Air Maroc | 50,000 | 100,000 |
| Alaska Mileage Plan | Condor | 35,000 | 65,000 |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | Royal Air Maroc | 22,500 | 57,500 |
| Etihad Guest [nonstop flights only] | Royal Air Maroc | 22,000 | 44,000 |
And remember that American Airlines has moved Morocco into its “Europe” region, now that Royal Air Maroc is a Oneworld member. Thus, any mileage rates to Europe for AAdvantage redemptions will be the same price for flights to Morocco — whether you're flying on Royal Air Maroc or not.
Our Take
You can now redeem your Alaska Mileage Plan miles online for Royal Air Maroc flights. There are some positives — such as convenience and more flight options. The main negative point, though, is the high redemption costs.
Each new partner award chart revelation from Alaska seems worse and worse lately. The silver lining can be the free stopovers, allowing you to string two holidays together into one award booking.
Make sure to check award pricing across multiple carriers, currencies, and loyalty programs. You can likely get to where you're going cheaper with other redemptions — even other redemptions for those same Royal Air Maroc flights.
What do you think? Do you plan to redeem your Alaska miles for Royal Air Maroc flights?
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Great to see more redemption options for Alaska miles. Hopefully will get to use this in 2022
Good to see that some new carriers are partnering up with Alaska. I agree though, the redemptions are quite expensive. Maybe it’s just a marketing arrangement between the carriers. Do they really expect the savvy mileage traveler to part with their hard-earned miles at such a poor rate? I’d still go with AA redemptions on these Africa routes.