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Alaska Airlines has added two new airlines to their lengthy list of partners recently.
Back in March of this year, Alaska added the German airline Condor. You can redeem and earn Alaska miles flying Condor. Even more recently, Alaska announced another new partnership: Finnair. You can’t redeem Alaska miles flying Finnair yet but you can earn them when flying Finnair.
I’ll focus more on Condor today since we don’t know the redemption rates for flying Finnair yet.
Condor
Condor is a leisure airline. You get a 50 pound check bag with the lowest priced economy ticket (on long haul flights), so I would hesitate to call it a low cost carrier, but they aren’t exactly known for frills either. If you’re taking shorter connections, make sure you double check luggage policy on your ticket.
Within the United States, Condor flies to Anchorage, Austin, Baltimore, Fairbanks, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Diego, and Seattle–all seasonally except to Las Vegas and Seattle.
Condor’s Products
Business Class – Offered on all flights that fly their Boeing 767 aircraft, Business Class seats are angled lie-flat beds (170 degree recline). Seats are 19 inches wide with a 60 inch pitch, and are in a 2-2-2 configuration (18 total seats on a 767). One Mile at a Time wrote recent trip report of Condor’s Business Class flying New Orleans to Frankfurt. While not super luxurious, the product looks pretty decent.
Premium Economy – Seats are 17 inches wide and have a 36 inch pitch with a bit more recline than standard economy (35 total seats on a 767). You get the same basic amenities kit that Business Class does, slightly better menu options, and a footrest.
Economy – Seats are also 17 inches wide with a pitch of 30 inches (206 total seats on a 767).
Redeeming
You can redeem Alaska miles on Condor flights to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. You should be doing this all the time anyways, but especially with Condor–make sure you check the cash price of a Condor flight before considering an award. Often their tickets are cheap.
Here’s the chart to Europe.
25k miles to Europe is a decent price. You’d pay 30k with legacy carrier miles. 55k Alaska miles to take Condor’s Business Class to Europe is also an ok price when you consider you’d pay 57.5k to 85k in legacy carrier miles to Europe in Business Class. But do note the product is not a fully flat bed.
Here’s the chart to the Middle East, which also applies to North Africa.
The Economy Low and Business Class prices are both decent. It would cost 35k to 42.5k legacy carrier miles respectively in economy to the Middle East, and 70k to 85k in Business (similar prices apply to North Africa).
Here’s the chart to South Africa.
40k is the standard price to South Africa in economy. In Business you’ll pay anywhere from 70k to 95k if redeeming United/American/Delta miles, so the 70k price is pretty good. Again though, you have to remember what product your paying for which may not be as great on Condor, especially for a long flight to South Africa.
Earning
The chart below shows how many Alaska miles you’ll earn flying Condor (percentage of distance flown). 
You can earn a lot of Alaska miles flying Condor’s Business Class, and their one-way fares can be cheap.
This Business Class fare from Austin to Frankfurt is only $719, and you’d earn 10,620 Alaska miles (assuming you have no status, with status you’d earn even more).
Finnair
Finnair flies to the following cities in the United States: Chicago (seasonally), Miami, New York (JFK), and San Francisco (seasonally).
Redemption rates on Finnair haven’t been released yet, but the earning rates are below.
Bottom Line
Alaska added Condor as a partner back in March and has just added Finnair as a partner. Condor’s redemption rates aren’t particularly compelling but fair and even somewhat competitive in some circumstances.
It’s nice to see Alaska adding even more earning and redemption opportunities for Mileage Plan members, particularly to Europe as redeeming Alaska miles to Europe can be complicated (i.e. fuel surcharges on British Airways, general lack of award space on American Airlines). I’ll be sure to inform you when the redemption rates on Finnair become public.
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