I tend to toot Alaska MileagePlan's horn quite a bit because I myself am a big fan of Alaska miles. You get free stopovers on one way awards, Alaska has a great mix of partners from multiple alliances, and their award charts are filled with sweetspots. Their miles also aren't the hardest to come by, since Bank of America issues a personal and business co-branded Alaska card and SPG points transfer to Alaska.

One of the perks of the Alaska Airlines credit card (both the personal and business version come with one) is an annual Companion Certificate.

A few weeks ago Scott posted about The Cheapest Ways to Get to Hawaii.

I recently came across another sweetspot to Hawaii I wasn't aware of. It costs just 17,500 Alaska miles to fly Alaska Airlines between the mainland United States and Hawaii. And for a little more (20k one way) you can fly Virgin America from a couple west coast cities to a couple different Hawaiian islands.

And since we're talking Alaska miles, you can book one free stopover per one way.

Later today, an Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to Honolulu will intercept a total solar eclipse, much to the delight of the 163 passengers on board.

That's not by accident. Alaska Airlines altered the flight schedule and will alter the flight path to catch almost two minutes of the eclipse in flight after being alerted of the possibility by a veteran eclipse chaser. In fact over a dozen eclipse chasers got window seats on the flight for the rare opportunity.

Alaska Airlines has added Icelandair as a partner for mileage earning effective October 1, 2015. You will earn Alaska Miles at a rate of 25% to 250% of mileage flown depending on the fare bucket and class of service of the Icelandair flight.

I've never been to Iceland, and I really want to go, but other than points that can be redeemed like cash toward any flight, there are no convenient miles to book Icelandair or WOW Air (another Icelandic airline) flights.

This is the eleventh post in a monthlong series that started here. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flyer miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go.
Why Collect Alaska Airlines Miles?
Alaska Airlines miles are great for booking Emirates First Class and Cathay Pacific First Class.

Emirates First Class is now bookable with Alaska Airlines miles again! A search today for May:

Click on "Nonstop" or "1 stop" to see flight details for each flight. The aircraft is listed on the pop up. Emirates Flight 204 is served by an A380, which means showers are onboard.In case you missed the saga, for a while, Emirates First Class was only bookable on alaskaair.com for flights through March 28, 2015.