Trip Report Index

Emirates Lounge Zurich
Emirates A380 First Class from Zurich to Dubai
Emirates First Class Lounge Dubai
Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to Houston: Seat, Suite, Entertainment Amenity Kit, Pajamas, Bed, Sleeping
Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to Houston: Onboard Bars
Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to Houston: Food
Emirates A380 First Class from Dubai to Houston: Shower Spa

I have broken my 16 hour flight from Dubai to Houston into four parts because I had over 200 photos and several videos from the flight.

On alaskaair.com, the following message appears:

AeroMexico is a SkyTeam member. Including seasonal destinations, AeroMexico serves 13 American destinations from Mexico City.

From Mexico City, you can connect through Mexico, Central America, and South America. The South American destinations:

Delta is the American member of SkyTeam, so I went to delta.com to see if Delta miles can book AeroMexico award space at the moment. I found this itinerary on October 18 from Chicago to Buenos Aires on AeroMexico flights.

If Alaska had access to AeroMexico award space, the same exact flights would be 45,000 Alaska miles.

Alaska Airlines is charging 10,000 miles fewer than it should for one of my favorite awards!

Alaska Airlines miles are awesome because of the breadth of interesting oneworld, SkyTeam, and non-alliance partners on which you can redeem Alaska miles.

The Mistake Fare
One of the coolest awards you can book is from the United States to Australia or New Zealand on Fiji Airways flights because you can get a free stopover for as long as you'd like in Fiji.

Alaska Airlines is having an award sale from 47 of its cities. Awards start at 5,000 miles one way, and I see Hawaii and Mexico awards discounted to 12,500 miles one way.

Start on the award sale page. Select your city from the dropdown menu to see its sales. For instance, here is the sale from Kona, Big Island (Hawaii.)

If there is a discount in the market you're searching, it is good in both directions, so San Jose to Kona would be only 25,000 Alaska miles roundtrip.

Until October 6, 2015, you can buy 56,000 or more Alaska Airlines miles for 2.11 cents each.

The sale is structured as a bonus on the normal number of miles you’d receive. The bonus is tiered, so the biggest 40% bonus comes from purchasing 40,000 miles at the normal price of about 2.96 cents each after tax.

To buy 56,000 miles (40,000 + 16,000 bonus) during this sale costs $1,182.50, which is 2.11 cents per mile. This is not the best sale we've seen.

Alaska Airlines miles can be used to book a diverse array of oneworld, SkyTeam, and non-alliance partners.

I've written about some of my four favorite Alaska miles redemptions here, and I want to expand on one of those options.

Until August 9, 2015, you can buy Alaska Airlines miles for as little as 1.97 cents each. Go to the sale page for Alaska miles and input your Alaska Mileage Plan number. People are being offered bonuses of 35% to 50% on purchased miles. I received a 40% bonus offer.

Non-cardholders of the Alaska Airlines Visa seem to be getting the 35% bonus offer, and cardholders are getting a maximum bonus of 35%-50%.

The sale is structured as a bonus on the normal number of miles you’d receive.

Update 4/2/15: This ends tomorrow 4/3/15.

Until April 3, 2015, you can buy 56,000 or more Alaska Airlines miles for 2.11 cents each.

The sale is structured as a bonus on the normal number of miles you'd receive.

Emirates First Class is not bookable with Alaska Airlines miles for flights past March 28, 2015. There has been a workaround, but I think all Alaska agents have gotten the memo not to use it.

I reached out to Alaska Airlines for a statement on what's going on. This is from a spokeswoman for Alaska:
It’s not a glitch. Emirate awards show in our system if there are a minimum of three seats available per flight. The minimum threshold is due to the connection in place between Emirates and our shopping system vendor.

Update 2/18/15: I cancelled my award reservation in Emirates First Class using Alaska miles. I was invited to a wedding that changed my plans. I tried to change my reservation to different dates.

I called up and asked for the change.