ok, so i'm not too smart on using air miles yet, but i just got my FIRST two award tickets for my teenage granddaughters with delta miles......itinerary is pdx/yvr/ams/fco on alaska/klm with a return from fco/atl/pdx on delta..........i now am trying to use my alaska miles to book the same itinerary and can get to fco with no problem, but can't book the return leg because it's delta...........is there any way around this or am i just going to be stuck purchasing a ticket with the necessary routing???......thanks........
There is no way around this if you want the same itinerary as your granddaughters. You can't mix carriers on an Alaska award (except with Alaska or Horizon). So, it either has to be all on KLM/Alaska/Horizon or all Delta/Alaska/Horizon.
Can you book your entire trip on KLM or Delta and change theirs to match? Otherwise you have to fly separately or buy a ticket, but keep in mind you also cannot book one way awards on partner carriers.
since i already have the girls tickets, i'm sure i'd have a change fee applied.........also, i've checked the award reservations and find there is now no award seating available between fco and pdx...........sure seems strange to me that delta an book with two partners (alaska and klm) but alaska can book with only one.....they are all three partners and seems like what is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander!!....thanks for your fast response!!............
Programs: AS former MVP (withered away due to insane fares), UA, AA, AGR, NPS passport, Costco Exec
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(Edit: composed and posted before I saw SEA-ORDFF's response.)
Unfortunately, Alaska Airlines does not [yet] allow you to combine airlines on a single award itinerary.
The exception is when redeeming international awards, AS will get you to the partner's international departure city--for example, if you are flying BA, AS will get you to SEA, SFO, LAX, PHX, YVR, or any other city BA flies out of. Because the itinerary you want includes multiple partners (KL and DL) as well as some domestic legs on a partner (ATL-PDX), you will not be able to match the award exactly.
__________________ 2nd Alaskan Spring Break DO!
Where will you be 3/12-3/14? Alaska—touring airport ops and eating fresh fish on the bay!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HEYJUDE
ok, so i'm not too smart on using air miles yet, but i just got my FIRST two award tickets for my teenage granddaughters with delta miles......itinerary is pdx/yvr/ams/fco on alaska/klm with a return from fco/atl/pdx on delta..........i now am trying to use my alaska miles to book the same itinerary and can get to fco with no problem, but can't book the return leg because it's delta...........is there any way around this or am i just going to be stuck purchasing a ticket with the necessary routing???......thanks........
unfortunately your stuck, you can't do mixed bookings other than Alaska/Horizon to the gateway city of the partner. If you want to keep the existing bookings you are stuck buying your ticket.
The only thing I use my AS miles for is BA F to Europe. There is almost always availability from one of the w/c gateways - LAX, SFO, SEA, PHX - without needing to be flexible on dates, whether you book a few days, weeks or months ahead of time - and if you are gold you can switch to a more convenient airport for free in the couple of weeks before departure as additional availability opens up.
Taxes/fees are ~$500 if your destination is UK, ~$350 if you connect on (due to the outrageous UK APD being waived if you are connecting).
BA J is only 20k less, and often has worse availability; not a good deal IMHO. I don't like the AF J ski-slop seats, but the food/wine is excellent. AA J hard product is even worse than AF unless you can find availability on a 777, when is is broadly similar. NW is similar to AF, except the food.
Agreed 100%. It's worth the extra 20K miles each to book a European RT on BA in First (over Club World): 6'6" flat beds that are wider than Business Class, goose down comforters, pajamas, etc. I do it every year or two using AS miles; it's their highest and best use.
However, the silly fuel surcharge makes it much less appealing now even though it's gone down a lot. I'll want to book BA First again after it goes away, and rely on AF/KLM in the meantime.
You can do Air France directly out of SEA to CDG in Paris. The direct part is nice. The aircraft is ok, the IFE is good, but not great, but the food and flair is definitely French. Having a baguette, some cheese and red wine on your way will put you in the Paris mood. I'd probably focus on them if you're looking to fly in and out of Paris.
It would be nice if AS could partner with IcelandAir. That would give you a nice quick stopover.
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I just went through getting award seats.
We were looking for either 2 business class seats or 2 first class seats from SEA-CAI.
I was looking approx. 355 days out......
My recent experience with trying for BA FC was a bit frustrating. The only days that FC out of SEA were available seems to be Tue and Wed each week looking months out ( it wasn't worth it to us to fly to another departure city so I did not check) .....also... the fuel surcharge and taxes was adding $850 per ticket! I think it is still as high as it was when they first implemented the charge.
Air France, on the other hand, when looking 355 days out had seats to CDG any day we wanted ( although the CDG-CAI proved to be a bit challenging) and the taxes and fees on our SEA-CAI RT were less than $200 a person.
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I just booked 3 coach tickets 11 months in advance on DL from SEA to AMS. But I was looking at AS options on AA and they were far more attractive. 40K miles for each of 3 tickets to LHR and elsewhere (low season). I found this pretty amazing given that I used 65K+75K+90K for the 3 tickets to AMS. Because of small children I really wanted the direct flight. And given what it's like to use DL miles these days (it took HOURS to find the 3 seats I did), I'm just trying to burn them. Overall, the search for tickets cemented my decision to move as much business to AS as possible.
