new2japan

I recently was going on two different trips and could not find any itinerary on any of AS's partners. To boot, I had them look for different city combinations, flying to nearby cities, etc, and I also called a few times. I'm now looking to fly once again and I'm still finding no availability.

It's great that AS has so many partners, but is anyone really able to find flights available on them? I'm interested to hear other people's experiences. Thanks.

JPat

Yes there are seats available but one has to be diligent and plan ahead. Our Qantas seats to NZ were booked almost ten months in advance and I had to call almost every day to get the last leg booked separately.

We have successfully booked at least six different flights on AS partners so you just have to keep trying.

new2japan

Basically just keep calling and asking every day? Does what they have available correspond to what the partner has available in their online search?

Waitlisted

On this subject, as it is when searching domestically online we can see AA flights but not DL which seems suprising given the closer relationship with DL. Will we be able to search DL award seats online anytime soon? Also if so then how about internationally on at least the American carriers?

steadyASshegoes

Most AS partners' "Low tier" availability corresponds directly to AS award inventory. I'm not sure about Qantas, but for Delta, American, Cathay, and KL/AF you can use those airlines' award searches to find what is available as an AS Mileage Plan member. I assume most other partners are the same.

evoG

OOOh my yes they're available, but it is an art and a puzzle piecing together itineraries that work. After learning a bit more about how awards work and can be booked, i've gained respect for their flexibility and potential.

there should be a primer thread on how to put partner (or even AS) award itineraries together. with determination, you can usually find space to get you from A to B, but perhaps only by way of much of the rest of the alphabet.

ie: i recently tried to book MSY-FAI, roundtrip, with a stopover in LAX. Partner desk and AS.com said "impossible, there's no hope!" Little did they know I'd spent 2h looking at availability on each segment. Ultimately I got what i needed, but it took creativity and persistance. On the way up I'll fly MSY-DCA-SEA-FAI on DL and AS... not too bad, but the website and partner desk alike hadn't considered DCA as a possible connecting point. WAS was apparently in the "routing guide" used to determine the legality of routings, so i was fine.

On the way back, I'd searched FAI-(most AS cities also served by DL from MSY) on my preferred dates to find a way out of alaska, figuring i'd piece together the DL legs next... Nothing... So I had to further break it down and try weird routings with forced stopovers (up to 24h connection times between cities with infrequent service) that the agents wouldn't search for and website wouldn't usually offer. ultimately i'm going FAI-ANC-JNU-SEA(overnight)-SJC-LAX (stopover to visit sister)-MSY. Fortunately I had a weekend of flexibility and the nonsense routing (afternoon in JNU, evening in SEA) is value added to me, otherwise the trip would not be worth all that. These brute force tactics may not be of interest to most, but if you're really trying to get somewhere with miles, and can't find them the easy way, pull up AS and the partner's route maps and try to connect the dots in ways that the computer hasn't offered. Look at the award calenders for each segment, and narrow in on optimal routings and timings.

In the past few months I booked one sister BRW-ABQ by way of MSO, myself to NYC by way of YEG, and you can throw in one free stopover at the transition between carriers, or book an open jaw. Mileage tickets can do much more than AS.com's search would lead you to believe, just requires a lot of research and familiarity with the partner award pages.

also, learn the partner award rules, you may get some initial resistance from agents but you can usually justify things and get it through if you know how the system works and when you have a valid routing. If you've scouted out the flights you want, help the partner desk agents out and let them know before they set out on redundant searches, though sometimes they find things you've missed. My other notes include:
1. routings must appear in AS' unpublished routing guide (this appears to be non-negotiable in most cases and you can't know what's legal without calling partner desk, but they are very permissive IME)
2. connections must be less than 4h, unless soonest subsequent flight to whatever connecting city is >4h, then connections can be up to 24h (=forced stopover), and soonest possible connection for desired city must have saver space
3. all legs of partner awards (including AS segments) MUST have saver space available... there are accounts of AS supervisors being able to force saver space availability but it will not likely happen unless they've screwed up an existing PNR you purchased or something
4. one stopover is allowed for free at the transition between carriers
5. only one partner may be used (comair DBA DL still counts as DL though)
6. you can have a stopover or open jaw, but not both (this may not be universally true- depends on partners' rules)



You can see DL flights on some routes, but the utility of AS.com to search partner awards is quite limited. If you can't find anything through AS.com you might try again on the partner sites. You should become fluent in DL and AA's (or other partners') award search pages, break your trip into legs that can be searched a month at a time on the partner pages, and cobble together an itinerary. Award routings are pretty flexible and you can usually find something that will work on most dates, but it can get ridiculous.

3Cforme

You don't specify which of Alaska's 14 listed carriers is the desired partner carrier but for Delta-operated awards, AS redeemers need Low band awards; on AA it's MileSAAver. I will speculate and suggest it's Classic for AF/KL (as it is for Delta SkyMiles redemptions).

Seattlenerd

One point to recall is that mileage awards often become more available the closer you get to departure, not just at 335 (or more) days out.

For example, Seattlenerdette and I wanted to go to Amsterdam. There was no availability eleven months out. But we checked again at six months out and seats were available in our preferred class of service (Business Class) as AF/KLM had started releasing more seats into award inventory.

So in addition to being flexible on routing and partner (we strictly avoid BA due to surcharges but are open to others), being flexible on when you ask can help, too.

eternalX

I've had great success booking partner awards on AS, though I tend to book C or above internationally. I just got back from a trip to Hong Kong where we booked two seats in F SEA->SFO->HKG.

Previously, we booked to seats in J SEA->CDG->JNB on Air France with a stopover in Paris.

smilee

I have redeemed close to 1,000,0000 AS miles, and besides the gold ol' AS50's awards of years ago, I have never redeemed for AS flights.

In fact, I believe that availability at the SAVER level is better on the partners then on AS.

Examples

SEA-EWR in the the summer in F - impossible to find AS awards at Saver, on AA there are many dates this summer

DFW-HNL - same thing very little on AS, partners several dates.

Europe - BA availability is second to none. I have booked F awards during the summer many, many times. Sure wish others had the same kiind of availability.

Cathay - decent availability to HKG, as well as other routes.

DL - ??? well OK I guess AS has better availability then Delta.

Unfortunately AS has poor availability out of my home airport YYJ from SEA after 5PM, so you need to find departures that arrive early to SEA which limits availabilty

So as you can see, my findings are quite different. I would argue that AS points are easiest to redeem for partner awards.

Points Scrounger

Don't you then have to pay $$$$$ in fuel surcharges?

tbau

This sounds like a full time job to try to get somewhere on a partner. I wish there was an easy way to do this. If only there were computers that could do this.....rather if only the airlines were MOTIVATED to program their computers to make partner award travel consumer friendly.

If that's not possible, you'd think the partner desk could do the leg work for you. Sucks that they generally take the easy way out, and say it can't be done if the most direct route isn't available.

Seattlenerd

I've never had that experience. With a sense of humor and some flexibility, I've found the partner desk tries all sorts of routing to make an itinerary work. You just have to let them know how flexible you are willing to be (dates, connections, classes of service, etc.).

But if the seats aren't available, they simply aren't available. At the moment.

3Cforme

Not Alaska: partner award bookings are limited to Delta and American.

Not American: 20+ airline mileage redemption partners and NONE are bookable online.

Not United (although CO is better): partner bookings limited to US, CO and LH (the last time I looked).

Not so much Delta: partner bookings on Alaska, Hawaiian, Air France, KLM (and Alitalia some have suggested).

eternalX

Agreed. The partner desk, with one exception or two, has been most excellent to work with