Apr 5, 2014, 3:23 pm
Last edit by: eponymous_coward
Emirates award guide using Alaska Airlines miles
Routing Rules:
All trips must start or end in North America.
One open jaw and one stopover allowed on each one-way award.
No fees for changes/cancellations prior to 60 days from departure.
North American Gateway Cities:
West Coast
Seattle
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Central
Chicago
Dallas
Houston
East Coast
Boston
New York (JFK)
Orlando (Effective September 1, 2015)
Washington DC (IAD)
Canada
Toronto
Award Chart Links*:
Middle East & Africa
Asia
Europe
*If region is not listed on chart its not available.
Perks
Chauffeur Drive NOT Available
Car service is not available for all Business Class and First Class passengers on Alaska Airlines ticketed award tickets on Emirates flights (as of Jan 2015). The chauffeur will not confirm if you use the EK website for this, though the website makes it look you can make a reservation.
Lounges
Access is available for all passengers traveling in Business and First Class. Not all cities have lounges and many may be operated by a Partner. There have been some reports of people having an issue accessing the Dubai lounges as the tickets may appear in their system as non-revenue employee travel. This is not as much of a problem as it used to be but in case it comes up please advise the lounge attendant that you are on an Alaska Airlines award.
Dubai Connect
AS Awards on EK do not qualify for Dubai Connect, which is the service that offers the free hotel.
Tricks to find Transoceanic availability
Instead of performing a blanket, i.e. SEA-DXB search, perform: SEA-MED.
Madinah is a destination that is only served by EK. Consequently, if there is availability, only EK will show up in the calendar results.
Routing Rules:
All trips must start or end in North America.
One open jaw and one stopover allowed on each one-way award.
No fees for changes/cancellations prior to 60 days from departure.
North American Gateway Cities:
West Coast
Seattle
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Central
Chicago
Dallas
Houston
East Coast
Boston
New York (JFK)
Orlando (Effective September 1, 2015)
Washington DC (IAD)
Canada
Toronto
Award Chart Links*:
Middle East & Africa
Asia
Europe
*If region is not listed on chart its not available.
Perks
Chauffeur Drive NOT Available
Car service is not available for all Business Class and First Class passengers on Alaska Airlines ticketed award tickets on Emirates flights (as of Jan 2015). The chauffeur will not confirm if you use the EK website for this, though the website makes it look you can make a reservation.
Lounges
Access is available for all passengers traveling in Business and First Class. Not all cities have lounges and many may be operated by a Partner. There have been some reports of people having an issue accessing the Dubai lounges as the tickets may appear in their system as non-revenue employee travel. This is not as much of a problem as it used to be but in case it comes up please advise the lounge attendant that you are on an Alaska Airlines award.
Dubai Connect
AS Awards on EK do not qualify for Dubai Connect, which is the service that offers the free hotel.
Tricks to find Transoceanic availability
Instead of performing a blanket, i.e. SEA-DXB search, perform: SEA-MED.
Madinah is a destination that is only served by EK. Consequently, if there is availability, only EK will show up in the calendar results.
Consolidated Emirates (EK) awards availability/booking/routing thread
Sep 17, 2014, 2:36 pm
#1036
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 4,431
Are you guys finding the availability on Alaska website, or are you using a tool or another website?
Sep 17, 2014, 4:11 pm
#1037
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: YVR
Programs: Marriott Gold
Posts: 952
I have managed to get all F seats from YVR-SEA-DFW-DXB-SIN for 2 people. Took 4 different phone calls to get the DXB-SIN segment upgraded after I booked it last night as I had a bunch of agents who were afraid of touching the reservation in case the DFW-DXB space disappeared (due to the married segment logic
). I don't know what the 4th agent did but she was able to get me confirmed DXB-SIN on a 773 flight (Sky Cruiser seats). It seems like the 773 with the Sky Cruiser seats are operating less and less and I might end up with a 77W or something similar. However, I can't seem to book a chauffeur in DFW even though I'm forced to overnight there as the AS flight arrives at 7PM and the EK flight leaves at 11:40AM the next day. And right now the Emirates website won't let me book seats on the second leg DXB-SIN and says that "pre-seating has been closed."
Weird, but I got the F seats and that's what counts! I'll deal with the rest later.
Sep 17, 2014, 4:29 pm
#1038
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 1,098
Consolidated Emirates (EK) awards availability/booking/routing thread
EF and setting seat alerts 
Sep 17, 2014, 5:33 pm
#1039
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Posts: 224
I had that same issue when I was booked in J DXB-SIN, but once I switched to F it allowed me to select my seat. The only F DXB-SIN flight that worked with my schedule was on the A380 which is great, but it's overnight service which means it's reduced service, i.e., the menu is only breakfast and snacks. Now that I've found space (which wasn't there a few days ago) for the return DXB-SFO in F on my birthday, I may switch to that instead, starting somewhere in Asia that has a feeder in F.
Sep 17, 2014, 6:08 pm
#1040
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: LAX/PVG
Programs: HH G, MR/SPG G, IHG Plat, Club Carlson G, National Exec
Posts: 191
However, I can't seem to book a chauffeur in DFW even though I'm forced to overnight there as the AS flight arrives at 7PM and the EK flight leaves at 11:40AM the next day. And right now the Emirates website won't let me book seats on the second leg DXB-SIN and says that "pre-seating has been closed."
Weird, but I got the F seats and that's what counts! I'll deal with the rest later.
Weird, but I got the F seats and that's what counts! I'll deal with the rest later.
Sep 17, 2014, 6:59 pm
#1041
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: YVR
Programs: Marriott Gold
Posts: 952
I had that same issue when I was booked in J DXB-SIN, but once I switched to F it allowed me to select my seat. The only F DXB-SIN flight that worked with my schedule was on the A380 which is great, but it's overnight service which means it's reduced service, i.e., the menu is only breakfast and snacks. Now that I've found space (which wasn't there a few days ago) for the return DXB-SFO in F on my birthday, I may switch to that instead, starting somewhere in Asia that has a feeder in F.
Just did, and they were able to assign seats for the DXB-SIN leg and arrange a chauffeur for pick-up in DFW - I used my Marriott free night Cat 1-4 certificate at the Renaissance Dallas.
Sep 23, 2014, 10:05 pm
#1042
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,232
Has anyone encountered lounge access problems when redeeming via Alaska ?
Just did an F award of JFK-DXB-SIN. At check-in in JFK, the agent was puzzled why lounge access/invites were not printing. She had to call the JFK EK ticket desk and it took about 30 minutes to sort out for the lounge access - the ticket desk said it was known issue with Alaska EK redemptions. What concerns me is that I return on an F award booked by AS on BKK-DXB-JFK and I don't want to encounter this issue in BKK or DXB. Any advice ? Am I reading correctly that I can book a chauffeur for my ride to BKK from a city hotel on the EK even with an AS award ? Thanks for all the help !
Just did an F award of JFK-DXB-SIN. At check-in in JFK, the agent was puzzled why lounge access/invites were not printing. She had to call the JFK EK ticket desk and it took about 30 minutes to sort out for the lounge access - the ticket desk said it was known issue with Alaska EK redemptions. What concerns me is that I return on an F award booked by AS on BKK-DXB-JFK and I don't want to encounter this issue in BKK or DXB. Any advice ? Am I reading correctly that I can book a chauffeur for my ride to BKK from a city hotel on the EK even with an AS award ? Thanks for all the help !
Sep 23, 2014, 10:09 pm
#1043
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 26
Yes. I'm sitting in the EK lounge in DXB right now mid way through an Alaska award on EK in first. No tickets have had the corect lounge access. At LAX when I asked, the supervisor knew of the issue and was a quick fix once I asked. It was not volunteered by the CSR at ticketing until I prompted. In DXB it took 20 mins of back and forth of insisting (politely) before they said ok. Not looking forward to this for the rest of the trip. Will definitely be sending a note to AS that they need to fix this.
Sep 23, 2014, 10:17 pm
#1044
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
Programs: AS MVP Gold100K, AS 1MM, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz PC, Marriott Titanium LTG, CO, 7H, BA, 8E
Posts: 42,953
I'm not sure there is much AS can do in this case. Its an EK award and they set the rules. From what I've heard the tickets seem similar (are booked in the same fare classes?) as staff travel, hence the confusion.
Sep 23, 2014, 10:20 pm
#1045
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 26
The LAX supervisor said it was a known data issue as Alaska isn't sending the correct booking information. But in any case it is supposed to include the lounge and since I spent a ton of Alaska miles, I can at least let them know that they need to improve the partner booking process.
Sep 23, 2014, 10:42 pm
#1046
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,232
Yes. I'm sitting in the EK lounge in DXB right now mid way through an Alaska award on EK in first. No tickets have had the corect lounge access. At LAX when I asked, the supervisor knew of the issue and was a quick fix once I asked. It was not volunteered by the CSR at ticketing until I prompted. In DXB it took 20 mins of back and forth of insisting (politely) before they said ok. Not looking forward to this for the rest of the trip. Will definitely be sending a note to AS that they need to fix this.
Sep 23, 2014, 10:43 pm
#1047
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,232
The LAX supervisor said it was a known data issue as Alaska isn't sending the correct booking information. But in any case it is supposed to include the lounge and since I spent a ton of Alaska miles, I can at least let them know that they need to improve the partner booking process.
Sep 23, 2014, 11:37 pm
#1048
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Posts: 224
I did LAX-DXB-CDG in F in June and had no problems at either LAX or DXB. Guess I got lucky since was anticipating this problem.
Sep 24, 2014, 12:07 am
#1049
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: LAX/PVG
Programs: HH G, MR/SPG G, IHG Plat, Club Carlson G, National Exec
Posts: 191
Does any one have experience with their AS etix printed out? And did that make it easier for lounge access. I noticed that there on EK.com Manage Existing Booking, there is an "eTicket status" column. If you click "view/print" there, you get a PDF file with the eTicket on 027 stock.
Sep 24, 2014, 8:01 am
#1050
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,232
I am a relative newb to the AS forum - is there an official AS Lurker who might be able to look into this matter ?