Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - So disappointed in my AS redemptions

I know many of you have had different experiences from your cities, but from mine (EUG), I cannot never, not ever, get 2 FC tickets to anywhere (domestic) unless at ridiculous levels (100,000 RT, NO THANKS).

So, we've decided to lower our sights and use our free tickets for shorter hauls, and even THERE I'm finding that 12,500 is difficult, 20,000 more the norm.

I'm just looking for a hug...my pragmatic husband says "free is still free"...I (sob) HATE using 20,000 miles one-way (coach) to LAS or PHX (where we go several times a year)...but I can't go FC on any long-haul flights, we don't want to go coach on long-haul, so am I resigned to using (wasting) my AS miles on short-hauls? And not doing it at the lowest levels? I know my problem is originating in EUG, but that's where we live.

I don't see a "sad" smiley so I guess "frown" will have to do. :(

if those posting on ft are reporting facts on redemptions, as isn't an exception to the norm....too many cc mi chasing awards....

have you tried breaking up the trip and looking for the F space out of PDX or SEA? It may save you some miles...

While its true that Saver F on the longer haul is hard to come by ... I think part of your problem is this...

in order for any of your trip to be booked as Super Saver, all of the segments have to be available as Super Saver.

So PDX-ORD could have Saver F available for 25K one way... but if EUG-PDX doesn't have Saver ... then it pushes the whole award into Full Flex (because there is no Choice option in F) for 50K one-way .

But if you look at it segment by segment and book them separately, you might find something like

EUG-PDX (Choice Intra-State) 12,500
PDX-ORD (Saver F) 25,000

Still not as cheap as a Saver, but saving some miles nonetheless.

Ever since AA has added AS flights to AA.com, I have used AA to find awards. Their calendar system is great, and it only shows low for AS, so you don't have to worry about higher levels. If they ever add Lan, it will be awesome.

I don't think the problem is EUG-PDX, that looks to be pretty available- it's probably the rest of your itinerary. You might have to connect in SEA or LAX.

I've looked at booking through AA, and I'm still seeing only the higher levels for our cities/dates.

And I'm not sure how PAYING for a flight to SEA, PDX or LAX to start my trip is saving me anything :confused:

Can you give us an example of what you're trying to book?

I'll be happy to. In the past few months, I've looked for two F seats at the lower level (50,000 RT) from EUG to EWR. Nothing. Ended up booking coach. Now looking for 2 F seats from EUG to PHL, and from FLL to EUG. Again nothing. They are there if I want to waste 50,000 miles each way. I don't.

So I've lowered my sights to coach tickets from EUG to PHX on Feb. 21 (almost a year away), returning 2/27 from LAS to EUG (locked into these dates because of family commitments...yes there are 12,500 mile seats, IF we want a 5 hour or more layover in SEA...decent connections even this far out are at the 20,000 mile level...which is what my original post is all about.

What I was thinking is you could have a connection in LAX or SEA. AA will fly from SEA to MIA now if you can't find space on the AS flight to FLL.

You can also connect in ORD/MSP to get to NYC / PHL.

I would find the PDX or SEA to XXX availability first, from there you can add the flight to/from EUG.

With flights fuller than ever award seats are really hard to find and you have to be very flexible on dates and connections.

AS transcon award space at low during summertime is a dead duck. Where I've been able to redeem it is during winter (DCA-SEA).

I just needed a hug :( but I do appreciate the replies. I just have to be more vigilant and jump on things a little quicker.

But I really don't know what "find SEA XXX availability first then add the flight from EUG" means...there is either award availablity or not. I'm not going to PAY to add any segment, why bother using your miles in the first place? Or am I misunderstanding and there is a way to piece together 2 award segments and then just use one award to get them?

Of course, had you signed up for the BA credit card you'd be flush with miles for your short hops, but that's another discussion..

Oh, I DO have the BA Visa, and we just got back from HNL using our companion ticket in F.

Well, here's what I did with my current situation...since I'm collecting all these AS miles and my husband only wants to go F on long hauls, and you can't book two F tickets, I split our next PHX/LAS coach trip...I paid cash for one way since it was still the really low $99 plus tax, but for some reason the other leg was way more, good flights were gone at the low rate, so I burned some miles to use an award ticket that way.

I'm happy. I'll continue to use my AS miles when it makes sense, and not worry about what I "can't" do.

I just needed a hug :( but I do appreciate the replies. I just have to be more vigilant and jump on things a little quicker.

But I really don't know what "find SEA XXX availability first then add the flight from EUG" means...there is either award availablity or not. I'm not going to PAY to add any segment, why bother using your miles in the first place? Or am I misunderstanding and there is a way to piece together 2 award segments and then just use one award to get them?

I think what everyone means is try to figure out where the bottleneck is.

A saver itinerary will not show if either of the two legs (EUG-SEA *or* SEA-EWR) does not have saver space.

So, do some test searches on EUG-SEA for various dates and see if you can find when saver space is offered and when it is not available. Then search SEA-EWR and see what dates saver space is available. If you find two dates that join up, then you can try to force the system to show availability by using the multi-city search (maybe there's a long layover or overnight in SEA that was making it not show up on the regular one-way/round-trip search).

Or, you can try to book an award on AA or DL to EWR/JFK/LGA. Again, it will help you find saver space if you know which days saver space is available on EUG-SEA so you know when to search for availability on the SEA-XXX-NYC segment, since the partner airlines don't work with the calendar flexible dates feature and you have to search one date at a time.

It's just a way to perform a more targeted, educated search, not something magic that will open up seats that weren't available before.

This all presumes your dates are flexible. If your dates are not flexible and you need to fly to NYC on an exact date, then just do a simple search. If saver space comes up, then great; if not, then too bad.

HTH...

I use DL miles most of the time to fly to Alaska and I find it MUCH easier to find award space on AS operated flights, both Y and F than on DL operated flights. Have found multiple seats on flights to/from Alaska even for peak summer travel, though I do book way in advance.

I use DL miles most of the time to fly to Alaska and I find it MUCH easier to find award space on AS operated flights, both Y and F than on DL operated flights. Have found multiple seats on flights to/from Alaska even for peak summer travel, though I do book way in advance.

sorry for being off topic.. but how do you use DL miles on AS flight? on DL website or AS?

sorry for being off topic.. but how do you use DL miles on AS flight? on DL website or AS?

You have to contact the carrier who owns the miles.

I am not sure if you can redeem DL miles for AS flights on delta.com or if you need to call Delta to redeem them, but the answer to your question lies with Delta.

I'm too lazy to go look, but the partners section of the Delta SkyMiles website probably tells you how you can redeem them.

I can relate, but on the other hand I was able to redeem 8,700 miles during their sale to fly SEA-EUG to visit family.

I'm in Maui right now and had to burn 55,000 miles for a coach ticket to get nonstop flights (no thanks on flying to CA to fly to HI). Not fun, but a free seat for our 16 month old sure is. Combine that with using the companion voucher for our wife and I'm still happy. Ok, time for some coconut porter and fish tacos.

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Just be sure to drink the stuff on tap as the bottled KBC is imported from...PDX :eek: :p (Have some in the garage right now-good stuff ^)

You have to contact the carrier who owns the miles.

I am not sure if you can redeem DL miles for AS flights on delta.com or if you need to call Delta to redeem them, but the answer to your question lies with Delta.

I'm too lazy to go look, but the partners section of the Delta SkyMiles website probably tells you how you can redeem them.

AS flights do show up on Delta's website, but I don't think it's perfect. Last time I was booking some flights (SEA-LAX) would show up but a couple would be missing. But yes, you are able to use DL miles to book AS flights.

I am not sure if you can redeem DL miles for AS flights on delta.com or if you need to call Delta to redeem them, but the answer to your question lies with Delta.


AS award flights at SuperSaver levels are bookable with Delta miles, just as Delta at Low band only award flights are bookable with AS miles. Delta.com can book AS award flights (and HA, AF, KL, VA and AM) but isn't very proficient at finding them on non-simple itineraries without multi-city search tricks.

AS flights do show up on Delta's website, but I don't think it's perfect. Last time I was booking some flights (SEA-LAX) would show up but a couple would be missing. But yes, you are able to use DL miles to book AS flights.

AS award flights at SuperSaver levels are bookable with Delta miles, just as Delta at Low band only award flights are bookable with AS miles. Delta.com can book AS award flights (and HA, AF, KL, and AM) but isn't very proficient at finding them on non-simple itineraries without multi-city search tricks.

I first look at alaskaair.com for Super Saver availability. Then once I find the flights/dates I want to book, as was mentioned, I use multi-city on delta.com to book using Delta miles. I choose the flights that I found using my alaskaair.com search. Almost always the flights I want show up on delta.com with a multi-city search. If not, I book what I can then I call DL to "fill in the blanks." But it is rare for me to have to call Delta, even with multi-city, stopovers and open jaws.

Forget about domestic Super Saver awards on Alaska. Most places they simply don't exist anymore. That's why Alaska isn't winning Freddie Awards anymore either. In fact, they even say this on the website: "Super Saver Award: Super Saver Awards offer coach or First Class travel at lower mileage levels, are subject to seating limitations, and may not be available on all flights." A good example, I hoped to fly on the seasonal PDX-SBA direct flight using miles this summer, but that flight is only available at the Choice level, and indeed it is highlighted in green indicating that the 40k r/t redemption level is the "Lowest Award."

The end result is these days I pretty much have to buy short-haul domestic/personal tickets. First class tickets on Alaska are at times available for 45k on Delta's website (where it's as hard or harder to score Super Saver) where they would be 50k minimum on Alaska. And, as a kicker, if I didn't have Gold status, I probably would almost never be able to use my Alaska miles because when I do use them I use them for international partner awards and I have to piece those together with 4 or 5 calls to the partner desk and daily monitoring of Delta's or other partners award calendars in order to score the Super Saver Segments I'm looking for. If I weren't Gold the change fees would be so exorbitant that this would be a non-starter strategy.

The point is, there isn't much value left in domestic awards, and for partner awards where there still is value you are going to have to be VERY VERY FLEXIBLE, call and click MANY MANY TIMES, and also be a Gold to get any reasonable value at all out of your miles. So much for loyalty...

I first look at alaskaair.com for Super Saver availability. Then once I find the flights/dates I want to book, as was mentioned, I use multi-city on delta.com to book using Delta miles. I choose the flights that I found using my alaskaair.com search. Almost always the flights I want show up on delta.com with a multi-city search. If not, I book what I can then I call DL to "fill in the blanks." But it is rare for me to have to call Delta, even with multi-city, stopovers and open jaws.

The point is, there isn't much value left in domestic awards, and for partner awards where there still is value you are going to have to be VERY VERY FLEXIBLE, call and click MANY MANY TIMES, and also be a Gold to get any reasonable value at all out of your miles. So much for loyalty...

I have to disagree with this. In the last two years I've booked two roundtrip tickets between PDX and Europe, one in J and one in coach, both in summer (two weeks in June last summer, mid-May to July 4 this summer) using Alaska miles. This summer's trip had a very limited window and I was still able to find a seat to book. Yes, it helps to do some research beforehand, but it's nothing onerous. I agree that some seats just don't seem to be available (try to find a Super Saver between SEA and ATL, there are 4 days in the next 330 that you can pick from), but to say that you have to be gold (which I'm not) to get value out of your miles seems silly.

The point is, there isn't much value left in domestic awards, and for partner awards where there still is value you are going to have to be VERY VERY FLEXIBLE, call and click MANY MANY TIMES, and also be a Gold to get any reasonable value at all out of your miles.

Emphasis mine.

This acknowledges that partner carriers are stingy with super saver-equivalent inventory, too. This condition is not unique to AS.

For domestic awards with AS miles one can:

- use alaskaair.com award search

- use aa.com and look for saver awards (aa.com now searches BA, too)

- use delta.com and screen for Low band awards

- set ExpertFlyer alerts for one's desired AS and AA-operated award flights (Delta isn't supported for award inventory)

I've resigned myself to just using them for our short-haul flights. Luckily we don't have tons of miles with AS, but we do have their credit card. Used it for F to Hawaii ($99 companion fare) and will probably keep it for a couple of years for similar trips, then switch to something else.

But as for their regular, everyday award redemptions....really lame.

As a contrast, I just stayed up until a minute after midnight the other day and got 2 F tickets domestic on American for 25,000 each one-way Supersaver. Not a problem whatsoever. I freely admit we have to drive to PDX, but we stay over at a Park and Fly hotel (Hampton Inn) which is the same cost as parking at either PDX or EUG, for 14 days, so it's really not a big deal.

I just can't believe they can't even offer a measly 2 seats at every award level on every flight. Even AA, after I booked my F tickets, I went back in and they STILL had Supersaver F tickets on the same flights, which means they offer a minimum of 4 seats.

As a contrast, I just stayed up until a minute after midnight the other day and got 2 F tickets domestic on American for 25,000 each one-way Supersaver. Not a problem whatsoever. I freely admit we have to drive to PDX, but we stay over at a Park and Fly hotel (Hampton Inn) which is the same cost as parking at either PDX or EUG, for 14 days, so it's really not a big deal.

I just can't believe they can't even offer a measly 2 seats at every award level on every flight. Even AA, after I booked my F tickets, I went back in and they STILL had Supersaver F tickets on the same flights, which means they offer a minimum of 4 seats.

I am kind of confused here- If you could find AA supersaver flights, you could book these with AS miles but you'd have to do a roundtrip.

Also with AA or AS you can add the EUG-PDX flight for free if it's available.

I must be a complete dolt, because I have no idea what you are talking about. The AA flights I booked were from PDX/DFW/FLL. 25,000 o/w for F.

I went on the AS website, their only PDX/FLL flights were a PDX/SEA/FLL red-eye, which we do not want, for 50,000 miles one way.

Please explain to this admitted idiot, in detail, how you book the AA flights using AS miles.

And what are you talking about a r/t. I booked this AA flight 330/331 days out one way. We are going on a cruise and our dates are NOT flexible. Our return will not be for another 11 days, at which time I will again stay up until 12:01 midnight and book them through AA for 25,000 miles.

Are you telling me if I wait until AFTER our return flight date, we'll be able to book these same AA flights using AS miles at the 25,000 per each way FC level?

I know you guys here on FT are very savvy, I am not. Please explain this to me as if I were 3, because if I can do it I will jump all over it.

I must be a complete dolt, because I have no idea what you are talking about. The AA flights I booked were from PDX/DFW/FLL. 25,000 o/w for F.

I went on the AS website, their only PDX/FLL flights were a PDX/SEA/FLL red-eye, which we do not want, for 50,000 miles one way.

Please explain to this admitted idiot, in detail, how you book the AA flights using AS miles.

And what are you talking about a r/t. I booked this AA flight 330/331 days out one way. We are going on a cruise and our dates are NOT flexible. Our return will not be for another 11 days, at which time I will again stay up until 12:01 midnight and book them through AA for 25,000 miles.

Are you telling me if I wait until AFTER our return flight date, we'll be able to book these same AA flights using AS miles at the 25,000 per each way FC level?

I know you guys here on FT are very savvy, I am not. Please explain this to me as if I were 3, because if I can do it I will jump all over it.



If sAAver space is available, these flights are bookable with AS miles. However the price is 25k roundtrip for coach and 65k roundtrip for first. Partner awards are only available for roundtrip flights, so you must wait until your outbound and return are available. AA flights should be bookable with AS miles, but I have noticed that all AA flights don't always appear on the AS website, especially when you are flying to/from AS cites.

If you want to book AA flights with AA miles here is what I would do:

1) Check for sAAver space online by searching at aa.com from either EUG or PDX.

2) Once you find the flights that you want, you should be able to find them as well on alaskaair.com. If you don't see them, call Alaska to book the tickets.

3) Sometimes if nothing is showing up you can piece together an itinerary yourself. Say you want to fly EUG-MIA. Nothing shows up on as.com or aa.com. But if you log onto as.com, you see availability for EUG-SEA, and also SEA-MCI (or any city) with a legal connection time. Then you check aa.com and find space on MCI-MIA. If all the connection times are legal, you should be able to call AS and feed the agent the flight to book. I did this recently flying from SEA-GIG. Was able to find space from SEA-PHX (AS), then PHX-MIA-GIG on AA.

Bolding mine:

I am kind of confused here- If you could find AA supersaver flights, you could book these with AS miles but you'd have to do a roundtrip.

Also with AA or AS you can add the EUG-PDX flight for free if it's available.

Eujeanie can't find the AA flights she wants on AS.com because you can't shop for one way partner flights... and it sounds like her return isn't even bookable yet.

And on AS, Saver F space on a transcon where there is only 1 flight into the market is going to be hard to come by.

The whole process seems hardly worth it. But I don't understand about the R/T thing - I thought all FF seats had changed to one-ways? Maybe a future trip we'll be more flexible and I'll try to find the seats/mileage I need. I just can't be flexible for this cruise...wait for the return and I'll probably miss out on the outbound, too. (but as said I've already got the outbound booked on AA).

For our return, AS also has a morning flight from FLL to PDX (leave about 8:10, gets to PDX at 12:53, it's a n/s to Seattle then the short connection, rather than the DFW connection on AA (leaves at 8:20, gets to PDX at 2:25), but it's the same story...nothing but 50,000 miles pp one way on AS, 25,000 miles pp one way on AA. I really don't want to just THROW my AS miles away at double the outlay. These are all in F.

The whole process seems hardly worth it. But I don't understand about the R/T thing - I thought all FF seats had changed to one-ways? Maybe a future trip we'll be more flexible and I'll try to find the seats/mileage I need. I just can't be flexible for this cruise...wait for the return and I'll probably miss out on the outbound, too. (but as said I've already got the outbound booked on AA).

For our return, AS also has a morning flight from FLL to PDX (leave about 8:10, gets to PDX at 12:53, it's a n/s to Seattle then the short connection, rather than the DFW connection on AA (leaves at 8:20, gets to PDX at 2:25), but it's the same story...nothing but 50,000 miles pp one way on AS, 25,000 miles pp one way on AA. I really don't want to just THROW my AS miles away at double the outlay. These are all in F.

AS offers one-way awards for AS flights, but none of the partners can be booked as one-way (yet).

And again, AS offers 1 flight per day to and from FLL, whereas AA offers several flights, with several differnt connection options. Thats why they are showing more availability.

Did you try putting the whole RT itinerary into AS to see what comes up? I would imagine that you can get the whole AA trip for 50K AS miles if its still available on AA.com

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The whole process seems hardly worth it. But I don't understand about the R/T thing - I thought all FF seats had changed to one-ways? Maybe a future trip we'll be more flexible and I'll try to find the seats/mileage I need. I just can't be flexible for this cruise...wait for the return and I'll probably miss out on the outbound, too. (but as said I've already got the outbound booked on AA).

For our return, AS also has a morning flight from FLL to PDX (leave about 8:10, gets to PDX at 12:53, it's a n/s to Seattle then the short connection, rather than the DFW connection on AA (leaves at 8:20, gets to PDX at 2:25), but it's the same story...nothing but 50,000 miles pp one way on AS, 25,000 miles pp one way on AA. I really don't want to just THROW my AS miles away at double the outlay. These are all in F.

AS offers one-way awards for AS flights, but none of the partners can be booked as one-way (yet).

And again, AS offers 1 flight per day to and from FLL, whereas AA offers several flights, with several differnt connection options. Thats why they are showing more availability.

Did you try putting the whole RT itinerary into AS to see what comes up? I would imagine that you can get the whole AA trip for 50K AS miles if its still available on AA.com

Note domestic F on AA is 65K AS miles. Not sure why, unless there's a 3-cabin a/c being flown.

Bolding mine:



Eujeanie can't find the AA flights she wants on AS.com because you can't shop for one way partner flights... and it sounds like her return isn't even bookable yet.

And on AS, Saver F space on a transcon where there is only 1 flight into the market is going to be hard to come by.

True, but for a cruise you could either do the AS SEA-FLL or the AA SEA-MIA on an award. Just an option to consider. Sure, its another 30-40 min drive, but if you can get the seats you want it may be a good option.

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Note domestic F on AA is 65K AS miles. Not sure why, unless there's a 3-cabin a/c being flown.

Thats pretty lame since F on AA is only 50k AA miles. Is this due to AS or AA that the AS redemption rates are 30% higher?

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Note domestic F on AA is 65K AS miles. Not sure why, unless there's a 3-cabin a/c being flown.

Thats pretty lame since F on AA is only 50k AA miles. Is this due to AS or AA that the AS redemption rates are 30% higher?

Not really sure...

There are inequalities...

AS miles in F saver is 50K wheras DL charges 45K

AS miles in Biz saver to Europe on DL is 90K wheras DL charges 100K

Its all in the negotiation.

Mikelat, not sure you're still talking to me (the OP), but Seattle is a 5 hour drive from Eugene. :(

As a matter of fact, from EUG, virtually every flight we take is through SEA. And often the flights from EUG are CHEAPER than if we were leaving directly from SEA.

I have no trouble finding well-priced paid tickets, no trouble with coach FF tickets...my only issue is NEVER being able to find F tickets, to anywhere, for less than 50,000 each way. Never, never at the Saver rate of 25,000 each way.

I have no trouble finding well-priced paid tickets...

I understand it can be some/a lot of work to find award tickets in premium cabins. That's not unique to Alaska miles, really.

If you can find purchased tickets at 'fair' prices I hope your credit card is a cash-back card, not miles-earning. Every airline likes money.