I used to be able to book business or first class awards on partner airlines *pre-covid* using Alaska miles. I’ve accumulated nearly a million miles and went back this week to plan some 2022 travel assuming I could get some good deals even if they cost 100k+ points per leg.

But I can’t seem to find a single route with these fares when book with miles. Worse, fares marked ‘business’ on the web page are actually economy or premium economy on the partner, and first only on AS segments. I did find a few routes in Asia with three segments and the middle short segment in partner business.

So, as per various forums guidelines, I found some award routes on partner sites (in this case BA) and called in to book over the phone. However, the agent I spoke to told me they don’t have anything more than I can see online, which seems to be a significant change.

I know CX have decimated their network and EK withdraw first class from the program in Sep 2020, but I can’t even find non-economy fares on the likes of BA or FI.

Would love to hear from anyone who has been able to use their miles for non-economy overseas travel booked for 2022. I think it would be a big story if to use Alaska miles with partners one has to travel economy or premium economy only. But hey, now it’s almost impossible to score an upgrade at booking except for short routes domestically, maybe I’ll end up using my miles for domestic travel instead? :-)

Hope I don’t sound entitled, nice long trips with the family for free are one of the lovely perks I got used to flying a lot for work. I’m wishing someone will tell me the secret behind this so I can continue to take advantage.