Sincere thanks for the advice guys - I'll call the Gold line and see what gives.

There's nothing like a flight messup to add a cherry to the top of the extremely tense/agro meeting sundae. Mercifully, the few problems I've had with Alaska were resold promptly and adroitly. ASQX GAs and FAs rule!

<making gimlet eye at UA and US right now>

EDIT: Looks like there may be a problem with the website, per the Gold line...

EDIT #2: 8 AM, Sunday, day of flight: Still had problems checking in. Ticketing Agent had problems checking me in, noted that system wanted my date of birth. She's not sure why the system is doing this.

Might have something to do with the new TSA secure flight info requirement that became mandatory on Nov 1st... Part of the Secure Flight program all passengers are required to put in their DOB and gender...

Alaska BRW services
 

I am trying to book a reward ticket to BRW. But it looks like no schedule is published from March 10 on. Was this announced anywhere? Any chance for the flights to be back for the summer months?

Well...I'm pretty sure they're running flights after March 10, unless the government is quarantining everyone in BRW! Without AS, there is literally no way to get out! :D

They may just not have the exact schedule finalized yet, but rest assured, there will be flights. (Whether there is Saver Award space on those flights is another issue, but there's usually not a huge problem with that intra-state.) Just keep checking back every so often, unless someone here has some more concrete news.

A Beffled Beginner
 

I opened two cc for the free miles. Frontier (Barclays) and British Airways (Bank of America). I expected to use the miles soley for flights from Phoenix to Alaska. I have not been able to do so online. I thought these airlines were partners with Alaska Airlines. Is it possible to transfer these miles to my Alaska Airlines account? I am a complete novice in this field and a recent retiree who hasn't stopped travelling since I retired. I need to get organized but have no idea how to begin.

Frontier isn't a partner with Alaska, so I don't think you'll have much luck there. They do fly to ANC seasonally, so if you're traveling to ANC in the summer, you can use them.

BA is a partner with Alaska, and I'm pretty sure I've heard of people redeeming BA miles for domestic U.S. trips, including to Alaska. You should be able to call up BA and book an award with them (I'm not sure about doing it online--I haven't tried) on Alaska.

Unfortunately, you can't transfer miles between carriers, so while you can use your BA miles on Alaska flights, you can't transfer your BA miles to your Alaska mileage account. (There is a service out there called points.com that allows you to transfer miles between carriers, but you usually incur HUGE losses in doing so--100,000 BA miles might become a whopping 10,000 Alaska miles.)

Glad to have you here--stick around here and ask away and you'll learn more than you ever thought you would! If you have further trouble booking an award to Alaska using your BA miles, you might want to post a question in the British Airways forum here on FlyerTalk. The folks who know that program well would be able to help you out better than we can over here on the Alaska Airlines forum. :)

Thanks! OK, so I've been on FT for hours and I'm learning what might apply to me at this time. Please correct me when I am wrong.

I fly Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Delta, to Alaska, Hawaii and SLC or Idaho Falls (I am a Yellowstone NP junkie) respectively. I can use my previously mentioned Frontier miles to get to Alaska in the summer and my British Air miles to get there also, but I need to call British Air because I cannot book a flight online using miles. Make sense so far?

Alaska, Hawaiian and Delta are all somehow loosely connected (not clear on this yet) and I am wondering how Delta Skymiles fits in this connection???

Just learned that the many cars I rented over the years could have earned miles :( Need to research which rental car companies Alaska and Hawaiian (both B of A) work with. Delta partners with Alamo and maybe Hertz? Feel free to jump in here :)

And then there are those "Fastbreak" rental car offers that I have never signed up for...:( Life could have been so much quicker! Do you recommend any? I typically rent with Enterprise, Hertz, Budget and Alamo.

Lastly, while the mileage runs sound kind of fun/funky, I am not ready for that adventure yet. So, I now need to look at a new cc for more miles. The AmExp/Delta sounds good.

Seriously, I have been on FT most of the day and have been just captivated by what I have read. This is an awesome site and you guys are great! I am at various stages of planning for eight trips in the next 11 months and want to plan smarter, not harder! Thanks for any assistance and all of your patience!

Yes. I'm not 100% sure you'll be able to use your BA miles to get to Alaska, since I do not really participate in BA's program. I suggest calling them to be sure if you're having trouble doing it online.

Not sure where Hawaiian enters the equation. They are not a partner of Alaska's. Maybe they are with Delta, maybe not--you'll need to refer to Delta's website to see about that or ask the Delta forum here on FlyerTalk.

Check http://www.alaskaair.com/as/mileagep...rtners_Car.asp for a list of car rental partners with Alaska Airlines. There's probably a similar page on Hawaiian's and Delta's websites.

One thing to caution you about: avoid splitting your miles into too many programs. Especially for someone who does not fly a lot, it's best to concentrate in a single program. Spreading your miles out into three separate programs will make it hard for you to ever earn enough miles to redeem an award in any single program.

See my above caution. Also, note that Delta has the reputation here on FlyerTalk of being very generous with miles but then very stingy when you go to use those miles. Finding award space on Delta can be an exercise in futility. With that in mind, I'd be hesitant to recommend the Delta Amex card. Do some serious research and asking here on FT before you jump into anything too deeply.

Also, while this thread here is a great resource for newbies, it is rather centered on the Alaska Airlines program, and some of us are really only familiar with the Alaska program and don't know much about Delta, Frontier, or British (though some who frequent this forum do). If you haven't already, you'll probably want to ask these questions over in their respective forums, where people who are familiar with the programs can provide better assistance.

No problem at all! Glad to help share the travel/miles/points bug with you. :D

Virtually every rental car company will allow you to earn miles in virtually any airline program. However, they almost all universally assess a daily fee for doing so which can make mileage earning pointless (if you are paying for rentals yourself that is).

Carefully consider the value of your miles and how much the rental companies assess in surcharges before you go running amok earning via rental cars.

Also check carefully the terms of the mileage earning if you rent from non-airport locations. For example, with Avis, you only get miles on Alaska when renting at an airport (and a lousy 50 miles per day at that). I think it's the same with several other companies.

OK, I really need to get a life. But, I am becoming obsessed with this website and the NEWBIE LOUNGE. As a newbie, I really appreciate being able to ask my questions. Otherwise, FT could be a bit intimidating to those who have so much to learn.

I finally "get" that this is the Alaska Air NEWBIE LOUNGE. I felt fortunate to just find my way back to the NEWBIE LOUNGE, didn't connect it to Alaska Air.

Question--I fly to Alaska twice a year. I use my Alaska Air cc and earn miles. Is there another card that would allow me to earn more miles than Alaska Air? I see my Alaska Air card as the most beneficial.

I also fly to Hawaii 2-3 times a year, but I use my Hawaiian Air cc. I am thinking that at the moment my Hawaiian Air cc doesn't need the miles but Alaska Air cc does. Should I use the AA cc? (Remember: rookie, newbie, much to learn...)

Thanks again! Back to the board!

Remember, there are two ways to earn miles:

1) Earning miles by spending money (i.e. spending on your airline-branded credit card, at rental car companies, with cell phone providers, etc.--Gary over at http://freefrequentflyermiles.com maintains an EXTENSIVE list of ways to get miles for cheap)
2) Earning miles by flying (what we here on FT term "BIS miles"--"Butt-In-Seat Miles")--usually one mile earned per mile flown.

#1 is easy to understand. Spend a dollar on your Alaska card, earn one Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan mile. Spend $25,000, earn 25,000 miles--enough for a free domestic ticket.

#2 gets a little bit more complicated. When you book your ticket, you can put a mileage number in your reservation. The confusion comes because you can fly one airline but often earn miles on another! For example, if you book a ticket on Alaska, you can put in an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan number, but you can also put in a Delta Sky Miles number, an American AAdvantage number, a British Airways Executive Club number, or any number of a couple dozen various partners of Alaska. (Note: Hawaiian is not a partner with Alaska, so you cannot put a Hawaiian mileage number in there.) Then, if you fly 5,000 miles to and from Hawaii, you'll earn 5,000 miles in your mileage account with whichever airline account you picked.

Just wanted to make sure you understood that distinction.

But back to #1. Usually, you want to book a ticket on that carrier's own affinity card. So, if you are booking a ticket on Alaska Airlines, book with your Alaska Airlines credit card. The reason is, you usually get some kind of bonus for doing so. For example, if you have the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature (the black one) and you book a $500 ticket on Alaska Airlines, you'll get two bonuses: 3x miles on the ticket cost (so, 1,500 miles instead of 500), plus an extra 1,000-mile bonus for each ticket you book.

So, when you ask which credit card to use when booking a ticket, the answer is: If you're flying Alaska Airlines, then book it on your Alaska Airlines card. If you're flying on Hawaiian, book it on your Hawaiian Airlines credit card.

Now, all that said, let me go back to what I said before about splitting miles between accounts.

I'm not sure where you're based (if you go to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/profi...do=editprofile and add your home airport and frequent flyer programs, it makes it much easier for FlyerTalkers to tailor advice to your particular situation), but if you're flying to Alaska two times a year and Hawaii two to three times per yer, you've got to be flying at least 20,000 miles per calendar year. If that's the case, and you were to fly ALL of those miles on Alaska Airlines (note: for this, only "BIS miles" on paid tickets count), you'd earn MVP status. MVP status gets you some major benefits:

1) 50% bonus miles earned on flights, so every mile you fly earns you 1.5 miles. (A SEA-ANC-SEA round trip would earn you 4,500 miles instead of 3,000.)
2) Free (space available) upgrades to First Class!
3) Access to a priority phone number with Alaska Airlines with hold times more along the line of 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes)
4) Access to preferred seats (exit row, bulkhead, the first few rows of the coach cabin--better for getting off the plane quicker!)
5) Two free checked bags (instead of the current $25 per bag)
6) Other benefits, but these are the main ones you'd find useful

Right now, it sounds like you fly Alaska Airlines to Alaska and Hawaiian to Hawaii. If you were to drop Hawaiian and concentrate all of your flying on Alaska Airlines, which now has close to 100 flights per week to Hawaii, you could earn this status, which helps you rack up the miles even faster (20,000 miles of flying would earn you 30,000 miles, plus what you spend on your credit card), getting you even more free tickets while flying in better comfort (in First Class or, when you don't get the upgrade, at least in the bulkhead or exit rows with better legroom).

So, what I'd suggest you do is fly and/or spend just enough on Hawaiian to earn enough miles to redeem one more free award on them (assuming you're kinda close to the threshold with them) and then drop Hawaiian altogether and (assuming Alaska flies to the destinations you want to go) fly Alaska exclusively and focus on earning that MVP status.

Wow--very thorough response. Very clearly stated. Thanks! I have now begun to use my Alaska Air cc only. I am recently retired and can travel whenever/wherever and the destinations to which AS flies suit me nicely!

Question: If I were to open another cc (or 2) solely for the miles (more trips!) and then spend the necessary amount, would I have been better off spending that same amount on my Alaska Air cc? 25 or 50k miles for $1-2,000 on a new cc gets my attention.

But, there must be something I haven't considered. If I spent the $2,000 on flights, those miles still would not equal the 25 or 50k cc offer, or would they?

Last Question: I haven't figured out how to use the "search" in the menu line above. Is there a place to search by topic?

Some card-issuing banks won't give you the bonus miles on your second and subsequent card approvals. Citi/AA is very famous for allowing multiple bonuses ("churning" the card), but I haven't heard of anyone being able to do that with AS/BofA.

Also, consider that opening multiple accounts takes a hit on your credit score. This may or may not be a factor for you.

The "search" function in the menu above allows you to search either the entire board or (by opening that menu and clicking "Advanced Search" and using the selections on the right, searching a specific forum) for "keywords" in posts. That means you can search for all posts that contain the term "Juneau" or "Credit Cards" or similar.

Otherwise, FlyerTalk is organized by topic by forums and subforums. You can navigate these from the forum home page here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php

AS EQM Partner Rules
 

Does anyone have a list of qualified partner fares (DL, AA, etc...) that qualify for 50% AS EQM first class bonus? I booked some tickets using the DL site and sat in DL "first class" cabin, but in cases where the fare was some kind of YUP, I did not receive the 50% EQM bonus at AS. Sometimes, it seems that sometimes on the 2 class cabin, the first class cabin is considered business on domestic US flights. I suspect that the fare basis is the driver.

I cannot find a clear guide on the AS website. Can anyone help? Thank you!!