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
Mar 24, 2015, 8:00 pm
#1711
Join Date: Oct 2002
Programs: United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,230
SSSS on my boarding pass turned out to be a non-starter, at least in terms of transfer security at DXB. They didn't even look at my boarding pass. We'll see if we get an extra groping at the gate when we actually board the next flight.
No problems entering the lounge in Concourse B. Agent did immediately say "I see you are Alaska Airlines frequent fliers" when we handed him our boarding passes, which did make my heart skip a beat, but we were admitted without any issues.
A bit disappointed to discover that this isn't the concourse where the lounge has the duty free shopping in it, and with gates right to the plane, but complaining about that definitely is a #firstworldproblem. (I'll still complain to the end of time about not getting limo service however!! :-))
No problems entering the lounge in Concourse B. Agent did immediately say "I see you are Alaska Airlines frequent fliers" when we handed him our boarding passes, which did make my heart skip a beat, but we were admitted without any issues.
A bit disappointed to discover that this isn't the concourse where the lounge has the duty free shopping in it, and with gates right to the plane, but complaining about that definitely is a #firstworldproblem. (I'll still complain to the end of time about not getting limo service however!! :-))
Mar 24, 2015, 10:11 pm
#1712
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: SEA
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 759
A bit disappointed to discover that this isn't the concourse where the lounge has the duty free shopping in it, and with gates right to the plane, but complaining about that definitely is a #firstworldproblem. (I'll still complain to the end of time about not getting limo service however!! :-))
Mar 24, 2015, 10:35 pm
#1713
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: LAX
Programs: General Awesome Guy
Posts: 91
Indeed. Having just flown SFO-DXB-CPT-DXB-JFK this past week, I'm ready to move on. EK is not what it used to be. Adequate but nothing great. There are better airlines. Food and wines are not what they used to be. And DXB is becoming way too chaotic. Too many bus gates and inadequate attention to premium pax on the ground.
AS needs to come clean and remove EK First Class from its award chart.
AS needs to come clean and remove EK First Class from its award chart.
Mar 25, 2015, 12:02 pm
#1714
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Mountain Time Zone
Programs: AS Million Miler/Marriott Lifetime Titanium/ IGH Ambassador
Posts: 5,992
So has anyone had success booking First or Biz class tix using miles post Mar, where Expert Flyer shows ample availability (specifically Z=3, D=7 during September), but no availability shows on AS website?
I know the F workaround over the phone is pretty much done, but what about for J?
I know the F workaround over the phone is pretty much done, but what about for J?
Mar 25, 2015, 5:47 pm
#1715
Join Date: Oct 2002
Programs: United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,230
If you're still there and will be for another couple hours, you should be able to train over to concourse A and check it out. Won't let you board from there, naturally, but it's a pretty impressive lounge to see in person. Also I heard the shower rooms are better there though you've probably already taken care of that.
Mar 25, 2015, 6:56 pm
#1717
Join Date: Oct 2002
Programs: United Premier 1K
Posts: 1,230
(And I managed to find an itinerary home with both legs on an A380, so I had TWO showers on a plane!)
For a 15 second video of my shower on the ICN-DXB leg, see: https://instagram.com/p/0oYDyWFP-Y/?...=bradintoronto <nothing too graphic, other than middle-aged greying chest hair. LOL>
Mar 27, 2015, 1:09 am
#1720
Join Date: May 2006
Location: KSNA/KLAX
Programs: IML GOLD, Bonvoy LTPE, WOH Globalist, AAEXPLT
Posts: 645
So not only is First gone, Business is also gone too? I was looking at some dates in May/June; departing from LAX.. they were wide open as of a couple of weeks ago, and now its basically 100% gone, just Economy?
Mar 27, 2015, 5:33 am
#1721
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,603
Lots of close in Z and D availability on EF yet zero-zip-nada on AS.com.
If AS cared about being honest, this would be the new EK partner award chart...
Mar 27, 2015, 7:47 am
#1722
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Mountain Time Zone
Programs: AS Million Miler/Marriott Lifetime Titanium/ IGH Ambassador
Posts: 5,992
Last night I sucked it up and booked BA and paid the vig
Mar 27, 2015, 8:54 am
#1723
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Denver
Posts: 85
Spotted EK SFO-DXB April 7th in F. So there is still a chance in the famous words from "Dumb and Dumber 1".
Looked at EF and it does show Z=3. AS website allows you to book 4 seats in F for that flight
Definitely there, not phantom in the true sense, but not sure if one could go through the entire booking process.
Have not done much in future searches, but seeing that EF had Z=3 for April 7th, I thought that may be the new cut off instead of the Z=2 that we had to deal with before it showed as available. SFO-DXB has Ef Z=3 on April 16-17-18, but nothing on AS. So obviously that theory is wrong.
Looked at EF and it does show Z=3. AS website allows you to book 4 seats in F for that flight
Definitely there, not phantom in the true sense, but not sure if one could go through the entire booking process.
Have not done much in future searches, but seeing that EF had Z=3 for April 7th, I thought that may be the new cut off instead of the Z=2 that we had to deal with before it showed as available. SFO-DXB has Ef Z=3 on April 16-17-18, but nothing on AS. So obviously that theory is wrong.
Mar 27, 2015, 8:59 am
#1724
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: New York City
Posts: 801
I just find it to be so disingenuous that March 28 is upon us and AS has not seen fit to provide any further information on the "system glitch," or how or when they intend to remedy the issue.
We’ve determined the source of the problem. It is a known technical limitation when sharing availability between multiple systems. Seats will stop displaying when Emirates inventory gets low in a particular cabin.
Mar 27, 2015, 10:42 am
#1725
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Posts: 219
Definitely South of Expected.
I wonder what the possible motivation would be for Alaska to mislead (lie to) their customers?
I know that question assumes a fact not in evidence, but it certainly SEEMS to be the case.
I wonder what the possible motivation would be for Alaska to mislead (lie to) their customers?
I know that question assumes a fact not in evidence, but it certainly SEEMS to be the case.