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
Dec 15, 2014, 5:20 pm
#1186
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
I've been looking every day for the last 3 weeks and am having the same problem. The CSR seem to have no idea on why this is happening either. There have been some blog postings about it as well but no one has a firm grasp on the situation. Hopefully it gets resolved soon!
Dec 15, 2014, 6:27 pm
#1187
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: AF Plat, DL Gold
Posts: 366
Bummer. I wonder if they are moving to a system where they only release space a couple of weeks out to partners. If so, it would be a letdown for those trying to get first class award tickets on EK. The Emirates Skywards award chart is brutal.
Dec 17, 2014, 2:01 pm
#1188
Join Date: Dec 2008
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 669
Is it an acceptable award routing to fly EK from BKK-HKG (stop in Hong Kong for a few days) and then continue back to the USA via DXB?
Dec 17, 2014, 2:05 pm
#1189
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,609
You should be able to stop for up to 24 hours (23:59 to be precise)... i.e. a connection... if you can find flights that work. The only allowable stopovers are going to be at DXB.
Dec 17, 2014, 3:19 pm
#1190
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Posts: 224
I've priced out (though didn't book) multiple day stopovers in CMB en route to/from SIN but (1) that was a few months ago and (2) it would only allow business even if F available. Ended up skipping Sri Lanka and booking a DXB stopover on way home from SIN.
Dec 18, 2014, 10:29 am
#1191
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: SEA
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 759
As far as the stopover question, the rule of thumb seems to be that you can only have stopovers in a partner's hub. I was told on a CX award that I couldn't have a stopover in BKK en route to CMB since it was a different region than my destination but I don't know if that was an explanation the CSR found which met the inability to book or if it's the policy.
(A test would be booking something like TYO-TPE-HKG-US on CX with a stopover in TPE but I haven't tried)
Dec 19, 2014, 3:10 pm
#1192
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: TBD
Posts: 840
I've read this thread, but it's still unclear to me. Is there any point in checking EK availability on EF? Or are award flights only bookable if you can get them on as.com?
EDIT: I just spoke to a rep at AS who confirmed that the only inventory they can book is what shows up on AS.com - that and nothing more. She also confirmed that they book into D and Z classes on EK for business and first, respectively.
EDIT: I just spoke to a rep at AS who confirmed that the only inventory they can book is what shows up on AS.com - that and nothing more. She also confirmed that they book into D and Z classes on EK for business and first, respectively.
Last edited by onfo; Dec 19, 2014 at 3:59 pm Reason: Update
Dec 19, 2014, 7:10 pm
#1193
Join Date: Dec 2008
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 669
I've found EF very helpful. I've booked three different EK awards on Alaska. The first time I booked, EF showed 1 Z seat, but none on AlaskaAir.com. Yet the agent was able to manually get it for me. The second time, EF showed Z=2 but AlaskaAir.com showed 0, and the agent could see both of the seats open. The third time, EF showed Z=2 and again, the agent could see that it was available even though it wasn't showing up online.
Last edited by ffman999; Dec 20, 2014 at 12:26 am
Dec 20, 2014, 5:43 am
#1194
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: TBD
Posts: 840
I've found EF very helpful. I've booked three different EK awards on Alaska. The first time I booked, EF showed 1 Z seat, but none on AlaskaAir.com. Yet the agent was able to manually get it for me. The second time, EF showed Z=2 but AlaskaAir.com showed 0, and the agent could see both of the seats open. The third time, EF showed Z=2 and again, the agent could see that it was available even though it wasn't showing up online.
Dec 20, 2014, 8:13 am
#1195
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: AF Plat, DL Gold
Posts: 366
I agree that would helpful to know. I struck out trying to get a rep to manually book me on EK even though the flight showed Z2. It's frustrating to see the AS website showing absolutely nothing ex-NA in F starting in April. It could devalue these Alaska miles a bit.
Dec 20, 2014, 8:21 am
#1196
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Denver • DEN-APA
Programs: AF Platinum, EK Gold, AA EXP, UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 21,609
You just need to find an agent willing and knowledgable enough to make it happen. HUACA and again until you find the right agent.
It's total BS but nothing is going to change for now.
Dec 20, 2014, 11:31 am
#1197
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: AF Plat, DL Gold
Posts: 366
I tried about 5 agents last week. But I'll take your advice and keep trying to find a more knowledgable agent. Hopefully someone comes through because I just sent over a boatload of SPG points!
Dec 20, 2014, 11:31 am
#1198
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: TBD
Posts: 840
I assume this is the same if we want D (business) tickets? Any special words such as "short sell" or "manually" enter?
Dec 20, 2014, 11:39 am
#1199
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: BSB
Posts: 260
I tried with about 20 agents and they all said that there was no F available (Z=2 on EF) and that they could see what was on Alaska site. I asked for a manual sell or if the booking could be done on a different system but had no luck. When was the last time that you managed to do this?
Dec 20, 2014, 5:22 pm
#1200
Join Date: Dec 2008
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 669
The most recent time I booked EK F was this past Thursday (so two days ago). EF said Z=2 and the agent was able to see it right away. But there have been times where I've had to hang up and call back multiple times. Not sure if it matters at all, but all of the calls I made that were successful took place at night. By the way, thanks for everyone's great advice on this thread!