chillymac

It seems to me that getting partner redemptions for miles is getting harder to come by. I tend to look for F class only which makes it even more scarce.

I've been a member (paid subscription) of an airfare alert web service for about 2 years now. I seem to find better deals for trans con travel on the web service than I find searching for partner redemptions. I'm getting to the point that I only use AK miles on AK airplanes.

What are FT members doing?

RAD_PDX

International or Domestic?

I tend to get creative* with the 25K domestic F awards.


*3-4 segments when I could fly nonstop, often a mix of AS and AA.

jsguyrus

I guess it depends a lot on where you are trying to fly, when you are flying, and how far in advance you look. The program is not as good as when DL was a partner but it’s still good in my opinion.

Mwenenzi

International F first class is decreasing. Nowadays many airlines/routes/aircraft do not have F.
On long haul (newish) aircraft business class seats are better than first class was a a decade or so ago. But today's J meals/drinks not what F was decades ago.

chillymac

We like Spain so I am usually looking SFO or LAX to a hub in Europe

RAD_PDX

You should be able to get 60K BA J or 70K BA F awards on SFO/LAD-MAD. Even with the high taxes, it should work out to 3-4cpm.

Flying for Fun

Are you including a stopover? The one time I want to fly the least number of segments is when I am not earning EQM.

AA does provide some good redemption options domestically and to Mexico & perhaps the Caribbean. 27.5K YLW-SEA-PHX-GDL in F was a good redemption especially with a stopover in PHX that AAdvantage wouldn't allow. 27.5K offset a $1100 fare.

For the OP, Europe is definitely a weak spot, although BA has reduced their surcharges on a lot of routes. QF is pretty scarce but CX/JL offers excellent opportunities.

I still find great value in MP and earning meaningful RDM on a cpm basis is pretty easy.

James

RAD_PDX

I think I might have to steal your name because I purposely include stopovers, even when I'm not earning EQMs. I only do this in F though so I am enjoying the ride while flying for fun

I usually have to use the multi-city search function and can find things such as PDX-SEA-DCA-STL, all in F for 25K. I've also done it to get routings like ORD-DFW-PDX so I could fly on the AA Dreamliner. If you look for it, you can also find AA's premium transcon offered up at the 25K level.

tonei

This - i believe the only AS partners with F are American, BA, Cathay, Emirates, JAL, Korean (F not bookable with AS miles), and Singapore (not bookable at all). Most of those only have F on a handful of planes on specific routes - Emirates and BA probably have the most F seats, but neither are great redemption options.

For domestic travel, as you mentioned paid tickets are often a better deal than mileage redemptions, and overall AS naturally offers more opportunities and better prices on its own planes than on AA, which is more interested in charging higher rates to its own members than making cheap seats available to partners like AS.

Often1

F redemptions in general are going by the wayside as carriers retain F only on routes where there is significant paid interest. Behind those redemptions are alliance redemptions and behind that comes AS.

BearX220

Those "mixed cabin" partner redemption options on AA, etc. in the premium columns are all garbage. I have never seen ONE that wasn't short / positioning leg F, long leg Y.

eponymous_coward

I’ve seen JL NRT-KIX Y, KIX-BKK J, AS SEA-EWR Y BA EWR-LHR J. I’ve booked AA MEX-DFW Y, DFW-SEA F. It does happen. Most of the time it’s the way you describe.

Mwenenzi

QF has first on the, now old, A380's. But not the new B787's. Unsure in QF have F or are selling F on the very old B747's. All QF B747's are due retired(scrapped?) by mid 2020. The B747 is used on SYD-SFO, SYD-HNL and some other routes.

eponymous_coward

Oh hey.



And now you have. Enjoy. You can now commence complaints about "AS is so cheap they won't open up award F space on a 90/120 minute flight", and this is very true on SEA-SFO/LAX redemptions where you can snag premium class flights on JL/CX- the positioning flight will almost always be in Y, with some rare exceptions (mostly involving E75s where the F/Y ratio is somewhere where AS is willing to allow A inventory to exist). A inventory is super tight on those routes, even 8-9 months in advance. That being said, if you have elite status, you still might spike the F upgrade on that positioning flight (I guess you miss out on that fabulous Alaska Lounge in SEA).

Flying for Fun

Awesome, exactly why I am not too bothered about mixed cabin awards. I would hate to have that redemption unavailable (filtered out) because of the short domestic flight with as few as 8 F seats.

All my JL F redemptions have been from Asia. I don't seem to have any problems finding Saver A space while backtracking on a Mainline transcon from the East Coast. The add-on to Hawaii or Mexico after a NA stopover is usually in Main but I haven't missed an upgrade on any of those yet.

James