salut0

I may be in PDX and SEA in February (based in NYC) and I’m wondering about taking a back-to-back flight from there on AS to earn some BA tier points. Unlike earning on AS itself the aim here would be either to maximize cheap short business class segments or to maximize 2000mile flights in business class.

The best flights for this are often discounted business class or domestic first class, but since I don’t know AS and their fare structures I have no idea which destinations/routes from or from somewhere near PDX or SEA are likely to have to the cheapest fares per BA tier point.

Any ideas or tools to use here? I have an ExpertFlyer subscription and am quite adept with Google Flights and ITA Matrix.

edited to add: I posted here rather than the BA forum because although I’m crediting to BA, Alaska flyers will be more familiar with Alaska fares and routes.

olouie

Google flights

James Moore

One useful resource might be the sale page: https://www.alaskaair.com/content/de...ghtDeals&o=SEA
(and you can change that SEA to PDX and PAE for more choices).

Looking at the British Airways tier points calculator at https://www.britishairways.com/trave...r/public/en_us it looks like short hops like SEA => GEG and SEA => PDX get you 40 tier points if you fly in first class (Alaska calls it first; it's more like premium economy), and usually those are inexpensive. Right now you can get first class flights SEA GEG for $127 (40 tier points) one way, and SEA PDX for $137. SEA PDX is probably easiest since there are so many flights.

But looking at the sale page, I see $59 flights SEA OAK in main (don't buy saver; saver has change fees), so it may be that there are some sales that are interesting. It's the same tier points, even though it's more flying miles. My guess though is that you're going to get the best dollar/tierpoint ratio in first class on those commuter flights like GEG/PDX => SEA. Looks like it's about $3.18 / tier point on those.

Do you get any extra things for international flights? SEA to YVR (Vancouver) is a short hop to another country, and it's usually fairly inexpensive.

johnp012001

Just to clarify, on a Basic Economy fare the "change fee" is 100% of the fare paid.

James Moore

And for the 2000 mile flights, I'm guessing Hawaii, since all airports in Hawaii are > 2000 miles (OGG, KOA, LIH, HNL), and at the other end of the flight you're in Hawaii. In February, given a choice between a Poʻipū beach (south shore of Kauai) and Spokane, well, there's not much choice :-). I doubt it makes any sense for tier points though. The least expensive first class SEA to HI I saw was $629, so even though it's 140 tier points it's still not as a good a ratio as the Spokane flights. JFK was actually better at $500, but since you're based in NYC that's something you could do any time.

James Moore

There are some useful tricks to Google flights, too. If you just search for Seattle to North America (you can type in North America as the destination, FYI), you can't select an individual airline. So search for SEA => LAX on a specific date (pick a date, any date, don't care yet), choose AS as your airline, then change the destination to North America, dates to flexible, and business class. That gets you the lowest first class round trips on AS to all of North America in the next six months (or whatever date range you choose).

jerry a. laska

SEA-GEG and similar AS (and AA) two class F flights that are less than 2000 miles will only 40 Tier Points; 2-class flights 2000+ will earn 140. To earn the higher tier points for F you are referring to, you need to fly in a 3-class F airplane, like with AA JFK-LAX.

Duck1981

I am for work in the States this week and did something similar to get BA points

JFK - SFO in F = 140 ($500)

SFO - LAX - STS - LAX all in F = 4*40 = 160 TP ($400)

so 300 TP for roughly $900

Not sure if this is a good ration but the AS experts will know better. JFK - LAX would have been around $1100 for F w/ AA (180 TP I think). Had a LHR-VIE in Club Europe last week and paid £450 for 80 TP so the ratio w/ AS is much better than in Club.

Flying for Fun

​​​​​​Welcome salut0 to the AS forum. How many Tier Points are you looking to accumulate & what is an acceptable cost per TP for you?

While AS fares are starting to moderate, they continue to be historically high with many F fares demanding 4 digit dollars one-way.

For short hops in the West, SJC<->LAX will get you the best bang for the buck. In February, F fares are $89, ($2.23/tp) blocked at 1h, 20m, with good frequency. Getting to/from SEA/PDX will unfortunately dampen the TP cost.

For 2000+ flights, SEA-CVG won't quite get you there but at 2010 miles, SEA-CMH will. F fares from $459 ($3.28/tp). Next would be MSY but F at $1089 is likely a no-go. Also a possible contendor is SEA-ATL from $489 ($3.49/tp). Any 2000+ routes to/from ANC would likely be cost prohibitive and would require a repositioning flight to a 2000+ mile market. SEA-LAX-ANC-ORD would be 320 Tier points and a shorter flight back to NYC but I anticipate you would prefer the transcon from SEA.

I would also keep in mind that many 2000+ mile non-transcon/Hawaii Routes have limited frequency, some once daily. IRROPS & cancellations will wreak havoc.

All things considered, I think SEA-ATL-SEA is likely the best option. 2× daily. Daytime, 8:40 am departure, 8:15 pm arrival back in SEA. Nighttime, 11:05 pm departure, 1040 am arrival back in SEA. Both options should be a return on the same aircraft. $978 for 280 BA Tier Points ($$3.49)

Barring AS and being in NY, I would look at ex-EU J fares to NA, particularly BUD, sub $2K return, if you can comfortably get to Europe. Depending on your Tier point collection year and how many Tier points you need, you could straddle the date to start collection for next year with your return.

James

James Moore

Yes, sorry, that was a typo in my answer. 40 for the GEG flight, not 140.

James Moore

One more bit of info: SEA/PDX and SEA/GEG have a special rule for free standby that might be useful if you're spending the day just doing laps. (Anchorage and Fairbanks have the same rule, but fares are perhaps going to be too high to care about)

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/tr...flight-changes

• If you are booked on our nonstop shuttle flights between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Seattle and Portland, or Seattle and Spokane, you also have the option of requesting free same day standby.