Redeeming EK miles on AS
 

Hi

Apologies if this is a common question as I'm new to the AS board. Looking to redeem EK miles for a flight SEA-ANC and/or ANC-ADQ. Is there anywhere to calculate the number of miles needed for this (or a thread where this is previously discussed)?

Cheers

Probably something you should ask over on the EK board if you are using EK miles.

Not really a common question because this board deals with using AS miles. :)


Yes, the Emirates board is an excellent place for questions on using your Emirates miles... :)

If you're looking to use AK miles to book on Emirates, you can see the miles required by searching your desired route on the Alaska website using the "use miles' option, and looking for EK flights. Each leg will show the number of miles and any fuel surcharges.

Be careful in booking on EK flights- especially in First and Business. EK offers certain perks to those classes of travel, but not if you're booking using partner airline miles. We just found this out the hard way, that not only are we denied their hotel night for a 17+ hour layover, but we are also denied their chauffeur service in DXB and FCO. Very disappointing.

To be clear, you weren't "denied" those services, you weren't entitled to them.

When they started the partnership it was 25,000 RT in Coach and 55,000 in First. Coach has to be available in G class. You need to call Emirates to book and plan to spend a good hour on the phone and have them tell you nothing is available. Emirates has very basic systems to check availability on Alaska and JetBlue. At least with jetBlue redemptions you have the option to get a one way. I don't think that is possible with AS. They can only book a flight, wait for it to come back unconfirmed and start all over again with the next flight.

Even 25 years ago on SABRE you could do an availability scan by fare class and find the first available seat but the EK agents either are not granted direct access or have no idea how to scan availability by fare class.

Before I gave up on EK and used up all my miles, the process was:

1. You call and ask from go from point A to B. If you don't know the airport codes, have them ready to give to the agent as the person may have never even heard of the destination.

2. Ask if a flight is available on X date and you will surely be told no.

3. Try to find the most empty flight and hope for the best.

4 Rinse and repeat over and over until they find something that is available which could be a VERY long time or never.

5. If you have any hair left after the first call, keep calling back until you find somebody willing to spend hours on the phone to find an elusive seat.

6. Repeat the whole process again trying to find a seat for a return flight.

If you really want an award flight on AS, credit your EK flights to AS and just redeem it directly through Alaska Mileage plan. Otherwise be prepared to pay cash for your ticket and use your EK miles for something that is less tortuous to book.

Really? I thought most partners could only book into A (First) and W (Coach) on AS. Is EK different?
Not trying to doubt you, just curious as G is a revenue bucket.

One thing worth mentioning is that some segments on Alaska have very limited (or no) award availability.

Vancouver YVR - Seattle SEA comes to mind; where I checked over a 6 month period, and set Expert Flyer seat alerts and the award levels never increased beyond more than 1 seat.

It may be easier just to buy seats out right since some Alaska fares, even in F, are not all that expensive.

Availability on AS awards via EK redemption is no different in classes used than other partners including AA redemption on AS from my redemption experience.

Rasheed