Alaska Airlines availability patterns

[andreas]

Hi All,

Sorry this is a bit of a long-winded back story. Apologies.

I've been reading all about the relatively inexpensive Alaska Airlines redemptions that are available and am looking at using them for a Canada/US trip in February 2020. Since that's too early to check availability on the exact dates I'd like to travel, I nevertheless wanted to already start checking what my options are likely to be, so I've been playing a bit with the site and checking various routes and classes on different dates.

What I've noticed is that the redemption options at the far end of the timescale (ie 353 days out and thereabouts) seem to be more limited than those about 6 months away. For example, checking December 2019 for SYD-YVR there's almost nothing available that isn't mixed class (eg AA/Qantas Y to LAX then Alaska Airlines First to YVR) with some dates showing an occasional Korean Airlines J award for 125000 points. However, checking some random dates in August 2019, there seems to be plenty of Qantas F for example on the MEL-LAX sector available for 70000 points.

So I was wondering whether any frequent Alaska Airlines users here might have some advice on the best approach. Is there a "pattern" where J/F availability is released to Alaska not the usual 353 days out but maybe 180 days or so? Or is this just pure coincidence and the situation in Feb 2020 may be completely different? Ie, would I be better off booking any suitable J/F fare on any other airline that's available as soon as I can (353 days out or close to it) just to lock it in (and maybe not get as good a deal as the Alaska points represent), or should I wait until maybe August this year to check again?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Mattg]

Well firstly, I don't think you can book any AS awards until 330 days out from departure.

QF awards on long-haul flights in anything other than Y won't be released until at least ~9 months out, if at all.

Personally, I think you'll struggle to find any availability for QF trans-Pacific flights via Mileage Plan in J or F. Premium Economy might be possible but is also a challenge.

If you want to use Mileage Plan to fly to the USA, I'd be looking at redeeming for round-trip Korean Air flights. Keep in mind that for Korean Air, it's 125k points for both one-way and return trips in J. (So return is half the price.)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Another option you may wish to consider with AS is flying from either CGK, SIN or BKK using JL (J) to tokyo and JL F from there to USA (available to LAX, SFO, ORD, JFK). Prices at 75K. Stopover permitted in Tokyo. Costs a bit more to get to SIN or CGK, but JL F is worth a go if you're looking for a good alternative to QF. (For QF the SYD-SFW service seems to have the occasional F, but you can get lucky with others. QF J trans-pac - well, I've never seen it... the system always defaults to PEY)

 

[andreas]

Thanks for the responses. I think I'll just try to use one of those options as soon as the 330 day window is open rather than wait and try my luck later. The JL F option from NRT sounds appealing! As would CX F from HKG but probably less availability there.

The question now is, should I buy the AS miles before the Feb 22nd deadline to get the bonus and hope there will be availability when the window opens.

 

[Mattg]

The question now is, should I buy the AS miles before the Feb 22nd deadline to get the bonus and hope there will be availability when the window opens.

No, best not to buy speculatively. There will be more sales on in future, and I wouldn't risk paying for all those miles and then not being able to use them!

 

[andye]

There used to be lots of availability via AS with CX to the USA (I snagged 5xJ HKG-JFK in 2017) but this has dried up with program changes and no doubt the recent 'mistake' fare issues