Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

mlob said:
Having a hard time with this program. I am trying to book some Japan airlines flights. Availability is showing on line. and Ive seen the availability for the same flights on the QFF site. I keep getting errors in the booking process and Im having no luck when I have rung twice to see if they can book it. The agents are getting error messages too. Very frustrating.
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Hi all I'm a newbie and reason for signing up is to learn more about this mileage plan, I took tried to book AS flight knowing both British airways and JAL availability, but non of the available showing on AS booking ,when tried to ring them up, they too, can't help.
 
Jamesc571 said:
Hi all I'm a newbie and reason for signing up is to learn more about this mileage plan, I took tried to book AS flight knowing both British airways and JAL availability, but non of the available showing on AS booking ,when tried to ring them up, they too, can't help.
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Hi and welcome to AFF.

We probably need a little more information to help you out.

Mileage plan isn't part of oneworld, so availability shown for British Airways and JAL can vary between what's available to oneworld, and what's available to Alaska Airlines.

If Alaska's booking tool shows the airline you are looking to book, it really does need to be visible to book it (if it's not there, the call centre won't see anything differently). If one of the partners doesn't show (for example Cathay Pacific), then you can call, but again, not all Cathay availability that you might find elsewhere will be available via Alaska.

Also worth bearing in mind that Alaska may have a different booking window to other oneworld airlines, and you may beed to wait a couple months before the availability flows through to AS/

What were the flights you were looking to book?
 
MEL_Traveller said:
Hi and welcome to AFF.

We probably need a little more information to help you out.

Mileage plan isn't part of oneworld, so availability shown for British Airways and JAL can vary between what's available to oneworld, and what's available to Alaska Airlines.

If Alaska's booking tool shows the airline you are looking to book, it really does need to be visible to book it (if it's not there, the call centre won't see anything differently). If one of the partners doesn't show (for example Cathay Pacific), then you can call, but again, not all Cathay availability that you might find elsewhere will be available via Alaska.

Also worth bearing in mind that Alaska may have a different booking window to other oneworld airlines, and you may beed to wait a couple months before the availability flows through to AS/

What were the flights you were looking to book?
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Hi

Mid August Melbourne to Tokyo(10 or 11 August to be exact), return to Melbourne early September(leaving Tokyo 5 or 6 or 7 Sept to be exact) .

I was worried did I just wasted money on buying these AS mileage? did they become an expensive turkey..?

James
 
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Welcome to AFF @Jamesc571 .

JAL certainly is available via Mileage Plan but you can't book it to/from Australia.

If you go to 'Award Charts' and put in start region of Australia and destination region Asia you'll see that only Cathay is offered (and its very hard to get in premium cabins).

You can get very good value (ie low miles) routing within Asia using JAL (eg SIN-NRT-DEL!), but not to/from Australia.

Can you get to an Asian port? Then you should be able to get to Tokyo from there, although August doesn't leave much time.
 
RooFlyer said:
Welcome to AFF @Jamesc571 .

JAL certainly is available via Mileage Plan but you can't book it to/from Australia.

If you go to 'Award Charts' and put in start region of Australia and destination region Asia you'll see that only Cathay is offered (and its very hard to get in premium cabins).

You can get very good value (ie low miles) routing within Asia using JAL (eg SIN-NRT-DEL!), but not to/from Australia.

Can you get to an Asian port? Then you should be able to get to Tokyo from there, although August doesn't leave much time.
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You meant from Melbourne to Hong Kong then to Tokyo?

I think I can
 
Jamesc571 said:
Hi

Mid August Melbourne to Tokyo(10 or 11 August to be exact), return to Melbourne early September(leaving Tokyo 5 or 6 or 7 Sept to be exact) .

I was worried did I just wasted money on buying these AS mileage? did they become an expensive turkey..?

James
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Alaska's award charts operate slightly different to other airlines... only specific carriers are allowed on specific routes.

Between Australia and Asia you only have one option - Cathay Pacific, and even then, only on flights to HKG and the USA. (Anything beyond HKG for intra-asia travel has to be two separate awards, so MEL-HKG-TYO is not possible on a single award)).

Cathay availability doesn't show on the AS website, you'd need to find availability via BA/QF or JL. And finding CX awards that originate or terminate in HKG is very hard these days (they have married their segments with travel beyond HKG).
 
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Jamesc571 said:
You meant from Melbourne to Hong Kong then to Tokyo?
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I was actually just pointing out the generality that its only CX from Aust. to Asia, but yes, you could go MEL-HKG-Tokyo, but it would be two awards - MEL-HKG and then HKG-Tokyo. You have to phone them for CX flights, open 24/7 and quite short wait times. Economy probably possible but you may need to be flexible with date and/or departure port.
 
MEL_Traveller said:
Alaska's award charts operate slightly different to other airlines... only specific carriers are allowed on specific routes.

Between Australia and Asia you only have one option - Cathay Pacific, and even then, only on flights to HKG and the USA. (Anything beyond HKG for intra-asia travel has to be two separate awards, so MEL-HKG-TYO is not possible on a single award)).

Cathay availability doesn't show on the AS website, you'd need to find availability via BA/QF or JL. And finding CX awards that originate or terminate in HKG is very hard these days (they have married their segments with travel beyond HKG).
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Thanks

Sounds like I really
RooFlyer said:
I was actually just pointing out the generality that its only CX from Aust. to Asia, but yes, you could go MEL-HKG-Tokyo, but it would be two awards - MEL-HKG and then HKG-Tokyo. You have to phone them for CX flights, open 24/7 and quite short wait times. Economy probably possible but you may need to be flexible with date and/or departure port.
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Thanks

I had a look, Melbourne/Hong Kong/Tokyo has zero availability as well...ah well taught me a lesson, should have ring them up before making the points purchase,
 
Jamesc571 said:
I had a look, Melbourne/Hong Kong/Tokyo has zero availability as well...ah well taught me a lesson, should have ring them up before making the points purchase,
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You can't 'look up' MP availability out of Australia, as with the Cathay redemptions you have to call up. But if you are looking on other sites for Cathay reward availability, it may well indicate the non-availability but even that may not give you the same answer.

August is a bit close date-wise to get seats on CX via MP - like yourself, all Australians on MP fight for the same inventory.
 
PatMcrotch said:
I signed up about 2 weeks ago. Maybe that's why??

edit:
I can see an authorisation on my CC for my second attempt.
No miles in my account yet but it's a good sign :)
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Accounts need to be 10 days old to buy miles. So you might have been just outside that period on your first transaction?
 
MEL_Traveller said:
Accounts need to be 10 days old to buy miles. So you might have been just outside that period on your first transaction?
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Maybe but I still received the "pending..." message with the second attempt, instead of the transaction being processed immediately.
I'm half expecting them to bill my first attempt now lol
 
PatMcrotch said:
Maybe but I still received the "pending..." message with the second attempt, instead of the transaction being processed immediately.
I'm half expecting them to bill my first attempt now lol
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Did your miles post?

I bought some this morning AU time and they credited instantly. Also received a receipt at the same time.
 
MEL_Traveller said:
Did your miles post?

I bought some this morning AU time and they credited instantly. Also received a receipt at the same time.
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No my account is still showing 0 miles and I haven't received any emails.
Can still see the authorisation on my CC though. Will wait with fingers crossed !

I just bought some LM though...screenshot sent :)
 
MEL_Traveller said:
Did your miles post?

I bought some this morning AU time and they credited instantly. Also received a receipt at the same time.
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Just noticed my Visa got charged $52 for an "international transaction fee" when I bought the miles.
Did you get the same or is it just my card?
 

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