Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

[davistev]

I've been trying to use some of my Alaska miles but I keep running into a roadblock on the Passenger Information page of the booking engine.

It errors out saying " The request was not successful. See the red message(s) below and make changes as needed." Only problem is that there is no red message or any error with the info I provided. Anyone had this issue before?

Hi - yes this is an issue that has been around for years. The problem is that it needs a US phone number under contact details. Just enter some random US number like 360-555-1212 and then the booking will go ahead.

 

[Danger]

What are the limitations on the free stopover on awards and on backtracking?

Is it possible, for example, to fly AA DFW-ORD, stop, then ORD-xLAX-HKG on AA and CX as one award or, in this situation, is the stopover only valid at LAX or maybe just HKG?

Regardless of the above, is a bit of backtracking permitted? For example, say, PHX-xORD-HKG on AA and CX?

Thinking about it a little more, I seem to recall that it's not possible to mix airlines on AS awards, with the possible exception of AS and another airline, meaning AA and CX on the one award would be out.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

What are the limitations on the free stopover on awards and on backtracking?

Is it possible, for example, to fly AA DFW-ORD, stop, then ORD-xLAX-HKG on AA and CX as one award or, in this situation, is the stopover only valid at LAX or maybe just HKG?

Regardless of the above, is a bit of backtracking permitted? For example, say, PHX-xORD-HKG on AA and CX?

Thinking about it a little more, I seem to recall that it's not possible to mix airlines on AS awards, with the possible exception of AS and another airline, meaning AA and CX on the one award would be out.

re bold - correct. You can have AS plus 1 other carrier on the one award, and you can't mix the majors like AA/CX for example.

That being said you can be given some pretty creative routings for domestic connectors, and I've seen some back-tracks as well. You can also force some routings through the multi-city tool.

AFAIK you can use the stopover domestically in the USA, so could be ORD or LAX.

 

[JackMiles]

From reading the T&Cs on the AS website, there doesn't seem to be any restriction on who you can redeem an award flight for, as there is with QF and their list of allowable relatives. Is that true? In other words, can I use my AS Mileage Plan points to book an award seat for anyone I choose to, be they friend, colleague, or whatever? Even if the flight itself is on, eg, QF?

 

[nightelves]

From reading the T&Cs on the AS website, there doesn't seem to be any restriction on who you can redeem an award flight for, as there is with QF and their list of allowable relatives. Is that true? In other words, can I use my AS Mileage Plan points to book an award seat for anyone I choose to, be they friend, colleague, or whatever? Even if the flight itself is on, eg, QF?

Yes you can. I’ve booked for others with no issues.

 

[JackMiles]

Thanks very much, nightelves. Very handy, that, and much friendlier policy than QF.

 

[nightelves]

Thanks very much, nightelves. Very handy, that, and much friendlier policy than QF.

QF you can book for someone else as well. Never had an issue also.

 

[JackMiles]

Do you mean you've booked QF with AS Miles for someone else?

You definitely are not allowed to book QF reward flights with QF points for anyone not an 'Eligible Family Member'. (Not saying you can't, but you're not allowed to...)

 

[nightelves]

Do you mean you've booked QF with AS Miles for someone else?

You definitely are not allowed to book QF reward flights with QF points for anyone not an 'Eligible Family Member'. (Not saying you can't, but you're not allowed to...)

Yeah but how do they know who’s an ‘eligible family member’ or not.

 

[JackMiles]

Sure, they'd have to investigate and demand documentation etc. Not usual for them to do so, but it has happened.

 

[nightelves]

Sure, they'd have to investigate and demand documentation etc. Not usual for them to do so, but it has happened.

Yeah that’s usually for points purchase. Anyway if never had any issues. I don’t imagine anyone will be booking quite a lot of travel for others for them to raise questions.

 

[JackMiles]

You're probably right. And plenty else for QF to worry about right now.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

From reading the T&Cs on the AS website, there doesn't seem to be any restriction on who you can redeem an award flight for, as there is with QF and their list of allowable relatives. Is that true? In other words, can I use my AS Mileage Plan points to book an award seat for anyone I choose to, be they friend, colleague, or whatever? Even if the flight itself is on, eg, QF?

While there are no restrictions on who you redeem an award for, AS does monitor accounts for potential fraud, which includes the sale or barter of tickets. If you raise flags your account can be frozen. Potential flags include buying miles rather than through flying, redeeming miles for first and business class travel, redeeming miles in names other than the account holder.

QF you can book for someone else as well. Never had an issue also.

This is a breach of the QF terms and conditions and not a good idea. Of course people get away with it... until they get caught

 

[JackMiles]

Thanks MEL_Traveller. That all fits with my understanding.

 

[Danger]

re bold - correct. You can have AS plus 1 other carrier on the one award, and you can't mix the majors like AA/CX for example.

That being said you can be given some pretty creative routings for domestic connectors, and I've seen some back-tracks as well. You can also force some routings through the multi-city tool.

AFAIK you can use the stopover domestically in the USA, so could be ORD or LAX.

Hmm. Interesting. It sounds like that to use JL or CX from the US and have a stopover in the US, you'd be limited to AS ports (which there are quite a few, to be fair). Either that or take AA from the US to Asia but I guess that then means you'd have to terminate at your first Asian port, given AA doesn't have 5th freedom flights and you can't mix carriers (other than AS, as stated).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hmm. Interesting. It sounds like that to use JL or CX from the US and have a stopover in the US, you'd be limited to AS ports (which there are quite a few, to be fair). Either that or take AA from the US to Asia but I guess that then means you'd have to terminate at your first Asian port, given AA doesn't have 5th freedom flights and you can't mix carriers (other than AS, as stated).

Domestic USA fares are pretty much rock bottom ATM - some ultra cheap fares in basic economy and even in F. Something like ORD-TYO-HKG might be good in JL F/J

 

[Danger]

Domestic USA fares are pretty much rock bottom ATM - some ultra cheap fares in basic economy and even in F. Something like ORD-TYO-HKG might be good in JL F/J

Yes, indeed. American had four/five hour domestic flights advertised last month for as low as USD16 from what I could see.

I would love to get a JL F seat but I'm not seeing availability when I'm looking to travel (peak time). By a reasonable margin, US-TOK flights are quite a bit shorter than US-HKG and do see a few seats on CX in F but I'd like to try JL.

I'll have a closer look at ORD-TYO-HKG/SIN.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes, indeed. American had four/five hour domestic flights advertised last month for as low as USD16 from what I could see.

I would love to get a JL F seat but I'm not seeing availability when I'm looking to travel (peak time). By a reasonable margin, US-TOK flights are quite a bit shorter than US-HKG and do see a few seats on CX in F but I'd like to try JL.

I'll have a closer look at ORD-TYO-HKG/SIN.

JL F seats do come up quite often, even in peak. Ord is a nice length flight too. But also New York and is it IAH as well (of DFW, one of those that also has F)

 

[Danger]

re bold - correct. You can have AS plus 1 other carrier on the one award, and you can't mix the majors like AA/CX for example.

That being said you can be given some pretty creative routings for domestic connectors, and I've seen some back-tracks as well. You can also force some routings through the multi-city tool.

AFAIK you can use the stopover domestically in the USA, so could be ORD or LAX.

How's this for a backtrack?

This was using the multi-city function to search for JFK-HKG, stop, then HKG-PER. That's extraordinary value.

 

[JackMiles]

How's this for a backtrack?

This was using the multi-city function to search for JFK-HKG, stop, then HKG-PER. That's extraordinary value.

WOW!