This site is part of an affiliate sales network and may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Zachary Abel is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Alaska Airlines has long maintained a wide variety of award redemptions specific to each partner airline. Some, like Cathay Pacific, have had incredible award rates, and others like Aer Lingus aren’t the most attractive. For instance you could redeem US to Asia on Cathay Pacific for just 70k miles. That’s incredible. Not long ago, they introduced dynamic awards that permitted the use of Alaska miles to redeem non-saver rates awards that are outrageously expensive, and was a bit of a warning sign that dynamic pricing could creep its way in to other awards as well. Now, they’ve eliminated the award charts of each partner and replaced it with a general chart that doesn’t include any rates that originate outside the US/Canada. This Is certainly toeing the line of devaluation In my opinion and one step closer to Alaska eliminating charts completely and going fully dynamic.H/T VFTW
The new universal Alaska Airlines award chart for international flights
Notice the language at the bottom of the chart that you’ll have to search to view points from outside the US. Prior to this new award chart every airline had specific pricing for those routes.
Note…the award rates START at these prices. Since part of the Alaska chart is dynamic…the sky is the limit on those awards.
Booking terms you should pay attention to:
The most important ones are award flights with an origin and destination outside the US must be booked 72 hours prior to departure. This was implemented a few years ago and can be tricky if you’re trying to book Cathay from Hong Kong to Paris for instance since often those award will open up the day before departure. Keep that in mind.
The other one to pay attention to, is new to me at least, and that is stopovers are no longer allowed intra-region. If you’re flying from Vietnam to Beijing you wouldn’t be able to stop in Hong Kong en route for a couple of days.
-
Award flights with both an origin and destination outside of the US and Canada must be booked at least 72 hours before the departure time.
-
The purchaser of an award ticket is responsible for all applicable taxes, fees, and checked baggage charges imposed by the transporting carrier(s) or U.S. or international authorities. For itineraries that include one or more partner award segments, a $12.50 (USD) nonrefundable fee will be collected per person, each way.
-
Stopovers are not available on award redemptions within international regions (e.g. intra-Asia or Intra-Europe)
Overall
Personally, I think this is a bit shady. “Hey, we have an award chart and we haven’t changed award prices.” That’s great and how they will spin it. But it also creates just enough cover for them to slowly devalue without us noticing since they are saying routes START at the prices listed. I still believe Alaska has a great program with some incredible redemption opportunities, but this makes me feel like the days are numbered on some of the sweeter deals.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.