Don’t know what Loyalty Points are? – click here for details

Pros of BookAAHotels

20-30% Loyalty Point Bonus

AAdvantage recently added “Loyalty Point Rewards” to the program – click here for details.

One of those rewards kicks in at 60,000 Loyalty Points – a 20% LP bonus on BookAAHotels earning. (and a few other partners) Another reward kicks in at 100,000 Loyalty Points – a 30% LP bonus on BookAAHotels earning.

For 6 months after crossing those thresholds, you receive 20/30% more Loyalty Points. The bonus should also apply to the transaction that pushes you over the threshold. (i.e. a hotel stay that takes you from 40,000 LPs to 65,000 LPs would earn the 20% bonus on the entire 25,000 LPs earned) It is worth highlighting that you do NOT receive any additional redeemable miles.

In any event, you receive the bonus Loyalty Points when you book with BookAAHotels but NOT when you book with Rocketmiles.

“Double Boost”

When booking hotels with Rocketmiles or BookAAHotels, you are allowed to pay more to earn more. This is often called “boosting”. The price of these boosted miles can change from time to time – at the moment they are costing $65 for 3,000 miles –> 2.16 cents per mile. Most importantly, these additional miles also count as Loyalty Points.

With Rocketmiles, you are typically allowed one boost of 3,000 miles per night. With BookAAHotels you are allowed two – one at the initial room selection stage and another at the confirmation stage. Because boosted miles are relatively cheap, the more you can “boost” per hotel stay, the better…

Pros of Rocketmiles

More Hotels Available

With BookAAHotels, only a relatively small number of hotels allow you to earn AA miles. Frustratingly, this can change from search to search, even in the same location for the same dates.

With Rocketmiles, EVERY hotel shown will earn you some miles. Some more. Some less. But you will definitely have more hotels to choose from. This is especially relevant internationally, where you might want to stay at a small boutique hotel instead of a major chain hotel.

Book for Someone Else

Sometimes a family member or friend asks for your help to find a hotel room. They don’t really care about miles or points – anything they earn might end up orphaned and expire unused.

With Rocketmiles, you can make hotel bookings on behalf of others, and receive the AA miles in your own account.

Better Booking Experience

Rocketmiles is generally considered to have a better website experience. You can sort your search based on miles earned, total cost, etc.

Of course, that doesn´’t stop you from searching on Rocketmiles and then cross-checking against BookAAHotels before confirming your booking.

Nuances

Rocketmiles stays post to your AAdvantage account based on the check-out date. BookAAHotels post to your AAdvantage account based on the check-in date.

This quirk will be most relevant in late February / early March, if you are attempting to squeeze in a few more Loyalty Points before a new qualification period begins. (or want to get a head start on the next year)

Bottom Line

With both BookAAHotels and Rocketmiles, you will NOT receive points or elite stay credit, as you are making a third party booking. You might occasionally convince the hotel to provide certain elite benefits. Ultimately, however, you are choosing to earn AA miles and elite status credit instead of hotel points / elite status credit.

There are pros and cons to using BookAAHotels and Rocketmiles. Make your choice based on the differences outlined above…

What do you think about BookAAHotels and Rocketmiles? Let us know in the comments section…

The post Rocketmiles vs. BookAAHotels for Loyalty Point Collectors appeared first on InsideFlyer.

According to the Spanish blog InfoViajera – and dozens of reader comments – Booking.com appears to have been hacked. After booking a hotel or apartment through the Online Travel Agency, the guest is being approached – often via Whatsapp message – informing them that their payment has been declined. As a result, the “property” is asking them to make payment outside of Booking.com.

Many readers would undoubtedly notice the red flag and delete the message immediately, except that it typically contains:

• The full name of the guest
• Their phone number
• The property being reserved
• The exact dates of the reservation
• The exact amount of the reservation

And if you are accustomed to having online credit card payments declined from time to time – especially in foreign countries off the beaten track – then you can easily fall into the trap.

Luckily, no InfoViajera readers appear to have fallen into the trap.  One message mentioned a problem with “Mactercard” payment systems, an obvious scam, albeit one that you could easily miss.

What is Booking.com Doing About It?

When contacted by InfoViajera readers, Booking.com claims that all is fine.  Disturbingly, however, the prevalence of this scam suggests that:

• Booking.com has been hacked – allowing somebody access to Booking.com reservation information
• Dozens of smaller Booking.com properties have employees operating (or falling for) a phishing scam

I can’t think of any other access point for somebody to obtain every relevant detail of your accomodation reservation…

Bottom Line

If you are asked to make payment outside of the booking platform, it is surely a scam.  Even so, some scams look more realistic than others…

Have you received a similar message after making a reservation? Let us know in the comments section…

The post Has Booking.com Been Hacked (and isn’t Telling Anybody)? appeared first on InsideFlyer.

If you want to try your luck, here is the link you require – https://www.ihg.com/rewardsclub/gb/en/offers/promoreg/?offerCode=70027 If you find yourself needing a promo code – 70027 is the code.

Over the course of yesterday (October 13th), it became clear that this promotion was actually targeted to employees of specific companies such as Amazon. Even though I normally proceed very cautiously in these situations, I just couldn’t resist the chance to potentially get free breakfast at a couple of upcoming Holiday Inn stays…

What Could Go Wrong?

IHG One Rewards is completely within its rights to shut down your account. In fact, this is basically the only thing mentioned on the promotion’s landing page.

Many offers are only available to IHG One Rewards Club members who receive a specific, targeted communication from IHG. Successful registration does not guarantee that you will receive the points or miles offered when the offer requirements are met if you are not eligible per the offer terms and conditions. Six Continents Hotels, Inc.(SCH) and its subsidiaries and affiliates which are InterContinental Hotels Group companies (collectively IHG) reserve the right to cancel any IHG One Rewards Club membership and revoke any and all unredeemed IHG One Rewards Club points for fraud or abuse of any portion of the program per the IHG One Rewards Club membership terms and conditions.

A more likely scenario is that IHG One Rewards simply reverses these instant Diamond upgrades, with no further consequences for members.

As a result, do NOT make any non-refundable reservations based on the expectation of Diamond benefits – or that you will be able to renew Diamond status with 10 paid nights.

And, even though it might be too late already, you should consider passing on this promotion if your IHG account contains millions of points, rather than a few thousand…

What Could Go Right?

IHG One Rewards might decide to look the other way.  After all, IHG offered a Diamond fast-track promotion just this summer – requiring 15 nights to renew the status for 2023.

And with the economy apparently on the verge of a recession, having several thousand “travel hackers” incentivized to stay 10 paid nights in 2.5 months –> not such a bad idea!

Wait Awhile, but then Try This…

Assuming that your account status remains at Diamond for a few weeks, you might want to consider an additional travel hack.  Sign up for Ambassador status.  (or renew your existing status)

This would offer two benefits:

• You can take advantage of the 20,000 point promotion – click here for details
• Your “Diamond Ambassador” status may well be extended until December 31, 2023 (regardless of whether you manage the 10 nights in 2022)

The “Ambassador travel hack” works for some, but not for others.  I have yet to find a realistic explanation for this.  Sometimes it only works for Ambassador renewals. For others it works when signing up to Ambassador for the first time.  Yet for others, their status drops down to Platinum – the status guaranteed by being an Ambassador – on January 1st.

Bottom Line

Sometimes a good “travel hack” is just combining one or more legitimate promotions.  Sometimes it “crosses the line”, but every reader can make their own decision about the exact location of that “line” and/or their willingness to cross it.

Did you sign up for instant Diamond? Let us know in the comments section…

The post Instant IHG Diamond Status? What’s Next? appeared first on InsideFlyer.

There are two milestones that trigger a benefit – 50 nights and 75 nights. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes any nights earned by being a co-branded credit card holder.  (usually 15, but you can pick up 30 by also having a Business card)

Shortly after reaching your 50th elite night, you should receive an email from Marriott that directs you to this webpage.

50-Night Choice Benefit

Your options are the following:

Gift Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status to anybody

Please DON’T (Silver is worthless).

Save 40% on a bed from your favorite hotel brand

This is a niche option. But if you are in the market for a new bed/mattress and you are particularly fond of the beds found at a specific chain, then a 40% discount can offer great value.

Donate $100 to one of three charity options

If you are the charitable type and don’t care for the other choices, this can be a feel-good choice.

Five Elite Night credits for 2022

Here is where many people become confused. These elite night credits are ONLY good for:

• Helping you on your way to Titanium (75 nights) or Ambassador (100 nights + $20k in spend) in 2022
• Adding 5 nights to your lifetime total

Five Suite Night Awards

Suite Night Awards are explained on this Marriott webpage.

Because you cannot confirm the suite upgrade in advance – it only processes 5 days before hotel arrival – these SNAs are useless for “must have a suite” stays. Many Marriott members also find themselves unable to use their full allotment of SNAs. Either the hotel doesn’t have suites in the first place, or the upgrade doesn’t clear.

Nonetheless, Suite Night Awards are the default option for Marriott Bonvoy, as they should be for most Platinum members. After all, you MIGHT get some value out of them in 2023…

75-Night Choice Benefit

When you reach 75 nights, you can choose from any of the above options, along with the following:

Gift Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status to anybody

As with Silver status, Gold status is effectively worthless.

And you are NOT providing any kind of head start to the newly/minted Gold member – they would still need to complete all 50 nights in 2022 or 2023 to be upgraded to Platinum status.

One Free Night Award worth up to 40,000 points

This is likely to be the best option to choose at 75 nights. 40,000 points can be worth roughly $300 – when comparing to the price of buying 40k points during promotions. Choose your hotel wisely and you could be saving even more when compared to the cash rate.

Why You Should Wait

Unless you are desperate for 5 Suite Night Awards – perhaps because you are lucky enough to have already used the ones earned in previous years – there is no rush to make your choice. You have until January 7, 2023 to choose…

I recommend waiting because you might find yourself on 70-74 nights in late December. (or even on January 1st…) If so, you could choose the 5 Elite Night Credits as your 50-night Annual Choice Benefit.

Doing so would immediately take your account over 75 nights for 2022, meaning that you:

• Earn / renew Titanium status
• Become eligible for the 75-night Annual Choice Benefit  (either the free night or 5 Suite Night Awards)

In that scenario, choosing 5 Elite Night Credits is certainly preferable to spending $$ on mattress runs or unnecessary hotel stays in late December. But if you’ve jumped the gun and chosen 5 Suite Night Awards too soon (as your 50-night benefit) you won’t be able to change your mind later – just when you might really need 5 Elite Night Credits…

Bottom Line

Although you CAN now choose your Marriott Bonvoy Annual Choice Benefit, it doesn’t mean that you SHOULD choose…  Wait and see how your travel year progresses first…

The post Why You Shouldn’t Rush to Choose Your Marriott Annual Choice Benefit appeared first on InsideFlyer.

I have an upcoming 5-night award stay over the Easter weekend. Almost the textbook definition of “peak travel dates”…  However, I have found – twice now – that the price when using points has decreased.

Luckily, Marriott Bonvoy makes it really easy to take advantage of the lower pricing. You don’t even need to “cancel and rebook”.  Here’s how…

First of all, open your reservation and click on “Edit Room”.

You will then be shown whatever rooms are available, including the one that you have already booked…

You will be asked to confirm the change in your reservation, and any points difference will be automatically refunded to your Bonvoy account.

If you have any Suite Night Award requests outstanding, these will remain attached to your reservation.  It really couldn’t be any easier, even though Marriott’s IT is scary at times!

Bottom line

Between March 29th and today, I have managed to save 6,000 Marriott points on an upcoming award stay.  I’ll be sure to continue checking every couple of days before the cancellation deadline – maybe I will save even more!  For what it’s worth, the cash rate appears unchanged, so Marriott’s algorithm must be taking expected occupancy into account.

In the grand scheme of things, I would still rather have a fixed award chart. But it’s nice to know that there might be some upside to the new system, at least at the beginning.  So make sure to look at your existing award bookings from time to time…

Have you managed to save some Marriott points this way? Let us know in the comments section…

The post How You Can Save Thousands of Marriott Points on Your Award Stays appeared first on InsideFlyer.

The methodology for moving Avios back and forth is slightly different to what you might be accustomed to. There is a separate link for BA <–> Qatar transfers.

When you click on the link, you will be taken to a special website. You will be required to login to your British Airways Executive Club account again.

When you log in for the first time, you will be asked to provide a mobile phone number. This will be used for two-factor authentication each time you login. (i.e. a one-time password will be sent by text to your phone)

You will be asked to “link accounts“. It is worth noting that you can only link and unlink the same accounts twice in your/their lifetime. So don’t make any mistakes if you can help it…

As part of the account linking process, you will be also sent a one-time password to the email address and/or telephone number associated with your Privilege Club account.

Once your accounts are linked, you can transfer Avios freely back and forth… (if you want to move in a different direction to the default, you need to click on the double arrows)

Your transfer should happen instantly…

But What About…

British Airways Household Accounts

I had no problem moving 2,500 Avios from Qatar into a British Airways Executive Club Household Account.

Iberia Plus

It appears that you can only link a Qatar Airways Privilege Club account with a British Airways Executive Club account.

Therefore, if you want the ultimate destination of your Avios to be an Iberia Plus account, you will have to make a second transfer as normal. (click here to be reminded how)

Don’t Forget Your 2,500 Free Avios

If you sign up to Qatar Airways Privilege Club by using this link – BEFORE March 31, 2022 – you will earn 2,500 free Avios. Those Avios can be freely transferred over to Executive Club.

So, there’s no excuse for not signing up for a Privilege Club account today and testing out the new Combine Your Avios function…

The post How to Combine Your Avios Between Qatar Airways Privilege Club and British Airways Executive Club appeared first on InsideFlyer.

With “dynamic pricing”, you will no longer know how many points you need to accumulate in order to stay at a specific hotel. The number of points required will instead fluctuate based on cash rates and occupancy levels. Although bloggers can sometimes exaggerate the negative impact of this on the majority of loyalty program members, that doesn’t change the fact that dynamic pricing is bad news for almost everybody who collects hotel points…

With that in mind, should you be spending most, or all, of your Marriott points before March 29th?

Why you SHOULD spend your Marriott points

Certain hotels will definitely soon cost more

The most important thing to do before March 29th is analyze the list of hotels that will soon cost substantially more points. (click here)

If your preferred use of Marriott points is one or more luxury hotels on the list, you should make as many bookings as possible before the price increase. It is worth highlighting that PointsAdvance is competely useless for locking in award pricing. If you aren’t sure about your exact dates, you should book each night individually, allowing you to cancel individual nights if necessary. (of course you would lose the benefit of the fifth night free if your planned stay is long enough)

Marriott’s devaluation intentions are clear

No hotel chain implements dynamic pricing because they want to charge members fewer points on average. Even though you might not normally spend your points at Marriott’s most expensive hotels – those which unquestionably are going to cost up to 30% more – it’s also quite likely that other hotels will see smaller price rises, on average.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, it will still be possible to find value at hotels soon to cost 130,000 points per night, because the cash rate can easily be $1,000+. But what will really hurt – especially over time – is the 40,000 point-per-night hotel quietly costing 45,000 points.

I find it quite striking that all of Marriott, Hilton and IHG offer 10 points per US dollar spent. Yet Marriott points are generally considered to be worth at least 50-75% more than a Hilton or IHG point. Hilton and IHG do regularly make up the difference with double/triple point promotions and more generous elite tier bonuses. But I definitely forsee Marriott Bonvoy wanting to reduce the average value of a Marriott point to the same as its rivals – roughly 0.4-0.5 cents per point – and also run better promotions going forward if needed…

It is also interesting that Hilton Honors’ still has a price cap on its award pricing, many years after implementing its own version of dynamic pricing. Although on average a Hilton point is definitely worth less than before, they still come in very handy on high-demand, high-rate dates (assuming you can find standard room availability… and even better if you are staying for five nights).  Marriott, however, has made no promises whatsoever about an upper limit on each hotel’s award pricing, starting in 2023…

The Points-to-Miles conversion ratio could be devalued at any time

I have written about this previously. Although Marriott is providing plenty of notice about the shift to dynamic pricing, they provided almost no notice about the disappearance of Travel Packages.

With the value of a Marriott point heavily supported by the fact that you can convert them into airline miles at an attractive ratio, Marriott will not hesitate to devalue the conversion ratio if necessary. And we might not get much, if any, notice…

Why there is NO rush

Unless you tend to collect hundreds of thousands of Marriott points to spend on high-end hotel stays, you won’t actually notice much difference. The vast majority of Marriott’s hotels will remain within their current category-based boundaries.

Although Marriott might nibble around the edges – a 35,000 per night hotel might start charging 37.000 points per night on average – and this would still be bad news…  it would be far worse to rush out and waste your Marriott points.

An example might be booking a three night stay using points, instead of taking the time to plan a five-night getaway somewhere else.  (fifth night free)  Or worse… spending points when you would otherwise pay the cash rate.

Another example would be speculatively converting your entire points balance to your most-used frequent flyer program, instead of taking the time to look for a better option – at the time of booking your next firm trip overseas.

So, you should definitely redeem your points in March, but ONLY if you have a great use for them. Don’t just rush for the exits…

Bottom line

Marriott’s shift to dynamic pricing is bad news, especially if you have a large points balance. But unless you tend to redeem your Marriott points at a handful of ultra-luxury hotels, you shouldn’t really rush to spend your entire balance. The true pain won’t really be felt until 2023…

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section…

The post Should You Spend All of Your Marriott Points This Month, Before it’s too Late? appeared first on InsideFlyer.

If you collect Avios, you are hopefully aware that you can move your Avios freely between any Avios-based program. But if you need a refresher, click here to be taken to an article explaining how “Combine Your Avios” works. Because of this ability to move Avios back and forth, you do NOT need to collect Iberia Avios in order to REDEEM Avios with Iberia Plus, for example. As a result, savvy Avios collectors can take advantage by knowing the best program to use for each type of redemption.

To avoid getting caught out, you need to remember to remain independently active – once every 36 months – in all of the Avios-based programs you plan to use. Click here to be taken to an article explaining this concept further.

It is worth highlighting that there are no longer any mainstream opportunities to save Avios by booking a given reward through a different Avios-based program. However, you CAN save a substantial amount of cash co-payment on your award booking in certain, specific scenarios.

British Airways Executive Club

British Airways Executive Club should be your DEFAULT program for redeeming Avios.

Why?

Despite the occasional IT meltdown, BAEC lets you book, change and cancel award bookings easily, all online via ba.com or the App. If you need to put together a more complex itinerary, BAEC agents are some of the most competent you will find (if you can get through to one…).

When you need to change or cancel an award booking (until 24 hours before departure), you will be charged $55. However, if you originally paid less than that in taxes and fees, you will merely forfeit what you have already paid. For US domestic award flights, that might be the $5.60 that you would pay in taxes for a one-way.

At the moment, moreover, British Airways’ “Book with Confidence” policy means that you can request a Future Travel Voucher and apply the Avios and cash amount to a future award booking – with no change fees at all.

Iberia Plus

You will want to use Iberia Plus to book award flights on Iberia Airlines ONLY.

Why?

You will pay a substantially lower amount of taxes and fees when you book your Iberia Airlines award flights through Iberia Plus.  (Click here to be reminded of a trick to apply a different frequent flyer number to your award booking)

You will also be liable for a lower change fee of 25 euros (approximately $28.50) when changing or cancelling an Iberia award flight.

HOWEVER, all awards booked on Oneworld partners such as American Airlines are completely non-changeable and non-refundable (compare that to booking via British Airways Executive Club and being able to cancel for as little as $5.60). Because you no longer save any Avios through Iberia Plus, there is no logical reason to ever book Oneworld partner awards via Iberia Plus.

Aer Lingus AerClub

You will want to use AerClub to book award flights on Aer Lingus ONLY.

Why?

You will pay lower taxes and fees when you book your Aer Lingus award flights through AerClub.

This is a recent change. Previously you could call British Airways Executive Club to book Aer Lingus awards without paying substantial surcharges. Now you can book online, but BA will add its outrageous transatlantic surcharges…

Vueling Club

You shouldn’t really book any reward flights via Vueling Club.

Why?

Although you have the option of redeeming your Avios on a reward flight with Vueling, you would be receiving a very low value and would remain subject to Vueling’s no-cancellation policy.

Bottom Line

If you collect Avios, redeem them through British Airways Executive Club! Unless you want to fly to/from Europe on Iberia Airlines or Aer Lingus, in which case you can consider using Iberia Plus or AerClub…

The post Which Avios Program Should I Be Using to Book Award Flights? appeared first on InsideFlyer.

Of course, it makes little sense to aim for Executive Platinum status when you fly infrequently on American Airlines or its Oneworld partners. So these changes might best be used to help Platinum or Platinum Pro members step up to Executive Platinum. Or they might be a way for an infrequent traveler (or somebody based overseas) to reach Platinum status, since that Oneworld Sapphire status provides lounge access for the member plus a guest (oustide of the US).

As a reminder, you have between January 1, 2022 and February 28, 2023 to earn:

• AAdvantage Gold status –> 30,000 Loyalty Points
• AAdvantage Platinum status –> 75,000 Loyalty Points
• AAdvantage Platinum Pro status –> 125,000 Loyalty Points
• AAdvantage Executive Platinum status –> 200,000 Loyalty Points

For anybody with a co-branded credit card, putting more spend through that card will be the simplest and easiest way to earn more Loyalty Points. That might not be the most cost-effective method, however, since you would be giving up the chance to earn higher value points or cashback from pushing that spend through a different card.

For some people, therefore, it might make sense to earn Loyalty Points by booking hotel stays…

Earning Loyalty Points by Booking a Hotel

BookAAHotels should look familar to anybody who has used Rocketmiles, PointsHound, etc.  The hotel booking service is offered by Booking.com – a major Online Travel Agency – and a few hotels will offer you the chance to earn AA miles with your hotel reservation.

So far… relatively standard. However, on the next page you will be invited to buy additional AA miles for approximately 2 cents each.

The opportunity doesn’t stop there, because at the next stage in the process you can boost your miles purchase even further…

By the time you get to the final stage, you could be earning a large number of AA miles…

The important thing to note is that ALL 6,000 miles will post to your AAdvantage account as base miles, meaning that they are all Loyalty Points!

Is This a Good Deal?

Obviously we will want to compare against the hotel rate if booked directly. You would pay $127.97 after tax to book this hotel directly with the same cancellation conditions.

As a result, you would be paying an extra $62.72 to earn 6,000 AA miles / Loyalty Points. Assuming that you weren’t expecting much by way of elite benefits or points by booking directly, this can be a great way to book this particular hotel stay. You’d have paid little more than 1 cent per redeemable AA mile. And those 6,000 Loyalty Points would help you on your way to a higher level of elite status with AAdvantage.

How Many Loyalty Points / Miles Can I “Buy” per Stay?

There is a lot of trial and error involved when looking at AAHotels. But it appears that I can buy and boost an additional 4,000 miles per night at any hotel that qualifies for earning miles.

If you were to spend an entire week at the hotel example shown above, you could earn a whopping 36,000 miles / Loyalty Points.

Yes, you have substantially overpaid for your hotel stay…  except you also have earned 36,000 miles to spend via American Airlines AAdvantage. And quite possibly paid a reasonable price for those 36,000 miles. (assuming that you actually needed to stay in a hotel and would otherwise have booked direct)

Bottom line

By strategically booking your hotel stays via BookAAHotels.com, you might be able to pick up AAdvantage elite status quickly and easily.

Of course, you would have to accept that you will NOT receive any hotel status benefits, credit, points, etc. – you would be booking your hotel stay via an Online Travel Agency. But for an independent hotel, that shouldn’t matter. It might even be a welcome change from cost-cutting chain hotels who aren’t delivering on promised elite benefits anyhow…

The post How to Earn AAdvantage Elite Status by Staying in Hotels appeared first on InsideFlyer.

1. The ability to have a free stopover on one-way awards. This opens up a number of travel hacking opportunities, especially if you live near a major hub airport
2. The relatively low cost of First and Business Class awards to/from Asia on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines in particular

But in the time since Alaska joined the Oneworld alliance, we have seen Alaska implement changes that are very worrying. The latest almost-no-notice changes involve awards on Alaska and American.

Alaska First Class Devaluation

Alaska Mileage Plan has increased the upper limit of First Class award flights.

This might not seem hugely relevant, especially if these higher prices only co-incide with expensive, peak date travel. But should a one-way flight in domestic First Class between Seattle and Chicago cost the same number of miles as a one-way flight in First Class between New York and Hong Kong or Tokyo???

American Airlines Dynamic Pricing

Perhaps we shouldn’t fault Alaska Mileage Plan for something that might be driven by American Airlines, but the idea of dynamic award pricing is rarely beneficial for consumers, especially for members of a PARTNER’s frequent flyer program.

Even if this opens up additional AA award space for Alaska Mileage Plan members, does anybody truly believe that American Airlines will allow a partner airline to charge fewer miles than AAdvantage charges to its own members?

New Partners Award Pricing is Atrocious

Alaska Mileage Plan has been slowly adding various Oneworld partners to its award options. We have written about a couple of the major additions, such as:

• Iberia Airlines – click here for details
• Qatar Airways – click here for details

Other airlines have also been added recently, such as Royal Air Maroc and Royal Jordanian.

With no exceptions that I am aware of, the award charts published for these airlines are SUBSTANTIALLY worse than alternative booking options such as American Airlines AAdvantage or the operating airline’s own frequent flyer program.

Bottom line

Alaska Mileage Plan used to have nice little customer-friendly business model. Earn miles from travel and day-to-day activities – or even buy them – and redeem them on aspirational long-haul partner airlines. With the added bonus of a free stopover to allow you to visit more than one city on your Asian or European holiday…

It was easy to place a high value on your Alaska miles when you didn’t need too many to fly to Asia in First Class. But how long until that sweetspot disappears?  And with it a substantial percentage of the value of your Alaska miles?

Luckily I’ve already reduced my 6-figure balance of Alaska miles down to zero, as I think the good times are ending sooner rather than later…

What do you think about Alaska Mileage Plan? Let us know in the comments section…

The post Is It Time to Abandon Alaska Mileage Plan? appeared first on InsideFlyer.