Alaska Mileage Plan - New award chart from March 2024

[_TheTraveller_]

Better still, business awards SYD-AKL/CHC/WLG are just 15K miles. MEL-ZQN (but it elsewhere in NZ) also just fits into the 15K business award category too.

Availability seems to be scarce. I had a look at a few months and couldn't find anything. Saw PE on QF 3 but ex-syd seems to be pretty dry. Mind you, I didn't look too hard!

Post automatically merged: Apr 5, 2024

The first quarterly award sale is now live:

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Unfortunately, the discounts only apply to travel to/from the US.

I was hoping that NAN-BNE fell under 1500mi so you could technically get a trip that was 20K + 7.5k from LAX but alas, BNE is just a touch over.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Better still, business awards SYD-AKL/CHC/WLG are just 15K miles. MEL-ZQN (but not elsewhere in NZ) also just fits into the 15K business award category too.

Noumea too, which is pretty cool.

 

[CaptJCool]

Does this upgrade to points change the USA to Tokyo 70,000 F gig that’s been going ?

I’m figuring there’s no way it’s staying down that low ?

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Does this upgrade to points change the USA to Tokyo 70,000 F gig that’s been going ?

I’m figuring there’s no way it’s staying down that low ?

Yeah, those crazy sweet spots are gone, and no more 55K in J from Oz to North America.

 

[CaptJCool]

Yeah, those crazy sweet spots are gone, and no more 55K in J from Oz to North America.

So if I’m reading the charts right

first
USA to Tokyo is now 110,000 points although
Seattle would be 90,000

J Sydney to LAX would now be 85,000 (instead of 55,000)

 

[PatMcrotch]

cough-TPE for 15k in J will come in handy for me. Can finally use up some old points.

 

[djtech]

You can do it online by searching as a multi-city like this:

View attachment 354125

The important caveat is that the "connecting flight" you add for the second leg must depart on the same day the last segment of the first leg arrives (though this can be after midnight on the next day as long as the inbound flight before arrives after midnight, and connecting flights can go into the next day):

View attachment 354126

You can really get creative (I've managed up to 6 segments before for 20K on some searches), but here was trying to maximise flights on the 330 and I actually need to be in Adelaide that week so went with that as the final destination rather than something more convoluted.

Also important: you can't fly through the same city twice, or it will reprice as 40K, e.g., SYD-PER-SYD-ADL, but via MEL is fine.

Can't seem to replicate now! Has it gone the way of the dodo?

 

[_TheTraveller_]

Can't seem to replicate now! Has it gone the way of the dodo?

yes it's gone.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Can't seem to replicate now! Has it gone the way of the dodo?

Yep, as of last month. This example would now price as two separate segments each charged by distance. Best use now with QF are shorter-haul J segments that fall just within the shortest band, e.g., SYD-AKL.

 

[djtech]

Yep, as of last month. This example would now price as two separate segments each charged by distance. Best use now with QF are shorter-haul J segments that fall just within the shortest band, e.g., SYD-AKL.

Ah okay. Confirmed my suspicions the multi-city can only allow one-segment then stopover then another segment. I could book BNE-PER-MEL for the 7.5k price but not anything requiring a connection in between.

 

[aaa99]

Has anyone had experience changing a mileage plan redemption after these changes to rates? Booked a domestic qantas flight during DSC period and it no longer works for me. Trying to change dates online, previously the website would give me options.

Changing flight result:


New search result gives me the flight I am looking for, albeit at a much higher redemption rate.


I suppose it is because the new award chart is significantly different to the original, but I thought it might atleast give those options.

Trying to keep the PNR same for DSC purposes...

 

[CaptJCool]

Dynamic pricing on cash fares and now redemptions ?

Who woulda thought?

Extracting every last $ from your wallet

Drip drip drip
Pricing is so crud now May as well gone with the cash refundable fare to begin with

Oh wait, that’s what they want you to do - pay maximum price you’re willing to pay

 

[aaa99]

I have another question about how Alaska calculates the distance for its redemptions.

For example:
MEL-CHC according to GCMap is just over 1500 miles, but it is sold as 0-1500 mile redemption at 7.5k for Economy and 15k for Business.




At the same time, CBR-SYD-CHC is under 1500 miles, but is charged at the 1500-3000 redemption rate.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Sharing a find here, for what it’s worth, especially anyone looking for cheap QF points club status credit runs.

I’d managed to snag a silly SYD-PER-MEL routing in J for 20,000 miles on the A330 before the change in redemption rates, but as luck had it, I woke up this morning to go to the airport to find the PER-MEL sector cancelled. Since booking, I’d also turned this into a work trip so needed to be in MEL, so chatted with Alaska who cancelled the ticket and had to buy a last minute SYD-MEL in Y (at a surprising $149 last minute, but that was also cancelled ).

While feeling sorry for myself all day at SYD waiting for my third attempt to get to Melbourne, I discovered that the new chart isn’t great BUT there is a weekly flight from both MEL and SYD to CNS on the 330 that prices at the BETTER new 15K one way rate in J, and the new Alaska chart has one genuine enhancement in that it allows 24+ hour stopovers on a one-way and seems to price the ticket based on origin and destination.

Long story short: managed to try again to blow the last of my miles on a BNE-CNS-SYD in J (the latter sector on the 330) in J with a 24-hour stop in Cairns for 15K miles.

The best value here of 15K would be SYD-CNS-MEL which I saw on a few instances (SYD-CNS on a Friday, CNS-MEL on a Saturday) all on 330 but couldn’t make the dates work for me with other work trips.

 

[aaa99]

Great find. I played around with the dates and found what you mean. Although, this particular one is not an A330, it might still be worth it for an SC run

Edit: Have you seen this work with any other city pairs? Or is this limited to CNS only?

Re-edit: Seems to work with Australian city pairs as long as the Orgin and Destination are within 1500miles.



No luck with NZ though

 

[Gold Member]

Has anyone had experience changing a mileage plan redemption after these changes to rates? Booked a domestic qantas flight during DSC period and it no longer works for me. Trying to change dates online, previously the website would give me options.

Changing flight result:

New search result gives me the flight I am looking for, albeit at a much higher redemption rate.

I suppose it is because the new award chart is significantly different to the original, but I thought it might atleast give those options.

Trying to keep the PNR same for DSC purposes...

The new award chart will not permit changes to an existing award. You will need to cancel and rebook at the new prices.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Great find. I played around with the dates and found what you mean. Although, this particular one is not an A330, it might still be worth it for an SC run View attachment 390352

Edit: Have you seen this work with any other city pairs? Or is this limited to CNS only?

Re-edit: Seems to work with Australian city pairs as long as the Orgin and Destination are within 1500miles.
View attachment 390358
View attachment 390359

No luck with NZ though

Ah brilliant find - conceivably then you could get the 330 in J to Perth from MEL/SYD and then back to the other for 15K. May have a look later to see if that's doable and change my Cairns plan.

And yes - no dice on NZ. It also seems that virtually all of the awards in PY on the 787 on QF 3/4 is phantom space, so beware of that.