Update: Qantas Awards Back on Alaska Airlines Website

Qantas 737-800 at Melbourne Airport
A Qantas Boeing 737-800. Photo: Matt Graham.

Yesterday, we wrote about the fact Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members had been unable to redeem miles for Qantas flights for almost three weeks. There’s now an update, and it’s good news.

At the time that we published our original article, Alaska Airlines had not responded to our request for comment. But shortly after we published it, the airline got in touch to say that they were looking into this. As of today, the problem is now fixed and Qantas award seats are back on the Alaska Airlines website.

Booking Qantas flights can be a good use of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles, so this is great news for members of this program.

We asked the airline why Qantas awards were offline for three weeks. Alaska Airlines told us that a vendor’s software update created some issues with their systems, but that they were able to correct the problem with a little time.

British Airways and Singapore Airlines awards are now offline

Hopefully the Qantas issue is just a one-off glitch that doesn’t get repeated.

However, as it happens, British Airways and Singapore Airlines redemptions are now also unavailable through Alaska Airlines. As was the case when Qantas awards disappeared, Alaska Airlines has not provided any information about this. Award seats on these airlines just don’t appear if you try searching for them.

The missing British Airways and Singapore Airlines seats could well be related to the same software update issue. Hopefully this will also get fixed soon.

We do know that Alaska Airlines has been deliberately messing with partner airline award availability over the past week, as it has temporarily blocked availability on flights departing within 72 hours. However, that one is only a temporary issue and Alaska Airlines did provide an update about this when asked.

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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This has been going on for a little while. I agree that something is up - if it was just a one-off glitch it should have been fixed by now.

I’ve tried to get an answer from Alaska Airlines but none is forthcoming at this point.

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Stopped working at the precisely the same time Qantas launched the last DSC promo

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yes, I noticed that also as I was going to book some as is a benefit in points club

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They probably realised the issues with the fact that millions & millions of people with Amex Points now have access to Alaska via Hawaiian and pulled lots of availability. (or perhaps the partners have decided to restrict it from Alaska due to this)

Airlines don't want anyone to have access to bargain reward flights or sweet spots nowadays

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Slightly off topic, but I noticed Qantas reward seat availability on Air New Zealand website also disappeared at around the same time.

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If this isn’t an IT issue QF really need to start working on their issues with other airlines. First we had QR effectively remove (almost) all availability for QFF, I feel like another airline has played games with QF reward seats too, but who that is/ was escapes me at this time? And now looking like AS and NZ are following.

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I think more likely to do with the Alaska Hawaiian merger; once that settles one would hope availability returns.

*ETA maybe not seems to be affecting cash fares too. I notice that I cant seem to get multi-city to return AA domestic flights (on routes I know they fly) to connect with QF tickets.

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I think more likely to do with the Alaska Hawaiian merger; once that settles one would hope availability returns.

That’s my thought too. The Hawaiian merger no doubt is causing some integration issues since Alaska and Hawaiian have different partners and yet the points can now move freely between the two programs.

What would be interesting to see if any of the other dozens of award partners Alaska has are impacted. For instance, can you book ANA award flights on Alaska?

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BA and SQ also seem to no longer be available. And that's only a very recent development.

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I wonder what QFF has done to upset Alaska?
Is this another Qatar situation?

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