Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is a popular frequent flyer program for several reasons. Not only are award flights great value, but Alaska Airlines also sells miles. In a recent promotion, Alaska Airlines offered up to 40% bonus miles on purchases. This can work out to be a great deal when redeeming Alaskan miles for award tickets in Business class.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles can be redeemed to fly from Australia to several destinations, including North America. Award flights to the USA and Canada are available with these six Alaskan partner airlines:
- Qantas
- American Airlines
- Fiji Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Korean Air
- Emirates
Qantas and American Airlines both fly direct between Australia and the USA, but finding Business class award availability can be extremely difficult. This is where partners like Korean Air come in very handy.
Korean Air flies daily from Sydney to Seoul and 4x weekly from Brisbane to Seoul. From Seoul, Korean Air offers onward flights to a dozen destinations across the United States and Canada including New York, Toronto, Chicago and Las Vegas.
Travelling via Korea to North America does add some travel time if you’re flying to Los Angeles or San Francisco. But if your final destination is on the east coast – such as Boston or Washington D.C. – the Seoul stopover only adds a couple of hours to the trip.
There are several reasons to redeem Alaskan miles on Korean Air. Firstly, Korean Air Business class award availability is typically excellent. It’s also a great deal. It costs just 125,000 Alaskan miles for return Business class seats from Australia to North America with Korean Air. There are also no fuel surcharges – you’ll just pay government taxes and a USD25 Alaska Airlines partner award booking fee.
As an added bonus, Korean Air has a great Business class product! You’ll enjoy lie-flat beds for the entire trip between Australia and North America.
It costs the same number of Mileage Plan miles for both one-way and return bookings on Korean Air. So, it always makes sense to book return flights!
When redeeming Alaskan miles on Korean Air, you can book an open-jaw. For example, you could fly into New York and return from Atlanta. And flights can be easily booked on the Alaska Airlines website. Here’s an example of some Korean Air flights that we found online:
You can also redeem Alaskan miles for Korean Air Economy class. But with Economy class to North America costing 85,000 Alaskan miles return, you’d be better off paying the extra 40,000 miles for Business.
First class award seats to the United States on Korean Air are not currently available through Mileage Plan. Unfortunately, it’s also not possible to redeem Alaskan miles on Korean Air flights purely between Australia and Seoul.
Key Facts
- Currency: Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
- Airline: Korean Air
- Routes: Sydney or Brisbane to destinations across North America
- Class of travel: Business
- Cost: 125,000 Alaskan Mileage Plan miles, plus taxes and a USD25 booking fee
- Availability: Very good
- How to book: Alaska Airlines website
Would you like help using your frequent flyer points?
Australian Frequent Flyer offers a personalised service that’s designed to take the hard work out of redeeming your frequent flyer points!
Our Frequent Flyer Concierge team can help you to find the perfect flights using your points. Just let them know how many points you have and where you would like to go, and they’ll prepare an itinerary for you.
