EDITORS NOTE: In 2024, I’m going to try and have a guest post on Saturdays. Today’s guest post is from the strong analytical mind of MattD (maybe the D stands for doppelgänger? Probably not).
Alaska plans to introduce their new award chart in March. Since joining OneWorld this was expected to happen as Alaska tries to become a global airline without any routes leaving the Americas.
Still, I have been keen on earning Alaska miles when an opportunity or safe way presents itself. I looked back on previous Alaska award bookings and all but one were flights to Asia. I will show below why I’m still earning Alaska miles and for this example, I chose Bangkok, Thailand as my comparison point.
Below in Table 1, we will examine the old price of routes along with the new pricing with percentage increase. At first glance, the numbers look gnarly and all hope should be abandoned.
Table 1: Old Alaska Award Chart vs New with Percent Difference for a Business Class Flight to Bangkok
| Airline | Old Price | New Price | ||||
| SEA/YVR | LAX | DFW | ORD | JFK | ||
| Cathay | 50,000 | 85,000 (+70%) | 85,000 (+70%) | 85,000 (+70%) | 85,000 (+70%) | |
| Hainan | 50,000 | 85,000 (+70%) | ||||
| JAL | 60,000 | 85,000 (42%) | 85,000 (42%) | 85,000 (42%) | 85,000 (42%) | 85,000 (42%) |
| Emirates | 105,000 | 130,000 (24%) | 130,000 (24%) | 130,000 (24%) | 130,000 (24%) | 85,000 (-19%) |
| Singapore | 100,000 | 85,000 (-15%) | 85,000 (-15%) | 13,0000 (30%) | 13,0000 (30%) | 13,0000 (30%) |
- Removed Finnair because there’s no reason to fly out of the way unless there’s a bar onboard to post a picture of.)
- Removed AA because of Alaska’s (soon to be old) 1 partner per award rule. And also AA has generally abaondned Asia, see https://crankyflier.com/2023/12/14/american-has-a-lot-fewer-widebodies-than-it-used-to-and-it-recently-postponed-getting-more/
Alaska’s old award chart can still be viewed here:
40,000 was used as the old standard credit card sign-up bonus and 65,000 was used as the new standard credit card sign-up bonus, which is a 62.5% increase in miles earned.
Obviously, the Cathay sweet spot is dead and will rest in its forever home with 100,000 Emirates First Class.
Alaska awards are only getting more expensive if the miles are earned from flying/organic credit card spend. But, the inflation in Alaska credit card bonuses since 2020 means most of these routes increased less than 10%. In fact many have become cheaper if you’ve earned your miles from well-timed sign up bonuses. Table 2 shows the old and new award chart looking at how many sign up bonuses it would take to buy a business class ticket to Bangkok.
Table 2: Alaska Sign Up Bonuses Needed for a Business Class Ticket
| Airline | Old Price | New Price | ||||
| SEA/YVR | LAX | DFW | ORD | JFK | ||
| Cathay | 1.25 | 1.31 | 1.31 | 1.31 | 1.31 | |
| Hainan | 1.25 | 1.31 | ||||
| JAL | 1.50 | 1.31 | 1.31 | 1.31 | 1.31 | 1.31 |
| Emirates | 2.63 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 1.31 |
| Singapore | 2.50 | 1.31 | 1.31 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 |
Color coded to show which award increased vs decreased measured in sign up bonuses
While the new award chart has closed some sweet spots, new ones have opened up, like flying a beach towel in business class can now be had for 50,000 miles or 80% of a sign up bonus.
This won’t last forever as Alaska will keep devaluing enhancing their program faster than the credit card bonus increases. In the meantime though I will keep earning and burning Alaska miles.
– MattD
80% of a sign-up bonus visualized.