Redeeming Alaska Miles for International Trips

Monday, October 26, 2015


I am proud to say that I had booked my flight for Ireland a couple of weeks ago. Yes, The Trekking Cat never stops trekking! While doing so, I also had to muddle through some pages on Google and figure out how to actually redeem my points. There aren’t many posts on how to redeem Alaska miles and so I figure this post can help some of you who are equally as curious and struggling with redeeming international flights with Alaska.


There are actually 2 ways to redeem Alaska miles for international flights- calling or online. While it seems as if you can achieve the same results with either method, there pros and cons of each one.

Booking Flights Online:

Booking flights through the Alaska website is probably going to be the most hassle-free way of redeeming miles for flights. Simply go to www.Alaskaair.com and search for the flight. Make sure to mark the “Use Miles” checkbox before searching or the results will not show up! The advantage to searching online is being able to go back and forth on dates, see how many points it takes to redeem, and check on additional charges the airlines may bill you. However not all airlines are searchable. I’ve been able to search for most airlines. Other airlines such as LAN and Cathay Pacific require calling Alaska to redeem with miles and even check dates and times of flights.

The airlines you can book on Alaska points are:

  • American Airlines 
  • Aeromexico 
  • Air France 
  • British Airways 
  • Delta Air Lines 
  • Emirates 
  • Fiji Airways 
  • KLM 
  • Korean Air 
  • PenAir 
  • Qantas 
  • Ravn Alaska

Calling to Book Flights:

The other way to book a flight with Alaska miles is the old school way of calling a customer service representative, asking them to search dates, and book the flight for you. This is not ideal if trying to compare dates/times, point redemption rates, and additional charges. However you will be able to book flights on Cathay Pacific and LAN this way. The phone number is 1-800-252-7522 to make a reservation via phone.

I ended up booking my flight to Ireland online and only spent 40K points and $75 for a round trip with American Airlines. What a deal! Especially being used to paying 60K points for my round trips using United. However I will be crammed in the back of the plane with the peasants in coach, but who cares. I’m going to Ireland either way! Plus the points required for Business or First is much more, and my upcoming trip isn't focused on luxury.


For those of you who are curious of the point redemption rate for Alaska miles on American Airlines, here is a snapshot of what it says on the Alaska website. Redemption rates of other airlines can be found on their website (here). The rates will vary by airline and destination of travel. Looking through all the destinations and airlines, it seems as if the best deal is flying to Europe on American Airlines if using Alaska points. Heck it can even cost more to fly to Hawaii on points than Europe!


I cannot understand why the point system works this way, but in no way, shape, or form am I joking when I said flying to Ireland on American Airlines using Alaska points was cheaper than flying to Hawaii.