Alaska Airlines Finally allows Qatar Airways Redemptions
Alaska Airlines has been a full partner of the OneWorld alliance for months now, but redemptions across all the airlines have not yet been finalized. For one partner, Qatar Airways, the wait is finally over.
Earning on Qatar
A quick refresher on earning Alaska miles with Qatar Airways flights. As with most airlines, Alaska offers big bonuses for flying in premium cabins, and Qatar is no exception.
Flying in Business Class earning you at least 225% redeemable miles and 125% towards status. This is your earning before any status bonuses.
Redemptions on Qatar Airways
You won’t be able to redeem from anywhere to anywhere with Alaska Airlines, but you can certainly get to most places that Qatar flies.
Qatar Airways to the Indian Subcontinent
If you’re flying from the United States to the Maldives, India, or anywhere close by, it’ll cost you 85,000 in business class to start. Pricing is dynamic, meaning that if it is “high season” you could pay double that amount, or God forbid, even more.
You can get to the Maldives from the USA in Qatar Q suites for only 85,000 miles
Qatar to the Middle East
The Middle East has the same pricing as the Indian Subcontinent, only 85,000 in Business Class
Qatar to Africa
I’m excited for this one, because The flights to Africa are super far, especially if you’re going to South Africa. Considering that you can also have a stop over in Qatar on the way there, I’d consider paying this price in a heartbeat.
Qatar to Europe and Asia
While you cannot fly from the USA to Asia or Europe with Qatar and Alaska MileagePlan, you can fly from the Middle East to those locations.
In other words, if you find yourself in Doha or anywhere else in the Middle East, you can get to anywhere in Europe or Asia that Qatar Airways flies
Taxes and Fees
One important considering to remember when booking with Alaska Airlines are the taxes and fees. Typically, with the exception of British Airways, the taxes and fees are super low. Every booking will come with a $12.50 booking fee for partners if you complete the booking online or $15 if you book it over the phone.
Emirates, or Qatar Airways?
Many of the same routes to the Middle East, Africa, and India are run by both Emirates and Qatar. Remember that Qatar uses Dynamic pricing, meaning that some days the pricing could be 200k one way, or other days it could be as low as 70-80,000 miles.
Emirates does not do dynamic pricing, so the price you see if the same price no matter the date.
Today, July 31st, is the last day to make a booking with your Alaska Miles, so if you wanted to book with Emirates, now is your last chance.
Bottom Line
It’s good to see Alaska coming up with more of their OneWorld partners on award charts, and we still have plenty more to see (Iberia, S7, SriLankan, etc).
I hope also that Alaska will eventually operate an award chart that allows more point to point redemptions in the future.
July 31, 2021
Well I just completed transferring 60K Bonvoys & 40K Citi TY to Qatar for NRT – DOH Qsuite then on to Abu Dhabi n First for 65000 QR miles. & $50.00 for next July. Hopefully 1st class lounge open by then.
August 4, 2021
That’s a great transfer. Nicely done 🙂
August 1, 2021
Those award prices are certainly nothing to cheer about. While I didn’t think it unreasonable to figure that prices would be lower than those on American, I sure didn’t think they’d actually be worse. With how tough Alaska miles are to accrue for most people, starting with award prices that are rather poor from the start bodes ill for loyalists.
August 4, 2021
Well, I think that both the AA and AS miles are the hardest to come by, so perhaps, just like Emirates, it’ll allow for less people to redeem those miles?
At least AS miles are earned easily by butt-in-seat mileage, more so than AA, DL or UA