With Alaska Airlines just joining the oneworld alliance, there’s an exciting development when it comes to redeeming British Airways Avios for travel on the Seattle-based airline.
Redeem Avios online on Alaska flights
Alaska Airlines and British Airways have formed a partnership that dates back to Alaska prior to joining oneworld. This made it possible to collect and redeem points.
Redeeming British Airways Avios on Alaska Airlines was a lot, but there was one major catch – these awards weren’t bookable online. Rather, you had to call the executive club’s call center to book these flights, which was often painful as I often found the waiting times to be significant.
It is now possible to redeem British Airways Avios to travel on Alaska Airlines directly through ba.com. This is a fantastic development as this redemption option is so easy.
It is now possible to redeem Avios online for travel in Alaska
You can simply go to the British Airways online award search tool. If Alaska Airlines has award availability, it will be displayed automatically.
Why Redeeming Avios in Alaska is Good Business
Thanks to British Airways’ distance-based award table, redeeming Avios for travel on Alaska Airlines is one of my favorite Avios uses, especially due to the lack of fuel surcharges on those redemptions.
The British Airways Executive Club award prices for Alaska Airlines are based on the one-way distance of each segment as follows:
- Flights of up to 1,150 miles cost 9,000 Avios in Economy and 16,500 Avios in First Class
- Flights from 1,151 to 2,000 miles cost 11,000 Avios in economy and 22,000 Avios in first class
- Flights from 2,001 to 3,000 miles cost 13,000 Avios in Economy and 38,750 Avios in First Class
While the British Airways Executive Club may not always have the lowest cost in terms of number of points required, booking through the program offers a few key benefits:
- The British Airways Executive Club is a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, so points are easy to obtain (Alaska Mileage Plan does not work with a transferable point currency).
- Sometimes there are transfer bonuses from transferable point currencies to the British Airways Executive Club, further enhancing the value proposition
Redeeming Avios in Alaska can be of great value
Bottom line
It is now possible to redeem British Airways Avios to travel on Alaska Airlines directly through ba.com. This is a huge improvement on this redemption facility. I often find that the best redemption value on Alaska Airlines is the British Airways Executive Club, considering how easy it is to get Avios.
The fact that these bookings can now be made online increases the likelihood that I will book through British Airways as the hassle factor is gone.
Anyone else excited to see British Airways adding Alaska Airlines redemptions online?
(Hat tip to Alex)
