Update 2/27/25: We’ve heard back from Alaska regarding the pricing for mixed partner awards and learned that their intention is for those awards to closely track the current cumulative distance, single partner prices:
The pricing logic for multi-partner awards is different, however, the aim is still to price it as close to cumulative distance & single partner connect as possible. Depending on the connection, sometimes multi-partner does end up being more expensive than a single partner connect.
Alaska also shared several examples where a mixed partner award is currently priced identically to a single partner on the same route, including this one from Miami to Rome via JFK (note that the increased taxes on the bottom award are due to British Airways operating the Miami – London leg):
Another example was this flight from JFK to Helsinki, where the mixed partner connecting itinerary showed the same pricing as the non-stop:
This is great news, as Alaska had not made any public comments on what mixed partner award pricing would be previously. It also seems to indicate that the additive pricing we originally saw below is more of a hiccup and not the intended rule. Hopefully, as multi-partner integration continues, we’ll see begin to see pricing stabilize closer to current single partner award levels.
~~~Original post follows~~~
For years, Alaska Mileage Plan members have had a major limitation when trying to book partner award flights: you could book itineraries that involved Alaska flights and segments from one partner, but not those that involve more than one partner.
For instance, if you wanted to fly from San Francisco to London via a British Airways (BA) flight from Los Angeles (SFO-LAX-London). You’d only be able to select itineraries where the SFO – LAX leg was operated by Alaska, even if there was an open American Airlines (AA) flight available because Alaska wouldn’t allow you to book both AA and BA on the same award. You would be able to book the AA flight and the BA flight separately. That’s a big limitation for a US program with the limited route network of Alaska.
Alaska has been promising that its members would be able to book mixed-partner awards for quite some time, and it look like they’re finally starting to roll out:
It’s not all good news
It’s incredible to actually see mixed-partner awards live on the Alaska site, but there’s a bit of rain on the parade as well.
First, it looks like, this is currently only possible on itineraries that combine American Airlines and British Airways or Finnair (h/t: Alejandro). That’s not a huge deal, as these are probably just the first partners to go live and others will soon follow.
However, there’s also a – hopefully temporary – gotcha in the way that these awards are pricing. Alaska has a distance-based award chart and here’s the pricing for flights that involve Europe (either within Europe or between the US and Europe):
LAX to Zurich (LRH) is just shy of 6,000 total flight miles, so we’d expect it to price out at 35K in economy, as it falls in the 5,001-7,000 miles band. If we fly BA from LAX-London (LHR)-ZRH that’s exactly the price we see:
If we add AA flights to the scenario but with the exact same itinerary, we’d expect to see the same 35K pricing…but we don’t:
What’s happening here is that, instead of combining the entire flight distance into one award price, as happens with the BA itinerary, Alaska is adding the price of the two individual partner awards: 35K for LAX – LHR on AA and 7.5K for LHR to ZRH on BA. So, even though you can technically get these as part of one award, the pricing is the same as if you purchased each award separately.
We’ve never heard any indication that Alaska plans to charge more for mixed-partner awards than it does for awards that involve one partner + Alaska. Hopefully, this is just a temporary glitch that’s part of the initial rollout and eventually we’ll see these both price identically according to the cumulative distance.
IF Alaska indeed plans to price these awards per segment, that would be a big blow to the program. We’ve reach out to Alaska for comment and will update this post as soon as we hear something.
Final Thoughts
Alaska is finally starting to sell mixed partner awards online through Mileage Plan. Even though it currently seems to be limited to AA and BA only, that’s a great development.
However, it’s concerning that these flights are being priced per segment as opposed to cumulative distance like all other Alaska awards. Hopefully that’s only a tech snafu as opposed to a permanent feature, but it’s something to be aware of as more mixed-partner awards come online.
(h/t: Frequent Miler Insiders)
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That doesn’t sound like a resounding commitment that no increase in pricing is intended. They know the distance of those tickets and should not have any difficulty pricing them according to their charts. “sometimes multi-partner does end up being more expensive” is a pretty big hole to fly a plane through. Instead, I read their statement as “our award charts are only suggestions”.
This is a pet peeve of mine. Those charges are not taxes, they’re carrier-imposed fees that British Airways chooses to charge on their redemptions. There are no tax implications of flying into London on any carrier, only dishonest fare construction that turns a “free” award flight into a flight that’s discounted by 20% or something. I frequently see people finding an award through London with high BA copays and people advising them that they have to avoid London to avoid the charges. That’s true departing the UK but not arriving there, or even connecting through there back to the US.
Any news from Alaska if the pricing of these mixed partner awards is correct or an error?
I don’t think it’s temporary. I’ve noticed many instances where Alaska doesn’t adhere to its own award chart. For example an economy flight on JAL from ANC-SEA-SFO-HND costs a whopping 72.5k miles even though the itinerary lies within the 7000-10,000 mile band. It’s actually cheaper to just book the different segments as separate itineraries. It’s been like this ever since the new award chart was rolled out (before it was 45K miles). Either it’s a glitch or Alaska refuses to be transparent as to how saver awards are actually priced. Even if it’s a glitch, I don’t think they’re going to fix it if it benefits them.
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While paying more sucks, it still could be useful in the sense that you can check baggage all the way through and not have to collect and re-check-in, as well you are protected if there is a misconnect which won’t be the case on separate PNR’s. Obviously not a thing if you were planning to do a stopover, but still a “minor” siliverlining if the pricing stands. Figure it is just like Flying Blue or Virgin Atlantic where you pay by the segment when using partners. (though you are getting the discount on Alaska if you stick to one partner or AS and one partner.
I would expect someone to comment how the additional 7500 miles reduce the taxes/fees on a reward ticket by $295. I would rather pay those extra miles…
I think you may have missed the point, possibly due to a lack of award travel knowledge
The difference in award fees is because of carrier. British Airways passes on very significant surcharges to partners when booking most award flights, whereas AA does not. Because the transatlantic segment is via AA, it wipes out $295 in fees that BA is charging.
But yes, I’d rather spend 7,500 miles than $295 as well. 🙂
Probably intentional. This change just allows less point savvy travelers able to book awards.
Really need to wait for a statement about whether this is the intended pricing or not. Neither “yes” nor “no” would be a particularly surprising answer although “yes” would certainly reduce the utility of the program.
FYI, this post did not come thru by email (as a subscriber).
Not just AA and BA. I’ve seen some itineraries that combine AA and Finnair
I really hope this is just a glitch. Every change Alaska has made in the last few years has had at least as much bad as good.
Separately from mixed partner awards, I’ve found that pricing for a single partner compared to a single partner+Alaska can be significantly different. It could be that there are other factors at play, but I feel like I need to avoid any connections on Alaska if I’m trying to book a partner award in order to keep the cost down.
Same feeling here. Also single partner booking don’t seem to show mixed cabin availability, have to book separate PNR in such case.
Alaska and Avianca are proving to be ripoffs, as I stated long ago.
Thanks Tim