Oneworld status can also be achieved without flights with Alaska Air from 2024 » Travel-Dealz.de

The Alaska Mileage Plan has always been one of the more interesting frequent flyer programs, at least since the airline joined the Oneworld alliance in 2021. And some changes have now been announced that will take effect next year.

While other airlines (like Delta) are significantly reducing their frequent flyer programs, Alaska stands out favorably. Some things are getting worse, but there is also good news. One development will be particularly interesting for us Europeans: starting in 2024, frequent flyer status can also be achieved without flying with Alaska Airlines once.

This is a major departure from the previous system, which required between 2 and 24 flights with Alaska Airlines, depending on the situation. In the future, it will be possible, for example, to achieve frequent flyer status on your own with Finnair, JAL, Condor, LATAM or Singapore Airlines. Because Alaska also has exciting partnerships outside of the Oneworld alliance.

Alaska Mileage Plan status qualification begins in 2024

In contrast to other airlines, frequent flyer status with Alaska Airlines is not based on sales in US dollars; Booking category and flight distance. There are currently several ways to achieve the status. For example, for MVP Gold 75K (Oneworld Emerald), these are:

• 75,000 status miles + 12 flights with Alaska Airlines
• 90 flights with any partner airline, including 12 flights with Alaska Airlines

From 2024 Then the obstacles look like this:

• MVP of 20,000 Miles Condition (Oneworld Ruby)
• MVP Gold 40,000 Mile Condition (Oneworld Sapphire)
• MVP Gold 75K from 75,000 miles condition (Oneworld Sapphire)
• MVP Gold 100K from 100,000 Miles Condition (Oneworld Emerald)

The possibility of qualifying through sectors alone will be eliminated. However, that wasn’t particularly attractive anyway, because you first had to reach 60 chips (gold) or 90 (75k).

Regarding individual status benefits, we recommend taking a look at the frequent flyer program website. Travelers with Alaska Airlines benefit from upgrades to premium and first class, and there are up to two upgrades to business class on American Airlines’ long-haul flights.

Example: Fly Oneworld Sapphire with Condor and British Airways (2 flights)

The Alaska Mileage Plan is especially interesting for anyone who likes to be an outsider to their alliance. Status miles can also be collected on flights with Singapore Airlines, Condor, Aer Lingus and Icelandair & Co.

Here’s a quick example of how you can achieve MVP Gold (Oneworld Sapphire) status with two business class flights to the USA:

• 1x Business Class FRA - LAX - FRA With Condor: 23,000 status miles + 34,750 bonus miles
• 1x Business Class (I) HAM - LHR - SFO - LHR - HAM With Bachelor’s degree: 17,550 status miles + 29,200 award miles

In total, that’s 40,500 status miles which is enough (as of 2024) to earn MVP gold status. Plus, you’ll already have 64,000 bonus miles together, or a little more, as there’s a 25% bonus once you reach Silver status.

Business Class award flights are available for 55,000 miles (e.g. to North America) or 75,000 miles (e.g. to Japan/Korea). This is one way plus taxes and fees. However, surcharges are manageable and should be around €100, as there are usually no fuel surcharges.

You can also use the following calculator and calculate for yourself the number of statuses and award miles available for your booked or planned flights:

More changes

There will be some additional changes to the Alaska Mileage Plan starting in 2024 and 2025. At this point a short summary:

• The reward miles for frequent flyers will be significantly reduced. As an MVP, you’ll only get 25% of the bonus miles instead of 50%, and as an MVP Gold, you’ll get 50% instead of 100%. This bonus also applies to flights with partner airlines such as Condor & Co.
• There should be additional Choice rewards Submitted, these are some of the rewards when you achieve frequent flyer status. This should make it possible to roughly compensate for the loss in bonus miles
• In 2023, it will be possible to carry excess status miles with you at once into the following year – but only if a total of more than 100,000 equivalent quality metrics are collected.
• As announced in early December, Alaska plans to acquire Hawaiian Airlines. If approved, there should be more status benefits on flights to Hawaii in the future

Conclusion

As its members gradually grew more alienated from other programs, Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyer program became increasingly attractive.

I’m increasingly considering switching from BA Executive Club (and Finnair Plus) to the Alaska Mileage Plan. Now that British Airways allocates miles based on revenue, Alaska will receive many times more award miles. But the situation is not that easy to achieve.

source: One mile at a time, Plane talk And Alaska Airlines

Cover image: Tim/CC0 license