Alaska Airlines has been my frequent flyer program recommendation for Australians since the demise of US Airways Dividend Miles in 2015. A combination of an excellent award chart for Qantas flights to the US and a good earn rate on most paid fares offer outsized value.
With Alaska Airlines joining the Oneworld alliance in 2021 and resulting changes to the Mileage Plan frequent flyer program, it’s time to revisit the value being offered for Australians.
In this post:
Alaska Airlines Joins Oneworld On 31 March 2021
While Alaska Airlines already has ‘earn and burn’ frequent flyer relationships with many of the Oneworld airlines, a few new partners like Iberia and Malaysia Airlines will be available.
| Current Mileage Plan Relationships | New Oneworld Partners |
| American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways and Fiji Airways | Iberia, Malaysia Airlines, , Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines and SriLankan Airlines |
Alaska Airlines MVP Gold Elite Status Becomes More Valuable For Australians
While Mileage Plan offers excellent value premium cabin redemptions, elite benefits are patchy when flying their partner airlines. As I’ve covered in a previous post, there is little to no lounge access granted for Alaska elites on most partner airlines.
With full membership of Oneworld, Alaska elites will finally get full and consistent recognition across their partner airlines.
| oneworld Priority | MVP oneworld Ruby | MVP Gold oneworld Sapphire | MVP Gold 75K oneworld Emerald |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earn and redeem miles on all oneworld flights | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Earn elite points on all eligible oneworld flights | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Access to Priority check-in | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Priority on waitlists and when on standby | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Priority boarding | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Access to Business Class check-in | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Access to Business Class lounges | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Extra baggage allowance | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Priority baggage handling | – | ✔ | ✔ |
| Access to First Class check-in | – | – | ✔ |
| Access to First Class lounges | – | – | ✔ |
| Fast track at security lanes | – | – | ✔ |
For Australian members this includes all Qantas domestic and international lounges like The Hong Kong Lounge, plus the excellent Cathay Pacific lounges The Pier and The Wing in Hong Kong and around the world.
Mileage Plan Adds Flight Minimums On Alaska Metal
The Mileage Plan program was unusual in that you could earn elite status without ever stepping on an Alaska Airlines plane. Using only flights on Cathay Pacific, I earned Alaska MVP Gold for 2020 as covered in my December 2019 New York summary.
Unfortunately from the 2021 qualifying year, Mileage Plan have introduced a requirement for flights on Alaska Airlines metal (i.e. operated by Alaska Airlines aircraft):
*Must fly a minimum number of segments on Alaska Airlines marketed and operated flights to earn or retain status. 2 for MVP, 4 for MVP Gold, 6 for MVP Gold 75K.
Alaska Airlines
While this brings Mileage Plan into line with other programs like Qantas Frequent Flyer it makes earning elite status a challenge unless you visit the US annually and can fit in these flights. On the bright side, flying Alaska is a pleasure with excellent cabin crew and an interesting route network.
A personal highlight was visiting Barrow, Alaska and spending Christmas Day in the Arctic Circle.
Will Award Chart Changes Mean Less Value For Australians?
The main drawcard of Mileage Plan is the generous award chart on Qantas. No other program offers Business Class between Australia and the US for 55,000 points. Qantas themselves require 108,400 points to Los Angeles and 144,600 to New York.
Currently Alaska Airlines has individual award charts for each partner airline with outsized value for certain redemptions. It seems inevitable that Mileage Plan will move to a single award chart like most other airlines, though the COVID pandemic should hopefully see any devaluation delayed for a year or two.
Bottom Line For Australians
Alaska Airlines joining Oneworld in 2021 is great for elite recognition across partner airlines including priority check in and lounge access. However, the introduction of minimum flights on Alaska metal makes earning status harder for Australians.
The major known unknown at the moment is how Mileage Plan award charts will be impacted, with the inevitable devaluation hopefully delayed for a year or two as a result of the pandemic.
