[Global Entry]

I've wanted to write a little more about Mileage Plan, which is a terrific frequent flyer plan under Alaska Airlines.

It tends to have good deals, good promotions, they provide a good product in the air, and they have a really good cross-section of partnerships that span the globe. I'd mentioned them a few times previously, but I'd encourage all of the mileage players to get a Mileage Plan account and to plan on making some deposits to it.

Here are some current deals their offering domestically, just by way of reference.



And here are the partners....



For the less initiated, thats quite a great list with Asian stalwarts Korea and Cathay, American and Delta for North America, Emirates for Mid-East (and frankly much more), and Air France and KLM for Europe. Its really a great mix, allowing for a lot of usage and a lot of opportunity to get around the globe. And all of the partners can be booked online other than Cathay and LAN, which I absolutely love.

As you can see, they're also offering a 40 percent purchase bonus on buying miles, but there are better ways to get those miles perhaps than purchasing (through the Alaska Airlines credit cards or an SPG Amex transfer at 1.25 MP miles per point (in lumps of 20000))

One negative is you cannot mix partners on awards. So if you book Cathay, you cannot book, say Emirates, on the same award journey. But since you can book one way awards, that's not too much of a killer. And they allow stopovers on one way awards, so you can book a free one way ticket (for example, if you wanted to fly from LA to HKG, you could book on Delta (I believe). But you could, if you wanted, book from another US city, through LA as your stopover (stopping over where you live is the typical way to get a free oneway) and then eventually travel on to HKG). Hence the first leg is a free oneway, so if you flew to that city in cash or points otherwise, you're trip back would be part of the Alaska award. One way free (or included).


The strongest redemption options for Mileage Plan seem to be Cathay, Qantas and Emirates.

One way redemptions in biz class on Cathay to Asia - 50,000 miles, Africa/India/Mid-East 62500 mile and australia, an amazing 60,000 miles. These are really strong values. Keep in mind that you get a stopover with each of those awards, meaning you can fly from the US to Hong Kong, have a stopover, and then continue to Africa, India, or the Middle East, all while paying 62500 (70000) miles in biz (first) class.

On Emirates, the costs are higher. but you're talking about true glitz, with onboard showers (yes, showers), a bar (funny for a mideast airline) and room service phones. First for US to India/ME is 90K, Asia, 100K, Europ, 100K and Africa 100K, knock off around 25 percent for biz class. With the free stopover though, you could fly say LA to Dubai, as your stopover, then to HKG, for 100K one way in first class. That, my fellow gamers is true balling.

For Qantas, if you can find an award, the rates are better than American's rates for Qantas, at 55000 (70,000) one way biz (first) class. And you can get a stopover in New Zealand on your way to and from Australia, which you cannot do on American (only a stopover in a US city is permitted, big whoop).

I fully expect my next transfer from my SPG card to be to Alaska (or Singapore as I really want to fly Suites Class). If I go for value, there's no doubt I should drop the next 50,000 into my Mileage Plan account. Along side Life Miles, it seems to me that Alaska provides some of the best value out there for miles, and when you factor in the 25 percent bonus SPG gives for transferring in miles in blocks of 20,000, that means you're transferring 40,000 SPG points to get a one way ticket USA-Asia with a stopover. Fucking gold.