You Can Now Use Your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles on Singapore Airlines - 25K Miles for 2 Business Class Flights in Southeast Asia (Inc. China?!)

Alaska Airlines and Singapore Airlines began their partnership back in 2017 but it has not been possible to redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles on SQ metal until now - you can finally use your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles to redeem for flights in Economy, Business and First Class on Singapore Airlines! As you may already know, Alaska Airlines (Mileage Plan runs a 40% bonus on purchased miles regularly (there is one that is running until 31 October 2019 right now) so there is very little reason not to acquire them if you need them (or simply do not have enough KrisFlyer Miles to make an award flight redemption on SQ metal).

Click HERE to purchase Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles with 40% bonus - until 31 October 2019

Photo Credit: Singapore Airlines

Southeast Asia (Inc. China) - 25K Miles in Business Class, 35K Miles in First Class

According to the award chart published, a one-way award flight redemption will require 25,000 AS Miles in Business Class and 35,000 AS Miles in First Class within Southeast Asia. While most of us will already know which cities are covered by Singapore Airlines within Southeast Asia, it is interesting to note that China has been categorised as part of this region - this means to say that you can fly from Singapore to Beijing on First Class (even the new 2017 Suites!) with just 35,000 AS Miles. Redeeming the exact same flight using your KrisFlyer Miles would require 53,000 miles which are 51% (18,000 miles) more! Now it is pretty amazing that Singapore Airlines has opened up award space in First Class for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members as this is not something that they typically do for partners. To sweeten this deal, even more, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan allows stopovers on one-way awards so this means that you can make use of this to kick-start your next trip. If you are confused, do not worry as the next section will explain how this works exactly.

Photo Credit: Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Complimentary Stopover in Singapore Gives You One Flight Sector for Free

Getting a stopover on a one-way redemption is not new - you can do it with Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer but it will cost you USD 100 to 'break' the trip up. If you are not familiar with this USD 100 stopover trick, let us look at the latest award chart that has been published by Singapore Airlines - the number of KrisFlyer Miles required between Zone 5 and Zone 1 is the same as what is required in Zone 2 in the respective cabin classes. Here's a quick example to help you digest it a little more:

Beijing (Z5) to Singapore (Z1) in Business Class

(PEK - SIN)
KrisFlyer Miles Required: 39,000
Applicable Taxes: CNY 90 (SGD 17.45)

Beijing (Z5) to Bali (Z2) in Business Class

(PEK - SIN - DPS)
KrisFlyer Miles Required: 39,000
Applicable Taxes: CNY 137 (SGD 26.55)

Now obviously Singapore Airlines does not operate a direct flight between Beijing and Bali so what this means to say is that you must actually fly through Singapore to get to Bali. The tax amount is slightly higher when you do the latter route (but only by a bit) but you will get to enjoy two flights in Business Class as opposed to one. Having said that, most of us do not have the luxury of time to visit a number of cities in one trip and it is possible to break up that Beijing to Bali trip by adding a stopover for USD 100 if you are using your KrisFlyer miles for redemption - this means that you can return to Singapore from your Beijing trip and then take the Bali trip sometime in the future (your stopover can be a maximum of one year).

Beijing (Z5) to Bali (Z2) in Business Class with Stopover in Singapore

(PEK - SIN, SIN - DPS)
KrisFlyer Miles Required: 39,000
Estimated Taxes: CNY 137 (SGD 26.55) + USD 100 (SGD 138.20) = SGD 164.75

With the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program, however, you will get to enjoy a complimentary stopover even on one-way award flight redemption. Therefore, doing the exact same trip above using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles will cost only 25,000 AS Miles + USD 61.10 (SGD 84.45) which includes the USD 12.50 partner award booking fee. That's right, you save 14,000 miles and SGD 80.30 if you make that redemption on AS versus KF!

With the 40% bonus on Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles right now, it will cost you only USD 527.90 (SGD 729.30) to acquire 25,000 miles. Therefore, you are looking at a total of just USD 589 (SGD 813.70) for the acquisition of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles and the cost of redemption for both flights above in Singapore Airlines Business Class (which is ridiculously cheap!).

Photo Credit: Singapore Airlines

More Backtracking Allowed with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Using that same example above, you will not be able to redeem for a flight between Zone 5 (e.g. Beijing) and Zone 3 (e.g. Bangkok) online since it involves backtracking - it is also not shown in the award chart that Singapore Airlines publishes. This route which is impossible using KrisFlyer Miles is possible when using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles. This opens up the potential to do a number of creative routing which I will leave it to yourself to explore in case someone official picks up on it.

North Asia - 60K in Business Class, 75K in First Class

It is also possible to use your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles for flights in Southeast Asia to North Asia. Cities in North Asia include Tokyo, Seoul and Delhi just to name a few. While it may still make sense to use them this way, I can think of better ways to use my Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles - on Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines within Southeast Asia (especially when China is part of the trip)! It will cost you 60,000 AS Miles in Business Class and 75,000 AS Miles in First Class each way to get from Southeast Asia to North Asia, or vice versa.

Photo Credit: Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Other Award Flights on Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines has also opened up award space between other regions - you can fly from Southeast Asia to the US for 100,000 and 130,000 AS Miles in Business Class and First Class respectively. Personally, this is not an attractive redemption rate for me at this moment since I can get better value with other partner airlines - flying from Asia to the US on Cathay Pacific in Business Class requires only 50,000 AS Miles!

Final Thoughts

Being able to use Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles on Singapore Airlines is certainly a huge plus. I have personally been crediting all my revenue flights in Business Class on Singapore Airlines to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan programme and have already earned MVP Gold status from it (which gives me a few nice perks while traveling). It is also important to remember that you can still earn PPS Value from Business and First Class flights when you credit these Singapore Airlines or SilkAir flights to your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account which is essentially a double-dip.