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Many Middle Eastern carriers have historically offered stopover services to help support tourism at their hub airports. Alaska, however, offers this stopover program via its partner carriers to provide loyal customers with an additional level of travel flexibility.
Stopover program specifics
The Alaska Mileage Plan stopover program offers extensive flexibility. However, there are some restrictions to keep in mind. For starters, passengers can only book an itinerary via one of the airline’s many global partners, in addition to Alaska. Therefore, award itineraries that involve travel on multiple partner airlines would be restricted.
Additionally, passengers should be sure to carefully monitor the Mileage Plan booking website for the flights that they are interested in. The Points Guy is quick to point out that not all award tickets will be bookable via the site, and award space on some partner airlines can be limited or subject to blackout dates.
Passengers should also be aware that stopovers will likely not be available within an international region. A regional booking within Europe, such as London-Paris-Athens via partner airline British Airways, will not be eligible for the free stopover program.
International stopovers will be most convenient at major hubs for Alaska’s Oneworld partners, as these airports will offer the best award availability. If you’re looking to book a stopover via Alaska Airlines, keep in mind that this could be easier to do if you have flexible dates and are willing to travel out of different airports within the same city. Note that Alaska’s partner airlines include all the following carriers:
Aer Lingus Air Tahiti Nui American Airlines British Airways Cathay Pacific Condor El Al Fiji Airways Finnair Hainan Airlines Iberia Icelandair Japan Airlines Korean Air LATAM Malaysia Airlines Qatar Airways Qantas Royal Air Maroc Royal Jordanian Singapore Airlines Sri Lankan Airlines
How do I book a stopover via Alaska Airlines?
To book the Alaska stopover program, Mileage Plan members can follow a few easy steps. For starters, they must navigate to the Alaska Airlines homepage and then set up an advanced search to filter for multi-city tickets that are bookable by miles.
As previously mentioned, award space may not be available on many dates, and, as a result, multiple searches may be required before one finally narrows down the exact combination of flights and schedules that they are looking for. The progression can be seen below:
As one can see, the booking tool is easily adjustable and allows one to look for different kinds of flights that may best fit what you are looking for.
Nonetheless, it is important to note that many city pairs, partner airlines, and dates may be unavailable, so one should carefully consider this before attempting to book one of these stopover program flights. However, if you are able to nail down the exact combination of flights and dates that you are looking for, the Alaska Mileage Plan’s stopover program can be a great way to see an extra city while on vacation.
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Publish date : 2024-09-19 02:00:00
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