Alaska Airlines may seem like a purely regional carrier, operating flights mostly in and out of its West Coast hubs to destinations across the United States and other parts of North America. As a result, one may be led to believe that the carrier’s loyalty program, the Alaska Mileage Plan, is only useful for flying around the North American continent.
Nonetheless, the airline’s loyalty program has quite a lot of additional value, as it can allow one to book far-flung global vacations even with miles that were exclusively earned by spending on the carrier’s cobranded credit cards or flying Alaska domestically.
The airline’s membership within the global Oneworld alliance, alongside other interline and codeshare agreements, has helped contribute to the expansion of its loyalty program.
Photo: Ian Dewar Photography | Shutterstock
Now, Mileage Plan members can book flights on many of the carrier’s partner airlines, which offer seamless travel across nearly the globe. Furthermore, the Mileage Plan offers an extensive network of international hotels and rental car providers that can easily be booked with miles via the same online site.
However, one of the airline’s most unique award program offerings is its free international stopover program, which allows passengers to spend additional time at an international destination without incurring any extra flight charges.
Let’s take a deeper look at the Alaska stopover program, how to book it, and everything it brings to the table.
What exactly is the stopover program?
The international stopover program offered by Alaska Airlines does not differ much from those that other carriers offer to passengers, with a few notable exceptions. Nonetheless, a stopover and a layover are slightly different, and the difference is important for customers to be aware of.
Layovers are more common short transfers between flights
A layover consists of a transit between flights at an airport that takes less than four hours for domestic services and less than 24 hours for an international service.
During a layover, passengers do not leave the airport, collect their bags from the baggage claim, or check in again before their connecting flight.
Stopovers are longer visits to an intermediate destination
Where a stopover differs, however, is in the amount of time in which passengers will remain at the intermediate destination. Typically, travelers will be able to spend a few days at their intermediate destination to explore, relax, and sightsee before getting on their next flight.
Photo: Michael Gordon | Shutterstock
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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