Changes Coming March 1, 2022 for Alaska Redemptions on AA Flights
A note on Alaska Airlines’ award charts page indicates a change is coming to AA award redemptions. For those unaware, Alaska Airlines uses a different award chart for each of its partners, which you can find here. On that page, there is now the following:
American Airlines awards update: Effective March 1, 2022, while the current award prices will continue to be available, note that award pricing on American Airlines flights in the US and Canada may vary depending on demand.
When joining Oneworld alliance, Alaska previously promised at least 90 days’ notice before any changes to award charts, but this is only 30 days. What this change means will remain to be seen in practice, but there are a few thoughts.
First, it could mean a devaluation is coming. Whenever we see award charts reflecting “demand”, this tends to mean “dynamic pricing”. Thus, you could need more miles when the cash price of flights goes up.
Second, this could mean that Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan might get better access to redemptions on AA flights. American Airlines (and most airlines, in general) only shares “saver” award space with partners. Given AA’s recent trend for “Web Specials”, these awards are pricing at lower mileage requirements on AA.com but aren’t available to partners. That’s because they are specials–not saver award space. We even wrote about AA not sharing award space with partners last year, due to this practice.
Third, it could easily mean something else. What this will look like in practice remains to be soon.
Final Thoughts
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is a favorite of many, and some type of change is coming to AA award redemptions on March 1, 2022. What this will look like in practice remains to be seen.
If you want to know more about Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, see our full guide to the program here.
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Better access to lots of options priced between really crappy and OMFG bad doesn’t strike me as too enticing. As the new guy at FM points out, every time that Alaska has introduced dynamic pricing on partners lately it has been an awful value for the customer. Toss in the reneging on the 90 day notice for changes and it bodes quite ill.