That’s a lot of business class flying, for not a lotta’ points…
We once literally wrote an entire article on why points fans should pay attention to airline routing rules. This article is yet another prime example. How airlines define each region of the world can make a massive difference in how many points you’ll need, or how many hours you can lap it up in the total luxury of business class. Today’s question: what region of the world does India fall into: Asia, Southern Asia, or its own sub continent? Here’s how to enjoy more than 15 hours of business class, traveling through three amazing cities, all for 25,000 points.
What’s On Offer
When you combine a truly fantastic business class and really flexible routing rules, you get an awesome experience. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan allows really flexible rules for flights booked with points, allowing a free stopover, even on one way tickets. Alaska’s partner Japan Airlines, also known as JAL, broadly defines Asia into one region for their award charts, including India at no additional charge – and therefore a simple one way flight within Asia can lead to three incredible cities, stopover included, all for just 25,000 points. You could start in India or Asia, and visit either, direction doesn’t matter, as long as Tokyo is the middle city.
The Points You Need
You need Alaska Mileage Plan points, and even if you don’t have any yet, you can still make this work. You can collect Alaska Mileage Plan miles by flying on quite a few airlines, including Korean Air, Qantas, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Aer Lingus and many, many more. Yep, that’s right – you can fly on any of those airlines, and earn miles from Alaska each and every time. You can also easily earn Alaska miles with their U.S. credit card, or by converting SPG hotel points into Alaska. Alaska also happens to have a nice sale on their points right now, and you can buy 26,000 points for $591 USD or £442. Again – that will score you 15 hours of business class. Yeah. And just FYI, the flights must be exclusively on Japan Airlines (JAL) to take advantage of this…
The Magic Trick
Southeast Asia, Asia and India – according to the Japan Airlines chart for Alaska Mileage Plan, are all covered under one price. With that in mind, you could start somewhere in Southeast Asia, like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam or Singapore. You’d then take your first flight to Tokyo, enjoying a solid 6+ hours of flat bed business class en route. You could then use your stopover to spend a few days making the most of Tokyo. From there, you could take the 8.5+ hour flight to Delhi to experience India for as long as you like. From there, it’s on you! That’s just incredible value, when you think of ticking off three bucket list cities for 25,000 points. If you’d like to start the journey in the U.S. – you could do both Tokyo and India (sorry, no Southeast Asia) for 60,000 points one way. That’s excellent value as well, but if you’re already in Asia and looking to save thousands, this is unbeatable at 25,000 points.
How To Book
If you don’t have the points, you’ll need to create an Alaska Mileage Plan account now. Once your account has been active for 10 days you’ll be able to buy the points necessary. If you do have the points, this is easy. You can book this online at AlaskaAir, and even search for space there too. Inside Flyer wrote a great guide for finding seats and getting this booked online in one sitting. These tickets would retail for over $3000, so even if you buy the points for $590, you’re coming out well ahead! Total fees run roughly $42, if starting from Singapore. For other cities, simply click around on the Alaska website.
Can we do the same from the UK ?
I was under the impression that Mileage Plan requires the need to start or end your trip in the U.S. Is that no longer the case?
My only suggestion would be to search on Alaska’s site and see what you find. Cheers.
Alaska mileage plan from UK is only vfm to get to HKG with CX
And I suppose it’s decent for transatlantic flights