Heading to Asia? Alaska Airlines Has a New Travel Hack for You

Alaska Airlines is doubling down on its Pacific-heavy network strategy with an exciting partnership with Philippine Airlines, the flag carrier of the Philippines.

The new agreement with the Manila-based carrier will increase Alaska’s partnership count to 32, adding to its unique list of partnerships that exist outside of the Oneworld alliance. 

Photo: Courtesy of Boeing

Once the partnership is solidified in the coming months, Alaska passengers will be able to book flights on Philippine Airlines (PAL) directly through Alaska’s website, earn Mileage Plan miles on flights operated by PAL, and redeem Mileage Plan miles for PAL flights to the Philippines and beyond via their route network that extends across most of Southeast Asia. 

Alaska’s VP of Loyalty, Alliances, and Sales Brett Catlin said of the partnership: “Philippine Airlines is a terrific addition to our roster of global airlines offering world-class service and amenities. We’re excited to make this announcement as we mark the beginning of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The large Filipino communities living in Hawai’i, California, and Washington state can travel on Philippine Airlines long-haul, widebody aircraft and soon earn valuable Mileage Plan miles on their transpacific journeys.”

New Opportunities to Redeem Alaska Miles

While Alaska Airlines runs a relatively small operation compared to the three American legacy carriers, one of their biggest draws is their loyalty program Mileage Plan, specifically when it comes to award travel opportunities.

Photo: Courtesy of Alaska Airlines

Alaska miles are some of the most valuable on the market thanks to their zone-based award pricing model that consistently offers competitive pricing and outsized redemption values. Couple these award charts with their lengthy list of international partners, including the entire Oneworld network, and Mileage Plan often stands out among its competition as one of the best in the industry. 

Adding a new international partner in Philippine Airlines to the mix only further boosts the program’s value by offering passengers additional redemption avenues, particularly to a country that has not typically been widely accessible by way of award travel. 

We would expect that flights on PAL booked with Alaska miles would be subject to the current Asia Pacific chart shown below:

Based on PAL’s current footprint along the U.S. West Coast, redemptions from the U.S. down to the Philippines can be had for as little as 37,500 miles in economy or 75,000 business class.

Plus, frequent flyers can also put together connecting itineraries up to 10,000 miles in flight distance for just 42,500 miles in economy and 85,000 miles in business class; this means that you can connect via Manila onwards to plenty of other popular destinations in the region, including to places like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Bangkok.

Photo: Hong Kong. Courtesy of Simon Zhu / Unsplash

Not only can you connect by utilizing PAL’s route network stemming from Manila, but also by flying other Oneworld partner airlines in the region such as Cathay Pacific or Malaysia Airlines.

Note that Alaska’s zone-based charts are now notated with “starting” prices, suggesting that these numbers could climb during times of high demand or low seat availability on specific flights. 

Growing Access to an Underserved Market

Philippine Airlines currently operates a majority Airbus fleet that includes the A350-900, A330, and A321neo, but they also operate a subset of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Their route network to the U.S. from their primary hub in Manila includes twice daily service to Los Angeles (LAX), daily service to San Francisco (SFO), and 3x weekly service to Seattle (SEA), all of which are Alaska hubs. They also operate a 5x weekly service to Hawaiian’s hub in Honolulu (HNL). 

Photo: Philippine Airlines, Airbus A321neo. Courtesy of Troy Mortier / Unsplash

However, not being part of any of the three global airline alliances has limited PAL’s exposure to most of the Western world, thus leaving the Philippines with little long-haul connectivity compared to the other large population centers in the region.

The new partnership with Alaska opens the door for increased passenger flow between the two countries, including expanded connectivity across the island chain on PAL’s domestic network and within the U.S. on Alaska’s eastbound route network originating from their Pacific hubs. 

While PAL themselves have a decent footprint along the U.S. Pacific coast, the only other airline currently serving the Philippines nonstop from the mainland is United, who currently fly daily between Manila (MNL) and its San Francisco (SFO) hub on a 777-300ER. United will increase that service to twice daily beginning in October, signaling that Alaska is not the only airline that foresees continuous growth potential in this market.