If you’ve been wanting to go to India and have casually searched for flights, you’ve realized a couple of things. One is that flights are very long, and the other is that those long flights can be expensive.
Because it is such a long flight, you may be considering first class in order to make the flight more comfortable. Many award charts charge an insane amount of miles to travel first class to India. There is a gem that will get you excited if you’re interested in flying first class to India: Using Alaska Airlines MileagePlan miles.
Searching for Flights
MileValue shows that using Alaska Airlines MileagePlan miles to fly on Japan Airlines in First Class only costs 70K miles one way. To make it even better, you’re able to include a stopover on that one-way award and it will still cost 70K miles one way. That is amazing! Japan Airlines has one of the best First Class products available. This is definitely a high value redemption.
When searching for your flights, go to the Alaska Airlines website. Within the search box, enter in your flight information, and make sure to check the “One-way” and “Use miles” boxes. Then click “Find Flights”.
Look for flights operated by Japan Airlines, showing space in First Class for 70K miles.
Select the flight and proceed with the purchase if you are not wanting a stopover. If you are wanting a stopover, an additional step is needed. Note that this particular award has mixed cabin seats. Click on “1 stop” to see the flight details to make sure you are comfortable with the cabins associated with this particular award before booking.
Searching for an Award with a Stopover
Ideally, if you’re wanting to take advantage of a free stopover on your one way flight, you will want to search for each segment separately to see if there is award space. Once you verify that there is award space for each segment, then you’re able to call Alaska Airlines to book the award. The first segment will be from Los Angeles to Tokyo. You’re stopover will be in Tokyo for a few days. Then the next segment will be from Tokyo to Delhi. Here is how you search for each segment. From the Alaska homepage, in the search box, enter in your flight information and select “One-way” and “Use miles”. Then click “Find Flights”.
For this particular date, there is award space for this segment in first class. Take a screenshot, or make note of the flight information such as flight number, date, time, etc. You will need this when calling in to Alaska Airlines to book your award.
Now search for the next segment. At the top click on “Change your search”.
Then enter in your flight information. Make sure to select “One way” and “Use miles” then click “Find flights”.
There is award space in business class available. Take a screenshot, or make note of the flight information such as flight number, date, time, etc. You will need this when calling in to Alaska Airlines to book your award.
You may be wondering, “I thought this was a first class award?”. If you check this flight information on SeatGuru, you can find the seat layout for this flight. You’ll notice that this particular flight only has business class and economy. It doesn’t have a first class cabin. So in this scenario, you’ll be getting the highest cabin available.
To make sure that this award space was available, I also checked these same flight segments for availability on the British Airways website and they were available. I suggest you do the same before calling.
Make sure that the flight information and the cabins the agent is booking for you matches to what you saw when searching for award availability. Your total should come out to 70K Alaska miles plus fees.
Conclusion
MileagePlan is a great loyalty program where you can find some very high value redemptions with some of its partners. Throw in a stopover on one way awards and it makes for an incredible trip! 70K miles to fly to Tokyo and Delhi in a premium cabin is an absolute steal. Arrive to your destinations well rested and in luxury with this amazing award. Are you planning on going to India?