Coolest Use of 90,000 Alaska Miles

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Alaska Airlines miles can be used to book a diverse array of oneworld, SkyTeam, and non-alliance partners.

I’ve written about some of my four favorite Alaska miles redemptions here, and I want to expand on one of those options. For 50,000 Alaska miles in economy or 90,000 miles in Business Class on flat beds, you can fly from the United States to three Latin American cities, like Lima, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City.

This relies on the free stopover on one way Alaska Airlines awards and Alaska’s two partners in the region.

Alaska Routing Rules

Alaska Airlines allows one way bookings on most partners. On one way awards, you can have a free stopover for as long as you’d like at an intermediate city on the way to your destination

Unfortunately, each Alaska one way award can only fly one partner. In addition to that partner, you can fly Alaska Airlines flights, but you cannot combine two partners on a one way award.

• Flying Alaska Airlines + AeroMexico flights on a one way award: OK
• Flying Alaska Airlines + American Airlines flights on a one way award: OK
• Flying American Airlines + AeroMexico flights on a one way award: not OK (two partners)

Alaska’s Latin American Partners

Stopovers on awards have to be at connection points, and you are only going to realistically connect at hubs or focus cities, so let’s check out Alaska’s partners and their hubs and focus cities.

Alaska partners with LAN, which lists hubs and focus cities in:

• Santiago, Chile
• Antofogasta, Chile
• Lima, Peru
• Bogota, Colombia
• Guayaquil, Ecuador
• Quito, Ecuador
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Miami

Alaska partners with AeroMexico, which lists hubs and focus cities in:

• Mexico City
• Guadalajara
• Monterrey
• Hermosillo

You should fairly easily be able to stopover in any of these places en route to some other destination on the airlines as part of an Alaska Airlines award.

Alaska also partners with American Airlines and Delta, which have flights to Latin America, but they are much less useful for awards with many destinations in Latin America, since all of the American and Delta hubs are in the United States or Asia.

Award Prices

Alaska has a different award chart for every partner. Here are the pertinent Latin America charts.

The AeroMexico chart breaks up South America into two regions like American programs do. The LAN chart does not, meaning that using Alaska miles on LAN to fly to Northern South America isn’t a great deal.

Searching and Booking

You can search award space for all Alaska partners on alaskaair.com except Cathay Pacific and LAN. Search those airlines on ba.com and then call Alaska to book at 800-252-7522.

Sample Award: Lima, Buenos Aires, Mexico City

This award imagines a person living in Los Angeles who wants to fly Business Class all the way, which will cost 90,000 miles total. The ultimate destination in Buenos Aires. On the way down, there is a stop in Lima. On the way up, a stop in Mexico City.

Search for the LAN award space on ba.com, then call Alaska Airlines to book it. Here is a four day stop in Lima on the way to Buenos Aires.

Search and book AeroMexico online. Here is a four day stopover in Mexico City for 45,000 miles.

Pay your award taxes with your Citi Prestige® Card, since it comes with a $250 Air Travel Credit every calendar year that will cover the award taxes and fees on these ticket. If you haven’t used the credit yet, buy pay the taxes with your Prestige, and you will receive an offsetting credit on your next statement.

Even if you’ve already used your $250 credit for this year, the card offers 3x on all airfare purchases.

Bottom Line

Alaska miles are great to South America with stops along the way. You can see three cities on one roundtrip award for a very low price.