Here’s an interesting piece of news that has come about lately- as Emirates begins their services to Sea-Tac, they have also announced a partnership with Alaska Airlines to begin on the same day. One can earn EQMs and RDMs on Alaska starting from March 1, but also, and perhaps more importantly, the ability to redeem miles will be coming later in the year.
The ability to earn miles flying Emirates is a nice perk, but probably not the main focus here- though it’s nice to know that when carriers of your preferred alliance are more expensive then flying Emirates, your miles aren’t wasted.
Probably the best news here is the ability to redeem miles on Emirates later in the year. One of Alaska’s many quirks is the lack of ability to mix and match partners, and the addition of Emirates will essentially allow redemption to so many more places in the world, especially in Asia and the subcontinent.
This is an interesting development- watch this space.
Roland is an student, travel blogger, award travel expert and frequent flyer consultant based in Sydney, Australia. He runs an award travel and mileage run consulting service, which can be found at Flight Concierge and regularly posts on FlyerTalk under the handle "belfordrocks".
