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British Airways and Alaska Airlines are longtime partners, but you had to call BA to use Avios for Alaska flights.
Now that Alaska has joined OneWorld, you can finally book Alaska flights on BA.com.
Alaska flies a plethora of west coast to Hawaii routes and they’re a bargain:
You can calculate how many Avios you need for a flight with the BA Avios award chart for partner airlines that I’ve put together, as BA no longer publishes an award chart. This chart applies when booking an award on a single partner airline only. Rates are for each segment flown. You can search the distance between 2 airports on GCMap.com. For example you can see why a round-trip flight from West Palm Beach to Chicago is cheaper than a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago.
| Zone | Flight Distance | Coach | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (Flights that don't touch the USA) | 1-650 | 6,000 | 12,500 | 24,000 |
| 1 (Flights to, from, or within the USA) | 1-650 | 7,500 | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| 2 | 651-1,151 | 9,000 | 16,500 | 33,000 |
| 3 | 1,152-2,000 | 11,000 | 22,000 | 44,000 |
| 4 | 2,001-3,000 | 13,000 | 38,750 | 51,500 |
| 5 | 3,001-4,000 | 20,750 | 62,000 | 82,500 |
| 6 | 4,001-5,500 | 25,750 | 77,250 | 103,000 |
| 7 | 5,501-6,500 | 31,000 | 92,750 | 123,750 |
| 8 | 6,501-7,000 | 36,250 | 108,250 | 144,250 |
| 9 | 7,001+ | 51,500 | 154,500 | 206,000 |
For example:
- A zone 1 award from Palm Springs to San Francisco would cost 7.5K Avios.
- A zone 2 award from Los Angeles to Cabo or Denver to Seattle would cost 9K Avios.
- A zone 3 award from Detroit to Seattle would cost 11K Avios.
- A zone 4 award from Seattle to Kauai, Seattle to Cancun, JFK to Los Angeles, Chicago to Anchorage, or Anchorage to Maui would cost 13K Avios.
Want to earn BA Avios?
- You can transfer AMEX or Chase points to BA at a 1:1 ratio or Marriott points to BA at a 60K:25K ratio.
- You can currently earn 50K Avios with the Chase British Airways Card. You’ll earn 50K bonus British Airways Avios for opening and spending $3,000 in 3 months. You’ll earn a companion certificate for spending $20,000 in your first 12 months. You’ll also get rebated for spending on fuel surcharges!
- You can currently earn 100K Avios with the Chase Aer Lingus Card. You’ll earn 50K bonus Avios for opening and spending $3,000 in 3 months. You’ll earn another 50K bonus Avios for spending an additional $17,000 in 12 months.
- You can currently earn 100K Avios with the Chase Iberia Card. You’ll earn 50K bonus Avios for opening and spending $3,000 in 3 months. You’ll earn another 50K bonus Avios for spending an additional $17,000 in 12 months.
- You can combine Avios between programs.
If you, a member in your household, or an authorized user has one of the following Chase cards, you can transfer points into miles:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred has a limited time highest ever 80K signup bonus+$50 grocery credit, earns 2 points per dollar on dining/travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel or pay yourself back categories ($95 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve has a limited time 60K signup bonus, earns 3 points per dollar on dining/travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.5 cents each for paid travel or pay yourself back categories ($550 annual fee with $300 travel credit). Read more here.
- Chase Ink Preferred has a 100K signup bonus and earns 3 points per dollar on shipping, advertising, and travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel or pay yourself back categories ($95 annual fee). Read more here.
Chase no-annual fee cards that are fantastic for earning points, but require one of the cards above for points transfers include:
- Chase Ink Cash has a record high 75K signup bonus and earns 5 points per dollar on cable, TV, telecom, cellular, office supply stores, and gift cards from office supply stores, plus 2 points per dollar on dining and gas ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Ink Unlimited has a record high 75K signup bonus and earns 1.5 points per dollar everywhere ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Freedom Flex has a 20K signup bonus and earns 5 points on rotating categories, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Freedom Unlimited has a 20K signup bonus and earns at least 1.5 points per dollar everywhere, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
AMEX cards with transferable Membership Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic include:
- AMEX Blue Business Plus
- AMEX Platinum Business
- Earn 1.5 points per dollar on eligible $5K+ transactions, $200 in annual airline fee credits, $200 in annual Dell credits, Marriott and Hilton Gold status, 35% points rebate on paid airfare redemptions, Global Entry/Pre-check, AMEX Global lounge collection access.
- AMEX Gold Business Card
- 25% points rebate on paid airfare redemptions, earn 4 points per dollar on your most common spending categories each billing cycle.
- AMEX Platinum Consumer Card
- Earn 5 points per dollar on airfare, $200 in annual airline fee credits, up to $200 in annual Uber credit, Uber Eats pass, up to $100 in annual Saks credit, Marriott and Hilton Gold status, Global Entry/Pre-check, AMEX Global lounge collection access.
- AMEX Gold Consumer Card
- $10 monthly Grubhub credits, $10 monthly Uber credits, Uber Eats pass, earn up to 4 points per dollar.
- AMEX Green Consumer Card
- $100 in annual CLEAR credit, earn up to 3 points per dollar.
- AMEX Everyday Preferred Consumer Card
- Earn between 1.5-4.5 points per dollar everywhere with 30+ monthly transactions.
- AMEX Everyday Consumer Card
- Earn between 1.2-2.4 points per dollar everywhere with 20+ monthly transactions.
Marriott cards with transferable points to Virgin Atlantic include:
- Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Consumer Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express®Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Bold Card
Will you book any Alaska awards with Avios?
@Dan, I had 80k avios expire right in the beginning of corona, anyone have much luck getting anything reinstated?
Have you tried calling BA?
When I try to type in the same sample itinerary as you have above (SFO – OGG), it says “British Airways and its partners do not fly this route. Please consider alternative destinations or contact your executive club service centre”… is there a trick to this?
Correction, I’m looking for flights from SFO to HNL, but it says “British Airways and its partners do not fly this route. Please consider alternative destinations or contact your executive club service centre” — Alaska flies this route but it’s not coming up?
They don’t fly that route every day. Did you try some alternate dates?
What about using Alaska miles to book on British or American? Any good values?
That has always been possible and there are some decent values.
Any chance we would be able to transfer avios to Alaska, to book Emirates or such ??
I tried booking an Alaska flight from LAx to EWR on BA.com no availability. I called BA and they said they are having issues booking Alaska Awards and you can only start booking over the phone after April 21st. Is this correct?