Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines are ending their codeshare and reciprocal frequent flyer relationship on April 30, 2017. Effective May 1, 2017 the airlines will go their own way and frequent flyers will no longer be able to earn or redeem miles on either airlines.
When announcing the separation, both Alaska and Delta agreed to let frequent flyer who already booked tickets beyond April 30, 2017 to still earn frequent flyer miles into each reciprocal program. However, any tickets purchased on or after December 19, 2016, would only be eligible to earn miles through the end of April 2017.
April is now here and the last few days to earn and burn miles on either Alaska Airlines or Delta Air Lines is among us. In just a couple of weeks, Delta Air Line flights will no longer earn Alaska Mileage Plan miles and Alaska flights will not earn SkyMiles. Similarly, when Delta and Alaska terminate their partnership, award travel will no longer be available on reciprocal airlines. Therefore, if you need an award ticket on either airline, book them now!
Book Award Travel Now, Fly Later
Award travel using Alaska miles may be booked 330 days in advance. One can book an award ticket now, for travel until March 2018 on Delta Air Lines. Changes to tickets will not be possible after April 30, 2017. If something happens and you need to change your ticket or dates, Alaska will not be able to make changes on Delta award flights. However, if Delta cancels the flight Delta should reroute you at their discretion. Therefore, if you have travel plans for the next year and can actually find Delta award space, book it now and fly later!
Alaska Mileage Plan miles can be redeemed on Delta’s global network. Awards on Delta must be booked as a round-trip ticket or in conjunction with a round-trip ticket. Alaska has different award charts for each partner which can be confusing. Do not buy only a one-way ticket on Delta as the prices are the same as a round-trip.
If only a one-way ticket is purchased on Delta, the full round trip price will be charged. However, Alaska does allow flyers to mix and match partners, but only one partner per direction of travel. One could fly Delta to their destination and then a different partner airline back. If the award includes two partners, but is still a round-trip ticket, then the Delta award is half the price listed below plus the award cost of the other partner one-way flight.
| Award Flights on Delta | Economy roundtrip | Business Roundtrip |
|---|---|---|
| Within Alaska, Canada & the Lower 48. | 25000 | 50,000 (65,000 DeltaOne routes) |
| Lower 48 – Hawaii | 45000 | 80000 |
| USA – Mexico | 40000 | 65000 |
| USA/Canada – Caribbean /Central America | 35000 | 60000 |
| USA/Canada – Europe | 60000 | 125000 |
| USA/Canada – Asia | 80000 | 140000 |
| USA/Canada – Africa | 85,000 (Lagos) 140,000 (Johannesburg) | 140,000 (Lagos) 160,000 (Johannesburg) |
| USA – South America | 45,000 / 60,000 | 90,000 / 125,000 |
| USA – Australia | 100000 | 160000 |
All award charts can be are available on Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Award page.
Final Call Is April 30, 2017
Time is running out and the options to redeem and earn Alaska miles on Delta will soon disappear. It is disappointing to see a partnership fade, especially one which allowed for several award and mile earning options as the Delta-Alaska partnership did. Thankfully, Alaska Airlines has partnered with Condor to mitigate the loss of some routes to Europe. In addition, Mileage Plan awards are possible on partner JAL which will negate part of the loss Delta.
Delta frequent flyers are also losing out on awards, but not to the same degree as Alaska. Alaska’s route map is much smaller than Delta’s and Delta has already destroyed awards and loyalty beyond recognition. Either way, the end of any partnership is disappointing. So earn and burn when you still can! Final call is April 30, 2017!
