Alaska Airlines Makes Award Booking Easier for Mileage Plan Members

SEATTLE, April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Booking award travel on Alaska Airlines and its partner airlines is now faster and easier thanks to a new one-way award booking feature the carrier recently launched online. Customers can now mix and match award shopping in a variety of ways for flights on Alaska Airlines and five of its Mileage Plan partners, including American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Air Lines, PenAir and Era. The carrier is scheduled to add its remaining nine partners later this year.

"Alaska Airlines' partner award travel feature is second to none. I have already booked a one-way award ticket on a partner airline and the entire process was effortless," said Peter Eliason, an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan MVP Gold 75K member and Washington resident. "I fly frequently for business and prefer to book my award travel online. This new Web functionality allowed me to view my options and book my travel all within a few minutes."

Customers can now mix and match award shopping in a variety of ways, including shopping for one-way or roundtrip award travel, shopping the award calendars of partner airlines, and combining airlines in one reservation using two types of awards.

The new feature launched on www.alaskaair.com earlier this month, and has already benefited Mileage Plan members booking award travel. Finding award seats on partner airlines during peak travel seasons no longer requires travelers and reservation agents to search market by market and carrier by carrier for empty seats. With a simplified calendar shopping feature, travelers simply enter the origin and destination cities and the month they want to travel, and the site shows seat availability on participating partner airlines for all available classes of service.

"Improving the award process and allowing our members to book one-way and mix-and-match award travel on Alaska Airlines and our partners has been a top priority for Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan for more than a year," said Joe Sprague, the carrier's vice president of marketing. "This is just another way Alaska Airlines is giving our customers tools to ensure an easier travel experience."

Other Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan partners expected to be added to the one-way award feature later this year include:

• Aeromexico
• Air France
• Air Pacific
• Cathay Pacific
• Emirates
• KLM
• Korean Air
• LAN
• Qantas

Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan offers some of the industry's most attractive award levels when booking online, with Super Saver Awards starting at 7,500 miles one way and 15,000 miles roundtrip. Additionally, online innovations at alaskaair.com make it easy for customers to see all award-seat options for one-way and roundtrip itineraries on Alaska Airlines, including Saver and Peak award seats, coach and first class seats, and award sale seats. To learn more about Alaska Airlines' 14 partner airlines or to become a Mileage Plan member, visit www.alaskaair.com.

Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), together with its partner regional airlines, serves 95 cities through an expansive network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. Alaska Airlines has ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Traditional Network Carriers" in the J.D. Power and Associates North America Airline Satisfaction Study(SM) for five consecutive years from 2008 to 2012. For reservations, visit www.alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines Newsroom at alaskaair.com/newsroom.

SOURCE Alaska Airlines