Best use of Alaska Airlines points: the sweet spots still worth booking

Overview

Alaska Airlines award sweet spots have come and gone over the years, some of the most tantalizing now a distant memory. But there are still some totally solid options that keep Alaska Airlines Atmos points at the top of the list in terms of value. Many deals are still head-scratchingly great.

Let's take a look at some of the best ways to use Alaska Airlines points. Not all unicorns are listed here (some of the best are extremely hard to come by). We'll instead focus on the readily available options that don't require divine intervention to book.

Lie-flat seats from the West Coast to Hawaii

While flying to Hawaii is technically a domestic flight, it requires a minimum of 5.5 hours across the Pacific. You'd think that a trip like that would be serviced primarily by aircraft with lie-flat seats, but that's unfortunately not the case. West Coast travelers will have to do a bit of searching to find the specific flights that come with fancy business class seats.

When you find them, though, they're good ones. And they can be booked at an extremely reasonable rate with Alaska Airlines Atmos points. For as little as 40,000 Atmos points and $6, you can book Alaska Airlines' new business class suites from Seattle (SEA) to Honolulu (HNL) aboard its 787-9.

You can also book a lie-flat seat aboard Hawaiian Airlines planes on many other routes for a similar price. For example, lie-flat travel from Las Vegas (LAS) to Honolulu (HNL) costs 45,000 points and $6. Not bad for a flight that lasts well over six hours. The flight otherwise costs more than $1,200, giving you a value of around 2.7 cents per point.

Short-haul American Airlines flights

Quick hops on American Airlines are an absolute steal with Atmos points. For trips under 700 miles, coach seats start at 4,500 points (9,000 for business class). For trips between 700 and 1,400 miles in distance, you'll pay just 7,500 points (15,000 in business class). That's typically far below what you'd pay with another award currency (though AA itself offers pleasantly surprising prices now and again).

My wife and I recently flew from Columbus (CMH) to New York (LGA) in business class for 9,000 points each, which was nearly 40% cheaper than the next best option.

Perhaps the most aspirational short-haul American Airlines flights are to the Caribbean. You can fly from Miami to destinations like Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ) and Nassau, Bahamas (NAS) for 4,500 points, to San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) and Sint Maarten (SXM) for 7,500 points, and loads more.

Business class to French Polynesia on Air Tahiti Nui

Booking an award flight to Tahiti is surprisingly difficult. Very few airlines serve the stunning Society Islands from the Continental U.S., namely, Air France, United Airlines, French Bee, and Air Tahiti Nui.

Fortunately, that last carrier is an enthusiastic partner of American Airlines. You can book the eight-hour flight between Los Angeles (LAX) and Papeete (PPT) for just 60,000 Atmos points and $26 in business class. This seat routinely sells for more than $3,700, meaning you can easily squeeze a value of more than 6 cents per point for this redemption.

Free stopovers on international flights

When redeeming Atmos points, Alaska Airlines allows you one free stopover on a one-way international flight (two per round-trip). Stopovers are extended layovers that can last anywhere from several hours to several days, allowing you to see a second destination during your trip.

As an example, let's say you're flying from Seattle (SEA) to Sydney (SYD). A coach seat will cost you 42,500 points. You can add a free stopover in Hawaii along the way for absolutely free. Below, you'll see that I've created an 11-day stopover in Honolulu (HNL), and the total price is still 42,500 points.

To do this yourself, just select the multi-city option on the Alaska Airlines booking page (instead of round-trip or one-way), and enter your destinations.

Business class to Ireland on Aer Lingus

One of the absolute cheapest ways to get to Europe in style is between the East Coast and Ireland on Aer Lingus. For just 45,000 points and a few bucks in taxes and fees, you can get there in lie-flat business class from select East Coast cities, think Washington, DC (IAD), Boston (BOS), Cleveland (CLE), and New York (JFK).

A 45,000-point business class seat is impressive enough, but what makes this deal so great is the low fees. Try flying British Airways business class across the pond with Atmos points, and you'll almost certainly pay over $1,000 in fees.

I recently flew my wife to Ireland for a wedding (you can do that sort of thing on a whim when you're not paying cash for flights). The seats were great, especially the even-numbered rows which offered an absolute sanctuary of privacy. One of the best 45,000 points I've ever spent.

To Northern Africa on Royal Air Maroc

Royal Air Maroc is the flag carrier of Morocco. It serves a handful of U.S. cities, as well as Los Angeles (LAX). It affords you one of the absolute cheapest opportunities to reach Africa, whether you're flying in steerage or luxury. Rates to Casablanca (CMN) from New York (JFK), Washington, DC (IAD), and Miami (MIA) start at just 27,500 points in coach and 55,000 points in business class.

This is also one of the most direct ways to get to Africa. Oneworld typically requires that you make a connection through Europe, the Middle East, or South America before you make it to the continent. This makes Royal Air Maroc not only a sweet spot in terms of value, but also convenience. Once you make it to Casablanca, Royal Air Maroc can take you to dozens of African destinations.

Use ExpertFlyer to help you keep track of award inventory

Finding Alaska Airlines partner award availability is relatively straightforward with ExpertFlyer. Click the "Awards & Upgrades" tab on the left side of the screen, and you'll be brought to a page that lets you enter the specifics of your trip: departing and arriving airports, departure date, class of award travel, etc.

Let's look for a business class flight between Shannon (SNN) and New York (JFK). With a Premium ExpertFlyer subscription, you can search for one week at a time thanks to the "+/- 3 days" drop-down menu.

Because the Aer Lingus flight I want is non-stop, I can also select the "Direct/Non-stop only" option near the bottom.

You'll then see results for each day and the number of available seats for the specified award class. As you can see under the "Availability" column, there are three available business class award fares on October 6.

If there aren't any (or enough) available, click the bell icon in the "Actions" column to the right.

You'll see a pop-up confirming your unique parameters. Say you need to book four seats. Because there are currently only three bookable award tickets, you can stipulate in the flight alert that you'd only like to be notified if four seats become available.

This will email you as soon as your specific amount becomes available. Setting these alerts ensures you're among the first to know if the airline opens up more award inventory.

Bottom line

Alaska Airlines have done remarkably well holding their value over the years. It's still one of our absolute favorite rewards currencies thanks to the ability to book dirt cheap domestic hops on American Airlines and reach aspirational destinations like Ireland and Tahiti in lie-flat seats for far lower than competing loyalty programs.

To boot, Alaska's generous stopover policy makes it an ideal program to use when looking to parlay one trip into multiple. Depending on how you use it, you could save many tens of thousands of points on a single one-way trip.