How to Find Alaska First Class Saver Awards with ExpertFlyer

What is an Alaska Airlines First Class Saver Award?

If you have ever tried to find award seats using Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards, you would have noticed that you can pretty much find seats on just about any flight you want, which we love. But the reality is that not all those seats will be priced the same. Some may come up at an exorbitant point price while others may show a much more amenable cost.

This is because not all those award seats are in fact bucketed within the same fare class. Alaska Airlines books award redemptions into multiple fare classes, and only some of them are considered “saver” awards. In other words, not every seat on every flight will be available at the lowest possible price.

Which Award Inventory Should You Search For?

Alaska Airlines sets its first class seats in a multitude of buckets, but just because there are open first class seats on a flight, it doesn’t mean they’re all up for grabs using your Atmos Rewards points. And it also certainly doesn’t mean they’re all going to come in at a decent price.

When I travel, most of what I’m interested in flying is usually first class, whether it’s domestic or international travel. And even if I have amassed a very generous amount of points and miles, I am always quite conservative when it comes to my redemptions (read: I don’t like spending my points with abandon). So truly, the only awards I’m going to be chasing are those in the first class ‘Saver’ bucket. Those will exclusively be E class tickets - and that’s what we’ll want to search for.

How To Find Alaska Airlines First Class Saver Award Space With ExpertFlyer

While you can certainly head to Alaska’s app or website and run a search for these award redemptions, honing in on the cheapest redemption tickets will be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Searching for first class ‘Saver’ award space (E class) on Alaska Airlines couldn’t be easier if you’re using ExpertFlyer, though.

All you have to do is log into your ExpertFlyer account and head straight to Awards & Upgrades on the left hand navigation menu. Once the site loads, you’ll want to enter your departure and arrival airport information, the date you want to search for award space on and select Alaska Airlines (AS) as the only airline you want to find seats on. Once you enter the airline, the fare classes will show up. Select ‘First - Saver Award (E)’ and because I prefer not introducing the possibility of delays, I further narrow down my search by selecting Direct/Non-Stop Only in the ‘Connection Preference’ filter. Once you’re done, hit search and wait for the results to show.

When the search finishes running, what you’ll want to focus on is on the availability column: anything showing one seat or more (highlighted in green) is excellent news. If there’s more than one row of positive results, that’s even better, you’ll get to choose whatever time of the day works best for you when it comes to departure or arrival times. Alas, in my example, only one flight returned one E class seat available - and it happens to be a red eye.

What To Do When Award Space Isn’t Available

If your first search does not retrieve any award space on the flights and dates you were aiming for (or the E class space available isn’t palatable to you), you may need to get a bit creative to increase the odds of finding the coveted award space you’re after.

If at first I don’t succeed, the first thing I do is re-run the search, but instead of using the ‘exact date’ filter, because I can be convinced to be very flexible with my dates if there’s first class involved, I’ll use the +/- 3 days setting instead. This will give me a week’s worth of results on all Alaska Airlines flights serving my desired route around my original date.

If that does not return any satisfactory results, the second thing I try is flexing my search to include connecting flights. While I don’t prefer this, sometimes I might choose a short connection nearby rather than flying in economy on a transcon flight. Think, for example, a short 25-minute flight from Seattle to Portland on my way to Boston, both segments in first class versus a direct five-and-a-half hour direct flight from Seattle to Boston in economy. I have learned that sometimes I need to compromise to get what I want.

Does This Work for Alaska’s International Flights?

Yes, in fact, Alaska uses the same E class fares for all of its flights, be it domestic and international flights, both short- and long-haul. This truly includes anything from short Seattle to Portland flights as well as some of its new long-haul international ones across the Pacific to Seoul, Tokyo or Osaka or across the pond to London, Athens, Rome or Paris.

While all of these flights may have E class space, the pricing of all those awards will vary as per the Atmos Rewards redemption charts, but if they are ‘Saver’ awards, they should price at the bottom of those stated ranges.

How To Set an ExpertFlyer Award Alert

Sometimes, as much as I try to find it, the ‘Saver’ award space just is not there. Or at least it’s not there when I’m searching for it. That’s worth noting, since fare classes are not particularly static. As planes fill up (or not), the airlines will move inventory around and potentially release E class ‘Saver’ space. Or sometimes, another passenger who was holding up that award space will cancel their reservation and, if we are lucky, the E class space will be released back into inventory.

That’s why even when I’m not successful in finding ‘Saver’ space when I first run my search, I always make sure to create an award alert with ExpertFlyer. That ensures, should E class space open up, that I’ll find out right away so that I can head to Alaska Airlines’ website or app and quickly redeem my Atmos Rewards for that first class ‘Saver’ award space before anyone else has the time to snag out from under me.

Bottom Line

Now that we’ve shown you how to pinpoint the right award fare class inventory so you can get the most from your Atmos Rewards points, go find your next award ticket. Once you do, all that remains is to get it booked. Remember you can head to Alaska’s website and run the same search you did on ExpertFlyer to reconfirm the ‘Saver’ space is bookable and if so, just redeem your points. It’s always worth verifying the award has not gone away by checking with Alaska Airlines itself. That way, you can be confident that it’ll be there before you use your points, or transfer them from your spouse, or even from your Bilt account.

Have questions or suggestions for this guide? Please reach out to customercare@expertflyer.com