Rookie Traveler with Alaska Airline Mileage Question

Lots of options, to be sure, but if you start anyplace other than Berlin, you’ve still got to get from that initial place to Berlin. How much time and cost is there to get from that first location (Dublin, Frankfurt, Paris, etc.) to Berlin? Although you’ve never been to them, is having just a couple nights worth it, or would you consider simply arriving in Berlin (yeah, it isn’t a non-stop from what you indicated), getting jet lag dealt with over your first or second day, and maybe a side trip or two from Berlin?

It’d be great to see another European capital, especially since it’s your first trip, but just a couple of days would give you a tiny taste of that location, and then you’ve still got to get to Berlin. Do any of those other cities really call to you, as must-sees?

A few thoughts:

• The value of airline miles tends to drift downward over time, as airlines increase the number of miles required to fly to any given destination. I don't think it's a great plan to hold on to airline miles for years and years.

• Except for the Berlin ticket, those mileage and fee requirements look very reasonable from my perspective as a user of United miles, but I don't know anything about the Alaskan program.

• I have a visceral negative reaction to mileage tickets that come with high taxes and fees. I always question whether I wouldn't do better to just pay cash and keep my miles. (Yes, I realize this sort of conflicts with my first point.)

• You've mentioned the mileage cost of one-way tickets to Europe. What about the trip home? Most airlines charge a premium for one-way tickets, so you need to be very careful about picking up mileage tickets to Europe and only then looking into the cost for the second half of the trip. It could be excessively costly if you ended up needing to pay cash for one-way tickets home.

• If you don't have enough miles to cover both round-trip or multi-city tickets, you might be a lot better to buy one round-trip ticket with miles and the other with cash. A multi-city ticket could be used to get you to Berlin and then home from some other city you'd also like to visit.

I had two flights from SeaTac this past year, one to Munich (Lufthansa, stop in Amsterdam) and Berlin (also through Amsterdam). I tend to use Delta or their codes share partners since that's where my points miles primarily accrue.
Not sure if it's helpful for the points situation but Amsterdam could be a viable option if you have two full days? And easy to get to/from the airport.
Another thought could be to use the train from your first stop to Berlin? Regardless, Dublin seems far?
What a great way to start the new year- trip planning!

Besides looking at the number of miles and fees required for any given flight you should also look into what class of service you will receive. For example, if the Condor flight you mention is in economy light I would not select that option. Among other things, economy light does not include overhead bin space or checked luggage. I also understand that Condor economy class legroom, service and food is definitely sub-par. I would however fly Condor business class and might consider Condor premium.

I'd like to point out a new feature of the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan that is coming into effect for 2025. Any award mileage flights you book through the Alaska site will accrue EQMs, This is a new benefit!

If it were me and my destination was Berlin, I would go to Berlin to begin with.

Hi Everyone.

First of all, I'm grateful to see this many responded to my question. How encouraging is that!? Living in the Northwest and near Rick Steves' HQ I knew he was the travel guru and discovered this forum only days ago. To get tips, advice, anecdotes etc. like these are so helpful. Thank you to you all.

Answers to some of the questions to came up. We’re headed to Germany because our daughter has an opportunity to travel there with her choir and will be performing in Berlin on up to Hamburg. She’ll travel before us and after she’s finished our current plan is to visit Prague for 3 days, Vienna for 3, and Salzburg for 3. We’re looking at flying back west out of Munich. As for the front end of our trip which was the origin of my initial question the responses have convinced me to just get ourselves to Germany. We’ll then have 5 days there. Total trip days will be 15 (at this time).

What I’ve learned (if I got all this right) and additional info:

If flying Condor travel only Premium or Business.

We set a goal a few years back to go to Ireland in 2026 so, yeah, maybe we skip two days in Dublin this trip.

We have over 500k Alaska miles which may or may not be a lot. We’ve never used them so maybe we should now instead of hanging on to them.

I will now look at the cost to fly back out of Frankfurt and weigh round-trip pricing versus one-ways each way.

Trains will definitely be in play once we arrive, and I feel like they can be used to get us to each of the cities I mentioned above. That planning will come later once I figure out flights.

Pace yourself. It may take a day to adjust to the jetlag.

I too want to visit Amsterdam but maybe that’s for a later trip. =)

I’m open to any and all suggestions. There obviously are some veteran world travelers on here. We can’t wait to take our trip and just want to be as smart time wise, enjoyable wise, and money wise as can be.

Thank you! Tim

Tim, if you are going to be using regional trains or local transportation in Germany within one calendar month. Take some time to consider the Deutschland Ticket. The price has gone up slightly for 2025, but unlimited travel or regional and local transport throughout Germany can be had for 58 euros per month. If you price out trains and metros, you will probably find this a money saver. If you want more info, just PM me.

500,000 miles is a lot of miles. I am a bit envious! Alaska Airlines has one of the strongest frequent flier programs around and has not been subject to the large devaluations of the other airlines. That said, you should not hesitate to spend down that total if it fits with your travel needs.

I also live in the Seattle area. In terms of cost, British Airways is the highest for award redemption because of their high surcharges. Iceland Air and Condor come in quite a bit more reasonably. American Airlines can also be a good redemption, but will involve one connection in the US first.

Tim,
In 2015 we had accumulated over 250,000 Alaska Airline points and used them to fly round trip in business class to Santiago Chile from Los Angeles. We also had enough points to fly round trip from Santiago to Punta Arenas Chile (Tierra del Fuego) regular class. We are so glad we used our points for this trip. It was a real treat to make this trip with all its comfort and perks! (On Lan Chile, a partner airline). Use your points and fly at least the equivalent of premium economy. The flight from the west coast is long. Enjoy your points, with access to the fancy lounges, etc.

That being said, I have heard that American Airlines isn't so great, but I don't know about first class. British Air..... I detest having to change planes at Heathrow. Plus, on a trip to Kenya in (maybe) 2009 or 2010, they lost our luggage on the way there AND on the way back. We arrived in Nairobi on a Sunday night and got our luggage at our safari camp on the following Wednesday, when our trip was half over. As we were at safari camps out in the "wilds", we couldn't even buy new underwear. On return, at least our luggage was delivered to our home the day after our return. Needless to say, I am still skittish about British Air!
Still, use your points to fly business/first class. Enjoy!

(p.s. Fly to Germany direct, non-stop if you can with your points. Stay within Germany with the amount of time you have. There is much to see and do there. And I love Munich! Check the Germany forum for tons of suggestions. And the suggestion to get the Deutschland ticket for train travel within Germany is a good one. And also, flying into one city and out of another should be bought as a multi-city or open jaw tickets, not two one-way trips. They are cheaper that way, whether using points or money.

Have fun!

flying into one city and out of another should be bought as a multi-city or open jaw tickets, not two one-way trips. They are cheaper that way, whether using points or money.

I haven’t found this to be true very often. And 2 of your choices, Condor and Icelandair, only sell one-way tickets so it’s definitely not true for them and it allows you to mix it up using different airlines for different directions without penalty by flying 2 one-ways. As an aside I booked American miles to Peru this year and American also priced miles redemptions as 2 one ways (so no discount for round trip or multi city). It’s best to price the trip both ways as one ticket or two in any case. Often 2 tickets give more flexibility than 1 anyway. If you miss or need to change the outbound flight the return is unaffected and won’t need to be repriced, for example.

Main cabin Condor serves free but iffy food, for example none of the 5 of us could tell if a brown disk was sausage or a brownie. Icelandair main cabin offers only food for purchase however. If you have the points Saga Class is very good. Neither airline has lie flat seats.

LAN Chile I believe is merged into LATAM which left OneWorld for SkyTeam so no Alaska miles redemption possibility there anymore.

Adding a sample itinerary is nonstop to Frankfurt business class on Condor, then returning from Berlin on Icelandair Saga Class. It’s also quite easy to stopover in Iceland that way. Condor also offers a fly rail option where you pay for a discounted rail ticket onward from Frankfurt airport to say Würzburg, then you get on the next available train, you may have some time like 36 hours to get a train, but the main thing is no reserved train to worry about missing if the plane is late.

Especially for your first trip to Europe, if you can fly other than economy, I definitely suggest using those points to do so. Jet lag is real, and having a more comfortable flight with possibly a little sleep will be huge for your enjoyment. But hop on the flights fast if you want to use your miles for upgraded seats. The good seats using miles go really fast.

LAN Chile I believe is merged into LATAM which left OneWorld for SkyTeam so no Alaska miles redemption possibility there anymore.

LATAM did leave OneWorld, but only partnered with Delta and did not join SkyTeam. They are apparently going to partner with the airlines they want and remain outside the alliance system. So the Alaska relationship may be unaffected.

Once again, good stuff in the responses. I had to go look up open jaw tickets and now I know what it means. That’s definitely an option in our situation and now I know how to look further into those type of bookings.

Thank you for the Deutschland Ticket tip. I’ve already started exploring the possibilities in using it to traverse the country.

Also, thanks for pointing me to the Germany forum. Once we nail down our flights I’ll jump into it more.

I tend to hold on to things that’s why maybe we have so many miles but again, we haven’t travelled that frequently by air in recent years. Why not spend them if it seems right? Right? Also, hearing that Alaska may be flying their own planes to Northern Europe definitely caught my eye.

Again, I appreciate all the responses. I’m way more informed than I was 2 days ago!

Tim

500k miles is a lot. Wondering how you accumulated so much without having ever been to Europe?
Perhaps you have gone to Asia or S.A.?

Tim and others,
Re accumulating miles...We didn't get most of them from flights. We used our card for every purchase and expense, paying the balance off every month, and we were up to 300,000+ in 2-3 years, even after using miles during that time for some domestic flights and a train trip. Maybe that seems like a long time to some, but we sure loved flying first class to Santiago Chile, and free from there to Tierra del Fuego. We have continued to accumulate and use miles on that account and another one by even using the cards to pay utilities automatically. As long as we pay the balance each month (which we have always done) we are good.

The miles are a combo mine and my wife's. For several months one year I used to fly up and down the coast, but other than that the accumulation has come from other flights (really not that many if you ask me) and the Alaska card. The miles have added up and never been used which makes me question if having the card and paying the yearly fee is worth it? That's a question for another day.

Well, it’s another day, January 9, so my two cents worth about an airline credit card: we have a British Airways VISA, and have earned (and used) a lot of Avios frequent flyer points. The $95 annual fee is cheap, compared to what we’ve saved in fares over the years. If you don’t use your miles, then maybe the annual cost for a card isn’t worth it, and you should look some other charge card, but … if you use it even once, you’ll be money ahead. What’s the fee for your credit card, and do you have a different card that offers other cardholder benefits?

Cyn, it's $60/year.

We’ve been Alaska Mileage members for years. (Note to others… with the Alaska card you accumulate miles with your purchases, not just by flying.) we tried to work with their customer service agent after getting their multiple “flying to Europe with Alaska” ads and thinking we could use some on our next trip. What we came away with was that we would have to book thru the Alaska site, there were very limited flights available, we would have to fly Aer Lingus thru Dublin to reach Scotland, AL does not offer premium economy out of Seattle which we now use and we would have had to take a train or bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh because all the flights were Dublin to Glasgow. We came away from the conversation, which the agent finally admitted to, with you get more “bang for your buck” if you use your Alaska miles to fly to destinations that Alaska actually flies to.
Note, of course if Alaska starts their own flights to European hubs this would change.

Tim...see my answer of 12/30/24. Use those miles(500K is a lot) to fly business or first class to wherever you want to go in Europe. If you have a plane change and have a couple hours to kill in, say, Ohare or JFK, with business or first class you will have access to the airline's premium lounge. We did going to Chile on Lan business class, going and coming. It was a real treat, esp. the one at LAX. Much fancier than I anticipated (massage chairs, free bar, wonderful buffet, deluxe service). Don't focus on how many miles it takes and the extra fees (probably airport generated). Look up prices for business class from Seattle to Berlin and you will see it is worth spending those miles. The flights are long and you deserve the bigger seats and premier boarding and nicer meals!
Who knows when you will visit Europe (or Asia, etc.) again?

Margie and Judy. Good advice. Ended up using Alaska miles for the flight over into Frankfurt. Non-stop which is nice. We're not flying back out of Frankfurt so purchased airfare on Icelandair. I've learned a lot from all of you and from spending probably way too much time scouring flight options. Next up hotels etc. =)

We have flow to Europe using Alaska miles many times always on American Airlines for most of the trips. We always fly in the main cabin. But with all your miles maybe splurge for business class?