I have written a couple of times recently about Alaska Mileage Plan’s ‘Global Getaways’ promotion – and why, with a bit of creativity, it can lead to some exceptionally good redemptions. For example, you can fly from Dublin to both the US West and East coasts for just 17,500 miles (or 22,500 in Premium Economy).

I’ve been doing a bit more digging and thought I’d share another potential itinerary, to help explain the sorts of things that are possible.

What is the Alaska Global Getaways promotion?

Basically, each quarter, Alaska reduces the miles required to fly to a bunch of different cities (in Economy or Premium Economy) substantially.

The first interesting thing is that you can fly with a range of Alaska’s partner airlines, like Qatar Airways, Aer Lingus, etc. The second is that you are allowed a stopover of up to 14 days in each direction. Contrary to the written terms, travel does not have to originate in the US – it can also end there. That means you can book two one ways with a stopover in each direction.

Add those things together and you can come up with redemptions like the following…

Fly round the world for 60,000 miles

Step One: USA – Doha (stopover for up to 14 days) – Hanoi (stay as long as you like): 30,000 miles in Economy

I opted for a relatively simple New York to Doha flight, but if you really wanted to maximise the distance, you could start on the West Coast or even up in Alaska and connect on the East Coast. Additional connections are fine as long as those individual layovers are less than 24 hours.

As you can see below, I chose a 5 day stopover in Doha, before continuing on to Hanoi:

Step Two: Hanoi – Taipei (stopover up to 14 days) – Los Angeles: 30,000 miles in Economy

Coming back, I took advantage of the fact that Alaska also lets you redeem miles with the Taiwan-based airline Starlux, which also flies to Hanoi.

I selected a 6 day stopover in Taipei, but anything up to 14 days is fine, as long as you can find availability.

Again, if you really wanted to maximise your mileage and/or do a complete ‘Round-The-World’, rather than finishing in LA, you could book connections all the way to New York or wherever else in the USA you might like.

Bottom line

It sometimes seems that a lot of the most fun redemptions no longer exist (and don’t get me wrong, this would be much more fun in Business Class!), but there are still plenty of opportunities for getting massive value from points/miles if you know where to look…

Feature image: Starlux