Yesterday I posted about Alaska’s promotion offering double Mileage Plan miles for travel on Emirates between March 1 and May 31, 2012. Before I get too far into this post, let me say this post is simply intended to look at some of the more “fun” options for earning status, or at the very least paying for business/first class and getting a decent bit of value out of it.

Through this promotion they’re offering double miles for travel on Emirates, and it’s assumed that MVP Gold members will also receive the 100% elite mileage bonus for travel on Emirates. If you’re not an elite member with Alaska, it’s worth noting that they’ll typically status match mid-tier elites and above in other programs to MVP Gold status, so it’s not all that tough of a status level to attain.

Anyway, Emirates has some very reasonable premium cabin fares originating outside of the US that could earn you a ton of Alaska Mileage Plan miles during the double miles promotion. Of course positioning costs could negate the value of this, but if you’re thinking of vacationing somewhere anyway, it’s not quite as bad.

For example, take a look at this Cairo to Seattle business class fare on Emirates through Dubai:

When you do the math on that, that’s 17,856 flown miles. With the double miles promotion, that’s 35,712 miles. If you’re an MVP Gold member you get an additional 100% mileage bonus, for a total of 53,568 miles. Since this is paid business class you’re earning an additional 25% bonus miles, for a total of 58,032 redeemable miles and 22,320 elite qualifying miles (base miles plus 25%), nearly enough for MVP status.

Originating in Cairo is incredibly inconvenient, though I’ve been meaning to visit Egypt for a while, so I’d have to book an award ticket either way. I’m kind of tempted to pick up one of these fares, not just for the nearly 60,000 redeemable miles and MVP status, but also to try Emirates business class.

It’s also worth noting that since there’s an overnight in Dubai in both directions, Emirates will provide you with a complimentary room at the Le Meridien as a business class passenger.

More than anything else, though, I’m tempted to pick up a paid first class ticket out of Colombo, Sri Lanka, as outlined here. That offer is more lucrative than ever, now that you can actually credit miles flown on Emirates to a good frequent flyer program, not to mention earn double miles over the next few months.

Anyone else tempted?

Alaska has just announced that Emirates will be added as a Mileage Plan member as of March 1, 2012, the same day that Emirates starts daily service between Seattle and Dubai.

The earning rates are as follows:

Beginning March 1, 2012 Minimum 500 miles or; 50% of actual flight miles for Discount Economy (M, B, U, K, Q, L, T, V, X, H classes of service); 100% of actual flight miles for Full Fare Economy (Y, E, R, W classes of service) ; 125% of actual flight miles for Business Class (C, J, I classes of service) and 150% actual flight miles for First Class (F, A, P classes of service)

To qualify for mileage accrual, flights must must be marketed and operated by Emirates.

To ensure flight credit, the two letter airline code (EK) must precede the flight number (for example, EK XXXX) on your ticket receipt or boarding pass.

The earnings rates are actually pretty good, and you can even earn elite qualifying miles (which is rare for partner airlines). Just keep in mind that in order to earn miles you need to book an Emirates flight number and not a codeshare. I’ll actually be taking advantage of this, since Alaska is one of the few decent partners to which you can now credit Emirates flights. I’ll likely be flying Emirates first class soon from Colombo to Singapore to London, so I think I know where I’ll be crediting my miles.

But the really exciting news is at the bottom:

Redeeming Miles: Coming in late 2012

Up until last March, Continental was an Emirates partner, so it was possible to redeem miles for coach and business class on Emirates. United was also a partner until last May, and they even let you redeem for first class. Unfortunately both of those partnerships were discontinued. Now the only practical way to get an Emirates first class award is through JAL, which is a Starwood transfer partner. Their award chart for travel on Emirates can be found here.

Either way, Alaska being added as a partner is really exciting, given that it’s easier to accrue Alaska miles through credit cards promotions, etc., than it is to accrue JAL miles. Also, assuming the redemption rates are reasonable, this greatly increases the value of Alaska miles. I’m quite excited to see what the award chart looks like!

Continental’s partnership with Emirates will be ending on March 25, 2011. For travel after March 25, Continental miles can no longer be earned for flights on Emirates, and all award reservations using OnePass miles for travel on Emirates need to be ticketed by March 25, 2011 (though travel can be for a subsequent date).

While Continental miles couldn’t be redeemed for Emirates first class, this is still a huge loss. Emirates actually has decent business class award availability, even on the A380. The other nice thing about Continental awards on Emirates is that Continental allows you to mix partners on an award. In other words, you can fly Emirates one way and Lufthansa (or any of their other partners) the other direction, or even just include Emirates as one segment on a larger Star Alliance award. For example, Emirates flies the A380 between Hong Kong and Bangkok, so that was a nice way to try it on an award consisting otherwise of Star Alliance airlines.

I’m kind of surprised to see the partnership end so soon. I’m not sure if it has to do with the merger or not, because United has a partnership with Emirates as well. While United’s redemption rates for travel on Emirates are much higher than Continental’s, you can redeem for Emirates first class using United miles. While it’s 210,000 miles for a first class ticket between North American and the Middle East, I actually consider that to be a bargain since you can redeem for A380 first class (yes, the first class product with the shower onboard!). It’s worth noting that United doesn’t allow you to mix partner awards, though — in other words, if you spend the 220,000 miles, you can’t even include your flight from home to the gateway as part of the award.

Hopefully the United partnership doesn’t end soon, as I was planning on redeeming miles for Emirates first class soon.

I just read this article in the Wall Street Journal about Emirates cabin crew. Fascinating article, especially about the housing complexes in Dubai for cabin crew.

We finally got some more details about the Emirates A380 yesterday, and my feelings are pretty mixed.

First, let’s get some links out of the way:
Great plane overview with pictures
Pictures of the long awaited showers in first class
More interior pictures

Hmmm, not sure what to think anymore. It certainly doesn’t seem to have the “wow!” factor that SQ did when they first unveiled their A380, but I guess that’s because the novelty of the A380 is starting to wear off.

Coach looks ok, nothing new there really. I think the interior color is a bit ugly, but most would say I have zero taste in this regard….

Business is interesting. The first link makes a very important point about the outer seats being better than the inner seats. What the heck is up with that? Something tells me that’ll cause some small problems for Emirates, at least in terms of customer satisfaction.

First looks really nice, but that’s not surprising. It’s great to finally see an airline with showers, it’s about time. I wonder about the practicality of it though, how many people will actually choose to shower in the air when they could just do so on the ground with much more spacious facilities. That definitely sets a new standard in the industry, one that should be interesting to watch.