Question by alcmena: Alaska Airlines Peak vs Saver Schedule?
mileage plan:
20,000 round trip for a “SAVER TICKET”
40,000 round trip for a “PEAK TICKET”
does anybody know where i can find the calendar that shows when is peak, when is saver? thanks.
Best answer:
Answer by les_18artist
I don’t think the airlines are giving out those inforamtion. I’m sure they are keeping it in the closet. Thanks
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Tagged with: airlines • alaska • Peak • Saver • Schedule
Filed under: Alaska Airline Ticket
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I’m a memeber of the Alaska Airlines frequent flyer program and I don’t believe there is a schedule. There is a certain amount of seats they allow for saver awards, after those are filled, you then have to use the amount of miles needed for the peak ticket, which are unlimited as long as there is space available. If you enter the destination and dates on the redeem travel webpage, it will show whether the flight you want is available for a saver or peak ticket without you having to commit to either. The further in advance you book your ticket, the better chance you have for a saver ticket.
There is no schedule that they have out…Basically how it works is that they specify a certain number of save seats for each flight, so when they are gone, they’re gone. The peak award however is available on any flight that is not sold out.
If you are looking to fly between certai cities and know an approximate date (its best if your a bit flexible) the best thing is to call their reservation’s dept. as they can scan dates for availability of the saver award. Be warned a lot of people book far far in advance so the more advance notice and flexible you are the better chance you will have of finding saver seats. Also, a day or so before a flight they will sometimes open more saver seats if there is still a lot of availability.
Hope this helps! :0)
I’m a very frequent flyer on Alaska and cash a lot of award travel for family and friends.
They don’t publish or disclose any lists of available dates. Alas! If you want to find a date yourself, you have to go to the award reservations section of their website, type in your origin and destination and start checking possible dates. It gets tedious.
Saver awards DO have published balckout dates, basically disallowing saver travel at peak Spring Break, Thanksgiving and Xmas. Thanksgiving and Xmas themselves, though, are typically allowed.
The marketing department tries to get as many miles as they can for each seat. There are more peak seats available than saver seats. And the number varies per flight. Some flights don’t have any award seats. And some award seats, even saver seats, become available a day or two prior if they realize they’ll be flying with empty seats. So it pays to check before buying a last minute ticket. Saver seats tend to be on less desirable, red-eye flights.
Or you can call the award reservation desk. If you don’t have elite status (MVP or Gold), be prepared to wait awhile listening to hold music. Their reservation agents have more flexible search options and can more quickly check when the first available date is. And/or check for alternative cities (like Oakland or San Jose instead of San Francisco).
Two helpful/fun award travel tips most people don’t use: Domestic award are good ANYWHERE in the USA they fly. But they allow one layover per roundtrip. So if you want to be a week in Anchorage, book roundtrip Nome or Barrow for a day and layover a week in Anchorage. Those distant towns are interesting to look at for a day and the whole flight is still free. Rather than just go to Oakland, extend for a side trip to Phoenix or Seattle, as another example.
Tip #2. NEVER book a 40,000 peak coach without checking first for a 40,000-mile saver first class award. 30% of the time, you can ride in the big seats, with the free booze, free meal, digeplayer and the cuter flight attendent for the same miles.
Good luck. Try not to get too annoyed with the process. Just like paying cash, you want a bargain, and they want to maximize their revenue. I figure if I can “spend” miles at 1.7 cents each or more (compared to purchasing), it’s a good deal. If not, I save miles for another future trip. They never expire.