Alaska Air Discounts Award Travel Up to 60%

As it has been doing with refreshing regularity, Alaska Airlines is again discounting award flights.

This time, the discounts apply to award travel between September 9 and December 16 (with some blackout dates between November 20 and December 1). But tickets for travel at the discounted rates must be booked by September 9.

The discounts apply to restricted coach awards on a wide range of routes, with shorter flights reduced from 12,500 miles each way to just 5,000, a whopping 60 percent discount. Longer flights are reduced by 40 percent, from 12,500 miles to 7,500 miles each way, and from 17,500 to 12,500 miles, a discount of 29 percent. A few samples:

• Between Seattle and San Francisco – 5,000 miles each way
• Between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas – 5,000 miles each way
• Between Seattle and Denver – 7,500 miles each way
• Between Phoenix and Portland – 7,500 miles each way
• Between Los Angeles and Los Cabos – 12,500 miles each way

Bottom line: significant award-price discounts, on many popular routes. Worth a look!

Also, through October 6, Mileage Plan members can earn a bonus of up to 40 percent when purchasing miles from Alaska. Although buying miles is almost always a much better deal for the airline than for the consumer, the combination of discounted award prices and bonus buy-miles has the potential to tilt the value proposition back in favor of the traveler.

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This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.