You can now redeem Alaska Airlines Mileage Program miles for Qatar Airways travel. This new opportunity has many interesting aspects, so let's take a look at them.What are the Mileage Plan redemption rates for Qatar Airways?It was announced at the end of 2020 that Alaska Airlines and Qatar Airways would form a partnership. This announcement coincided with Qatar Airways' launch of a route between Doha, Qatar and Seattle. This was ahead of Alaska Airlines joining in March 2021 the oneworld alliance.Alaska Airlines joined the oneworld alliance in springAlthough reciprocal mileage earning was quickly implemented by both airlines, they did not immediately offer reciprocal redemptions. As of August 2021, Alaska Mileage Plan was expected to offer redemptions on Qatar Airways. The good news is that this is happening a little earlier than expected. Many Mileage Plan members will be happy to hear this, considering Qatar Airways' amazing business class experience.Alaska Airlines now lists award availability for Qatar Airways on their website. However, award charts are not yet published.To give you an example, a one-way ticket between New York City and Male (via Doha), starts at 42,500 in economy class and 85,000 in business class.A flight between New York City and Delhi (via Doha), starts at 42,500 in economy class or 85,000 in business class.An award from Dallas to Johannesburg via Doha starts at 50,000 miles economy class and 120,000 miles business class.You can make a stopover in Doha without incurring extra miles. This is true even for one-way awards. I'm still trying to figure out what the restrictions are to routings in Doha (can you route from USA to Australia, Europe, and so on). I will soon report back when I have more information.Pricing is fair. However, it's not very attractive. The American AAdvantage program's Qatar Airways redemptions are the most valuable. You can fly one-way business class from the United States to the Middle East/India or Africa for 70,000 miles. The pricing is a little higher, but Mileage Plan allows for stopovers.Although I believe I will continue to redeem Qatar Airways Awards through AAdvantage I don't think Mileage Plan will be undercutting AAdvantage in pricing.Alaska miles can be converted to Qatar Airways QsuitesFor 280K miles, one-way business class awards ?You will find some business class awards priced at between 200,000 and 280,000 miles one way if you conduct award searches. Some people panic and think this is the best time to redeem Alaska Miles before they are all devalued.Don't panic. It will cost less if there is saver award availability (the same as all other programs), but it will still be consistent in price. In situations that there is no award availability, the higher award pricing will be. This means Alaska will buy your ticket or do something.This dynamic pricing is rare, but Alaska Mileage Plan did it when it introduced redemptions for Aer Lingus. This is not something I would consider negative.When there is no award availability, award pricing can be dynamic.What does this all mean for future oneworld redemptionsAlthough Alaska Airlines joined the oneworld alliance in spring 2018, the airline has not yet introduced alliance-wide awards. This is at least the case for the airlines it has partnered with (including British Airways and Cathay Pacific, Finnair and Japan Airlines, Qantas) These awards will be introduced in 2021, however.As we knew that Qatar Airways Mileage Plan redemptions would be available before any other oneworld redemptions, many of us looked at this development to get an idea of future oneworld award pricing.Personallly, I don't think there is anything too telling.They are not too high in certain markets but they are still within my expectations.I am not concerned by dynamic pricing. Mileage Plans dynamic pricing kicks into effect when there are no award seats.It is nice to see that stoppingovers are still allowedThis doesn't tell us much about what to expect from oneworld redemptions. We will see what the Mileage Plan looks like in the future. Will we see one award chart for all airlines or will each airline have its own award chart? Only time will tell.It is anyone's guess what Mileage Plan redemptions will look like in the future.Bottom lineAlaska Mileage Plan Awards on Qatar Airways now live I'm sure we will soon have an official award list, but it's cool to see Qatar Airways flights appearing in award searches. Although the award rates are higher than I expected, it's not surprising.I would not be alarmed at dynamic award pricing in situations when there is no award availability. We saw this same thing with Aer Lingus and it gives members more flexibility.What do you think of Alaska's redemption rates for Qatar Airways?(Tip of @saianel
