Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan award tickets are now available on OneWorld partner Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and they are terrible. The new award chart for Royal Air Maroc includes some of the highest one-way Transatlantic award costs. The award fees are hysterical, especially for an airline known for mediocre service at best. Fortunately, the new award option, even though costly, includes several new destinations previously unreachable by Mileage Plan awards. Unfortunately, Alaska is sticking to it’s archaic award policy and limiting partner redemptions to a single airline partner per direction.
Alaska Airlines Awards Prices on Royal Air Maroc
Alaska Airlines awards on Royal Air Maroc are limited to select routes. Royal Air Maroc’s largest hub is in Casablanca with all long-haul flights operating from here. Royal Air Maroc does offer direct flights from focus cities to Europe. These focus cities include Tangier, Casablanca, Fes, and Rabat. Like most partners, Alaska Airlines is offering stopovers on most route combinations. These stopovers are only available at hubs. Not all routes are available for awards. For example, Royal Air Maroc flies between Brazil and Casablanca. This route is not bookable as an award ticket. Thus, furthering my long held arguments that Alaska Airlines has a myopic view of travel and is not meant for global awards.
Below is Alaska Mileage Plan award prices on RAM flights:
| Route: | Economy | Business | Stopovers |
| Continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada to Europe: | 60K | 120K | Allowed |
| Continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada to Africa: | 50K | 100K | Allowed |
| Continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada to Middle East: | 65K | 150K | Allowed |
| Europe to Africa: | 17.5K | 35K | Allowed |
| Europe to Middle East: | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed |
| Africa to Middle East | 32.5K | 70K | Not Allowed |
| Africa to Africa: | 20K | 45K | Not Allowed |
| South American to Africa | Not Allowed | Not Allowed | Not Allowed |
Award travel starts at 17,500 miles for flights in economy between Europe and Africa. I believe Europe-Africa awards hold the most value and are among the best use of Alaska miles if redeeming for Royal Air Maroc tickets. Especially if connecting beyond Morocco. Strangely enough, flights within Africa cost more than flights to Africa from Europe. See this example below. Starting your journey in Spain costs fewer miles to fly to Dakar than if starting in Casablanca. This is almost as odd as American Airlines reclassification of Morocco as Europe for Award tickets.
Award tickets are bookable online, which makes these awards easy to book. However, the cost of these awards are astronomically high. As a reminder, Royal Air Maroc’s Transatlantic flights are short. Approximately seven hours in each direction. Hardly enough time for a proper meal and sleep. Not to mention, award costs are almost double what other airlines cost. On the bright side, Royal Air Maroc awards do create new travel opportunity on awards to western Africa. The downside, the cost. Alaska miles should be reserved for more high value awards. I recommend considering a different award program if possible.
Other Alaska Award Options
Alaska Airlines has many partners for travel to Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Both within OneWorld and outside of the alliance. If flying to Europe, Africa, or the Middle East, other partners may offer better pricing. Although, since multiple partners cannot be combined on a single award ticket, not all destinations are served by every partner. Therefore, in many cases, RAM may be the only option. Let’s review other award options and costs below.
Alaska’s award chart in Economy
| Route: | American Airlines | British Airways | Finnair | Iberia | Air Lingus | Iceland Air | Condor | Cathay Pacific | Qatar |
| Continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada to Europe | 22.5K | 32.5K | 30K | 35K | 30K | 35K | 25K | x | x |
| Continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada to Africa: | x | 50K | x | 50K | x | x | 35K | 50K | 50K |
| Continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada to Middle East: | X | 50K | 40K | 50K | X | X | 35K | 50K | 42.5K |
Alaska’s award chart in Business:
| Route: | American Airlines | British Airways | Finnair | Iberia | Air Lingus | Iceland Air | Condor | Cathay Pacific | Qatar |
| Continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada to Europe | 57.5K | 60K | 70K | 75K | 60k | 55K | 55K | x | x |
| Continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada to Africa: | x | 70K | x | 100K | x | x | 65K | 62.5K | 120K |
| Continental U.S., Alaska, and Canada to Middle East: | X | 70K | 105K | 110K | X | X | 65K | 62.5K | 85K |
Thankfully, Royal Air Maroc awards do not have fuel surcharges. Just pay the taxes and partner booking fees. However, the high costs of these awards really make RAM unattractive for longhaul travel. As you can see from the charts above, there is cost saving in both business and economy class when choosing a different partner.
Bottom Line
Having more award options is usually a good thing. Yet, in this case the award costs are high. Alaska Airlines has been busy adding new award partners since joining Oneworld. First, Qatar Airways awards were added, replacing Emirates in the Middle East. Then, Iberia awards were added in late 2021. All of these awards are bookable online. Mileage Plan members are still awaiting four other OneWorld carriers award charts. Partners Malaysia Airlines, Royal Jordanian, S7, and Sri Lankan Airlines are still only earning partners, but not available for award redemptions.
Over the couple of years, as Alaska has added new partners, we’ve seen in trend of high cost awards. Older partner awards have not been devalued recently; yet, new partners have sky high award costs. This may be punishment for airmiles being awarded base on distance verses ticket costs. Mileage Plan is the last remaining airline in the US to award miles on distance, not cost.
To wrap up, awards on Royal Air Maroc are ridiculously costly for Mileage Plan members. At these costs, I would not opt to fly RAM using Alaska miles on most routes. Especially on flights to and from North America, where most Mileage Plan members are located. There is almost always a better option when using Alaska Airline miles. Or better yet, opt to use American Air AAdvantage miles and fly RAM to Morocco or Europe in business for 57,500 miles. Cheaper than what Alaska is charging for an economy class ticket! If you don’t have AA miles. Consider booking an economy class ticket to Spain on AA for 22.5K miles and then an onward ticket on RAM for 17.5 miles. Costing just 40K miles vs 50K miles
