Booking Continental flights with Alaska points.

April 16, 2008 1:14 PM

Has anyone used Alaska Airlines points to book Continental flights?

BoA (who I just joined) offers an Alaska Airlines rewards debit card. Which, is great, since I use my debit card like it's going out of style.

However, I live in Houston, TX, which is Continental territory. Alaska does not fly out of here. They are, however, a partner with Continental. As far as Alaska's site, it simply says to call them to book a Continental flight.

My question is...has anyone out there done it, and did you run into any issues when trying to do so?

posted by chrisfromthelc to travel & transportation (3 comments total)

My buddy in Seattle does it all the time. He just goes to the alaska website or calls and books the flight he wants, and it says that the actual carrier is Continental. Should be easy enough to verify, -- go online to alaska airlines website, or call them up, and ask for the ticket price of a roundtrip flight from Houston to Newark, NJ
posted by Mr_Chips at 1:44 PM on April 16, 2008

Check out the Alaska Airlines forum at Flyertalk. Lots of folks there do it all the time with no problems.
posted by pandanom at 1:46 PM on April 16, 2008

What you're doing is flying a codeshare -- Alaska "sells" you the ticket, but the flight is on CO. The reservation will say "Alaska Airlines Flight 5432, operated by Continental Airlines." Usually, these are exchanges, so Continental can sell flights on Alaska metal, in this case, it would be Continental Flight 5432, operated by Alaska Airlines.

The important thing is that you'll need to check in with the operating carrier when you get to the airport.
posted by eriko at 7:11 PM on April 16, 2008