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Guides
Sweet Spot Sunday: Use Alaska miles to fly from the US to Australia with a stopover in Fiji
Katie Genter is a digital nomad who has traveled full time since June 2017. She writes and edits stories about points and miles, and loyalty programs, often letting her personal experiences color these stories.
April 23, 2023 • 8 min read
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Quick summary
A one-way award from the U.S. to Australia with a stopover in Fiji can be booked using Alaska Mileage Plan miles, offering a unique travel opportunity.
This sweet spot allows travelers to visit both Australia and Fiji on a single itinerary, with the stopover breaking up the long transpacific journey.
Economy awards are the most accessible option due to limited business-class availability, and a free stopover in Fiji is included on one-way awards.
Booking requires careful award availability searches, often using another airline's website to find Fiji Airways-operated flights before booking through Alaska's site.
What to consider
A nonrefundable fee applies per person each way for partner awards, but changes or cancellations are allowed without extra charges.
You cannot combine multiple Alaska partners on a single award; flights must be operated by Alaska Airlines or Fiji Airways for this itinerary.
Transferring Marriott Bonvoy points to Alaska Mileage Plan is possible, but the conversion rate results in lower value per TPG's valuations as of June 2025.
What you'll miss from the article
Step-by-step guidance for searching and booking this award, including tips for maximizing stopovers and navigating limited award availability.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
If Australia and Fiji are on your travel wish list, this could be the perfect sweet spot award for you.
A nonstop flight from Los Angeles to Sydney takes around 15 hours, but a stopover in Fiji can break up your transpacific journey and let you visit Australia and Fiji on the same trip.
In today's sweet spot post, I'll tell you how to book a one-way award from the U.S. to Australia with a stopover in Fiji using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.
Alaska's new award chart states that one-way awards from the U.S. to the South Pacific start at 30,000 miles in economy, 45,000 miles in premium economy, 55,000 miles in business and 70,000 miles in first. Behind the scenes, though, award prices are still mostly based on which partner operates the flights.
The sweet spot we're focusing on today is the ability to fly Fiji Airways one-way between the U.S. and Australia for 40,000 Alaska miles in economy or 55,000 miles in business. This is an appealing sweet spot because the Alaska Mileage Plan offers a free stopover on one-way awards. So, you can stop in Fiji, which I highly recommend for its culture, beautiful island landscape and the ability to break up your long transpacific journey.
Overwater rooms at the Fiji Marriott Resort Momi Bay in Fiji. JT GENTER/THE POINTS GUY
Unfortunately, it's not all good news: Business-class award availability from the U.S. and Fiji is practically nonexistent. You'll find limited availability from Fiji to the U.S. and spotty availability between Fiji and Australia. Due to limited business-class award availability for this sweet spot, we'll focus on economy awards in this guide.
Here are the steps you'll need to follow to search for and book this sweet spot.
Find award availability
CHRIS DONG/THE POINTS GUY
Finding award availability that fits your dates and travel plans will likely be the most challenging part of booking this award, especially if you want to fly in business class. As I noted above, there's currently very little availability in business class, but if you're happy to fly economy, you'll likely find availability.
You can't use multiple Alaska Airlines partners on the same award. So, you'll need to use flights operated by Alaska Airlines and Fiji Airways for this sweet spot.
Even though you'll book your award through the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan website, I recommend using American Airlines' calendar search to find award availability.
First, use American Airlines' calendar search to find availability on a Fiji Airways-operated flight between San Francisco or Los Angeles and Nadi, Fiji.
AA.COM
Then, use American Airlines' calendar search to find availability on a Fiji Airways-operated flight between Nadi and Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide, Australia.
AA.COM
If you want to originate somewhere besides Los Angeles or San Francisco, you can also search on the American Airlines website to find availability on a flight operated by Alaska Airlines.
AA.COM
You'll need to find award availability for your return flights as well, but now you have a good idea of how to do so.
Now that you know what dates, origin and destination to search, go to Alaska Airlines' website. Below where you'd typically enter your search information, click "All search options." You'll want to click here instead of searching for a one-way award due to your Fiji stopover.
ALASKAAIR.COM
Once you've made that adjustment, click "Multi-city," select "Use miles" and enter the information for your outbound flights. Theoretically, you could also enter your return flight information here. but for now, let's assume you want to book a one-way award. Click "Find flights."
ALASKAAIR.COM
On the next screen, you should see the flights you found using American Airlines' calendar search.
ALASKAAIR.COM
If there's a seat image next to the award cost, you're looking at a mixed cabin award. For example, here's a mixed cabin business-class award from Sydney to Los Angeles where the leg from Sydney to Nadi is in coach and the leg from Nadi to Los Angeles is in business.
ALASKAAIR.COM
You'd need to agree to continue with the mixed cabin award if you wanted to book that option.
ALASKAAIR.COM
Let's assume you decide to go forward with the 40,000-mile economy award we searched for above. You can add this award to your cart by clicking "Add to cart." Once the award is in your cart, you can check the flight details. Click "Next" once you're ready to move forward.
ALASKAAIR.COM
You'll need to sign in to your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account and then enter or confirm passenger names and contact information. You can select seats on any Alaska-operated flights in your booking before entering your payment information and purchasing your award.
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card: Earn 50,000 bonus miles plus buy one ticket, get one for just the taxes and fees ($0 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after spending $3,000 or more on purchases within the first 90 days from account opening
Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card: Earn 60,000 bonus miles and Alaska's Famous Companion Fare; ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after you make $4,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.
You can also transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to the Alaska Mileage Plan at a 3:1 ratio, but keep in mind that you must transfer at least 3,000 points. TPG values Marriott points at 0.85 cents each and Alaska miles at 1.45 cents each. So, with the 3:1 transfer ratio, you're giving up a value of about 0.7 cents per Alaska mile earned when you transfer Marriott points to Alaska.
Finally, there are many other ways to earn Alaska Airlines miles. For example, you can fly Alaska Airlines and its partners. Or, you can click through the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Shopping portal before shopping online. You can also enroll in Mileage Plan Dining and eat at participating restaurants.
If you want to fly to Australia, redeeming Alaska miles to fly Fiji Airways is a great option. The taxes and fees are tolerable, you can stopover in Fiji and the award pricing is better than you'd get with most other programs.
However, earning Alaska miles for this award can be challenging since Marriott Bonvoy is the only major transferrable currency you can transfer to Alaska. An added challenge is that business-class award availability can be difficult to find.
Updated 06/11/2025.
Comments
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
