Alaska Puts Limit on Buying Miles, Here's How to Get Around It

Alaska Airlines has some of the most sought after miles in the game. Although Alaska isn't a member of one of the big three alliances, it does have a wide range of codeshare partners. As a result, you can use Alaska Mileage Plan miles for reward travel with carriers like Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Japan Airlines, just to name a few. That's a big reason why Alaska miles are currently the highest valued airline miles based on current TPG valuations.

Alaska is also known for doing Mileage Plan sales from time to time. It's a great way to add additional miles to your account at a nice discount. The current sale is offering a 40% bonus when you buy at least 20,000 miles.

But, if you often take advantage of these sales to top off or stock up on miles in your account, the airline has announced an important change to the program: Alaska is now limiting the number of miles you can buy or be gifted. The new rule sets a cap of 150,000 miles per calendar year.

There is some good news for elite Milage Plan members though. If you have elite status — MVP, MVP Gold or MVP Gold 75K — you can continue to buy as many miles as you want with no limit. The new limit only applies to those without elite status in the Milage Plan program.

If you want to learn how to rack up Milage Plan miles without having to buy them, check out our guide on earning miles with the Mileage Plan Program.

H/T: One Mile at a Time

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