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| Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan |
| by Brian Kelly |
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If you ask me what the best U.S. airline loyalty program is, it’s not going to be one of the “Big Three;” it’s going to be Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan. Alaska has long been a favorite of the frequent flyer community; the program has a really reasonable award chart and a lot of partners, making it easy to find partner awards.
Alaska joined Oneworld a few years ago but also has other partners outside of that alliance, making it a unique program.
The Seattle-based airline recently announced that it has added Bilt Rewards as a transfer partner, which is great news because it previously did not offer transfers from other major airline rewards programs. (Full disclosure: I am a Bilt adviser and investor.)
How to earn Alaska miles
Historically, it’s been difficult to earn Alaska miles. Sometimes, the airline will offer a discount when purchasing miles, but another key way to earn miles quickly is through a cobranded credit card. There are limited-time offers on both Alaska cards, but the offers end April 17.
Right now, you can receive an Alaska Airlines Companion Fare in two ways: as part of a welcome bonus and for each year you hold the card after meeting the $6,000 spend requirement. If you are a new cardholder, you can get these welcome bonuses:- Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card: Earn 70,000 bonus miles and Alaska’s Companion Fare from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) with $3,000 in spending in the first 90 days.
- Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card: Get 50,000 bonus miles plus Alaska’s Companion Fare from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) with $3,000 in spending in the first 90 days.
Sweet spots and stopovers
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan can be a great program if you are looking to book award travel to Hawaii, Asia or South America, as it has good-value redemptions for long- and short-haul flights. The airline rolled out a new award chart this month, but even with some of those changes (and a few of our favorite sweet spots going away), there is still a lot of value to be found in Alaska Mileage Plan redemptions.
Alaska operates on a distance-based award chart, so you can fly from the U.S. to Asia starting at 85,000 miles one-way in business class and add a stopover.
For instance, you could fly from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT) on Japan Airlines and stop in Tokyo for a few days before continuing to Bali or Thailand.
You can fly from SFO or Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Auckland as the stopover and then on to Sydney for 85,000 miles in business class, or fly via Fiji or Hawaii as a stopover.
I’ve found flights from U.S. West Coast destinations to Hawaii for only 20,000 miles in economy and 40,000 miles in business class.
There are some interesting sweet spots in the Alaska chart, including nonstop flights from West Coast cities to Asia on Japan Airlines or Starlux Airlines for as few as 50,000 Alaska miles in premium economy.
Elevated welcome offers
Also, if you are looking for a card that’s not airline-specific, be sure to check to see if you’re targeted for a 150,000-point offer on The Platinum Card® from American Express or a 90,000-point offer on the American Express® Gold Card via CardMatch.
While these points do not transfer to Alaska Airlines or American Airlines, there are other Oneworld partners like British Airways that you can transfer to.
Have a great weekend,
BK
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| Photo Credit: WYATT SMITH/THE POINTS GUY. |
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