Alaska
Alaska Airlines Overhauls Mileage Plan: Faster Elite Status, New Perks, And Unlock Better Award Flights – View from the Wing
Alaska Airlines has announced changes – nearly all improvements – to its Mileage Plan program for 2025. I spoke with Alaska’s Vice President of Loyalty, Alliances, and Sales Brett Catlin about the effort – which he calls a “phase one.”
- In this first phase, he acknowledges, they’re taking what he views as the best recent innovations from other programs – like counting all activity with the program towards status, making award travel count, and rewarding customers with new benefits in between status levels.
- Then phase two will come in six to nine months and will be more “innovative stuff” that involves engaging and rewarding customers who are just beginning to transact with Alaska.
Put another way, he sees Alaska as a very strong program for those who are very frequent flyers, and with a lot of miles. Today’s changes are about doing more for this group.
The next set will aim to “get more people in funnel [going from] first flight to elite status.” For instance, just as they’ve taken the bundle of Club 49 benefits for Alaska residents and brought that concept (Huaka’i by Hawaiian) to Hawaii with discounts, free bags, and special co-brand cardmember offers, they see the possibility of extending the idea to a broader customer group as well.
Alaska Airlines
Award Travel Counts Towards Status
Award travel flown beginning January 1, 2025 will count towards status-earning. Qualifying miles will be earned based on distance flown both for Alaska Airlines flights and for partner flights when booking travel using Mileage Plan miles. (Alaska Airlines flights booked using miles from other frequent flyer programs, like American AAdvantage or British Airways Executive Club, will not earn status credit.)
Japan Airlines, Tokyo Narita
A Qatar Airways roundtrip award between Los Angeles and the Maldives will earn 20,720 qualifying miles.
Virgin was first with award travel counting towards status and there was a strong logic since members pay hefty fuel surcharges for these flights.
Then Delta SkyMiles followed suit, but neither Delta nor Virgin credited award travel on partner airlines like Alaska will. Delta got that started only this year. As a technical matter, this is challenging. There’s an Alaska ticket number, and a Mileage Plan number in the reservation, but no one else has managed this before.
All Partner Activity Counts Towards Status
Last year, Alaska Airlines introduced credit card spending as a way to earn credit towards status, capped at 20,000 qualifying miles.
Airlines like American, Delta and United have all taken steps towards counting credit card and sometimes other partner transactions, recognizing that those are far higher margin for the airline than actually flying. American has gone the farthest, with credit from card spend uncapped and accumulating status credit the fastest.
After dipping their toes in this water for 2024, Mileage Plan is expanding how non-flight activity will count towards status-earning in 2025.
- Alaska Visa cardholders will earn one elite-qualifying mile for
every $3 spent, up to 30,000 qualifying miles each year. - Other partner activity – like online shopping and Lyft rides – will earn 1,000 qualifying miles per 3,000 redeemable miles earned (with no cap).
American roughly doubled the qualifying thresholds and started awarding one loyalty point (status credit) per redeemable mile earned. Alaska isn’t quite as generous as that but partner transactions will begin going much further.
Brett Catlin tells me that they’re limiting how much credit card spend can contribute to status “to make sure we can manage” the elite pool, delivering benefits both for those earning status exclusively by flying and also given any increase in the elite pool from those who newly qualify with this expanded criteria. While this cap is “the permanent offer,” over time we may see the cap go up.
I asked him about language about “qualifying partners” counting, thinking that this might be akin to only some partners at American AAdvantage counting (e.g. Bask Bank savings account-earning usually hasn’t counted) but he assures that this is simply meant to account for transfer relationships like Bilt (points transfers don’t count, but “everyday partners all count.”
New Milestone Moments Earned Between Elite Tiers
I think that Hyatt did the best job six year ago of making some benefits easy to earn, and benefits continue to accrue, at small increments of activity. For them, every 10 hotel nights earns additional perks (including elite nights from credit card spend).
American Airlines has moved in this direction, too, with their Loyalty Point Rewards. Members accrue free seat assignments and Avis (and soon Hyatt) status as they strive for higher status levels, and additional perks as they keep flying beyond those levels.
Alaska is adopting this model as well, with benefits starting after just 10,000 qualifying miles.
- 10K milestone Pick one (1):
- 750 bonus miles
- Pre-order a complimentary meal for your flight
- One (1) complimentary Wi-Fi pass
- Try MVP status for a trip
- Earn double miles with non-air partners
- Upgrade your next Avis rental
- 2,500 bonus miles
- $25 off a future Alaska flight
- Four (4) Wi-Fi passes
- Try MVP Gold status for a trip
- $100 off an Alaska Lounge membership
- 5,000 bonus miles
- 10,000 miles off an Extras redemption
- Gift MVP for a trip
- One (1) complimentary Lounge day pass
- Two (2) upgrade certificates
- 15,000 bonus miles
- 25,000 miles off an Extras redemption
- Two (2) complimentary Lounge day passes
- Two (2) upgrade certificates
- Gift MVP Gold status for a trip
- Nominate someone for MVP status
- 10,000 elite-qualifying miles rolled over
- 50,000 bonus miles
- 75,000 miles off an Extras redemption
- Alaska Lounge+ membership
- Complimentary Wi-Fi on every flight
- Four (4) upgrade certificates
- Nominate someone for MVP Gold status
- 15,000 bonus miles
- 25,000 off an Extras redemption
- Two (2) complimentary Lounge passes
- Two (2) upgrade certificates
- 10,000 elite-qualifying miles rolled over
30K milestone Pick one (1):
55K milestone Pick two (2):
85K milestone Pick two (2):
100K Choice Benefit: Pick one (1):
150K / 200K / 250K milestones Pick two (2):
Alaska Airlines First Class
If you qualify for a milestone perk that lets you make two selection, both can be of the same thing if you prefer (for instance, upgrade certificates twice).
It’s interesting to see rollover qualifying miles as a milestone choice, accelerating status earning in the following year. That’s something that Delta offered for many years – and eliminated for this year.
Obviously the biggest benefits are at the highest thresholds, encouraging members to go above and beyond their status level and keep flying, spending, and engaging the program. Still, even something like a free pre-order meal on board can be meaningful.
And these give early access to trying a status that hasn’t yet been earned. That will be more generous than advertised. For instance, a temporary MVP status is actually valid for 14 days – and they won’t advertise it, but it will be be recognized by partners as well (they’re loathe to make promises here, since partners won’t see status instantly, it’s refreshed less than daily).
Meanwhile, a benefit like earning double miles on partners is far more generous than the comparable offer from American (20% Loyalty Point bonus at 60,000 qualifying points and 30% bonus at 100,000). Catlin tells me that they are still “working through how long” this will be valid for, but it will be “months not weeks.” Credit card earn won’t be doubled.
Alaska Airlines
Multi-Airline Redemptions Finally Coming
Alaska Airlines has been talking about letting members combine different airline partners on a single award ticket for more than three years. They’ve joined oneworld, and introduced a new distance-based award chart which is meant to support this. We’ve still been waiting. Currently two different airline partners means two different awards.
However Alaska will finally be adding multi-carrier redemptions “this winter” to allow mixing and matching partners on a single one-way journey. At first they will support this only between the U.S. and Europe, and then “throughout next year” this will expand across regions and partner airlines.
Cathay Pacific First Class
Simplified Earning For Partner Flights
Right now each airline partner earns Mileage Plan miles at a different rate, and also a different rate if you book as an Alaska Airlines codeshare versus booking directly through that airline.
Alaska is going to a single chart for flights booked through Alaska channels: 100% of flown miles in coach (non-basic economy) and 150% for premium economy; 250% for business class; 350% for international first class. That’s harmonizing at generally the top end of the scale.
However in order to earn at that rate, you’ll have to book through Alaska. When some partners got huge bonuses for premium cabin travel seven years ago, Catlin explains, Alaska didn’t offer to sell those flights directly. They now sell 23 partners online, and will go to 30 next year. They don’t want 30 separate earn charts for this – but if you book a partner flight through the partner you’ll see lower earnings.
Qantas A380 First Class Cabin
Introducing Miles for Experiences
Next year Alaska will introduce “Extras” which will be their experiences and events platform.
This is something that numerous programs, especially in the hotel space but also United and Delta offer. Some of these are cool, but most members don’t pay attention to them – the odds that there’s a good fit that fits a schedule is often perceived a slow, pricing can be high, and they’re cumbersome to discover.
That’s almost a good thing, because otherwise demand for a limited availability product might be too much to handle. The value in brands delivering unique experiences is that their relationships can create connections with other brands and people that a member couldn’t access on their own – play tennis with a world champion, special VIP access to a concert, cooking lessons from a famous chef.
Catlin recognizes that this “Has to scale” and it needs to be “broadly interesting” to members. He calls out SPG Moments are their inspiration, and thinks that “really interesting, unique content, creates a halo or perception that Alaska miles unlock experience.”
Changes To Upgrade Priority
“Later in 2025” Alaska will re-order how they sort upgrade priority. Within each elite tier, million milers will be at the top of the list and then members will be prioritized “how many elite-qualifying miles they’ve earned – not by how much they paid for their ticket.”
I pressed for details on how elite qualifying miles will be calculated for this. I was told that initially they will “sort based on in-year EQMs” (how many have been earned so far in 2025) but ultimately in 2026 they’ll switch to “rolling EQMs” which takes some additional technical work, since it’s a new, separate qualifying miles counter to look back a year from any given point.
The move to recognize million milers at the top of the upgrade list is interesting. It’s literally the opposite of what American Airlines does, where status as a result of lifetime loyalty is at the bottom of the upgrade list – since only qualifying activity during the most recent 12 months matters.
Catlin explains that Alaska’s million miler status is “difficult to earn” since it counts flown miles only on Alaska. They’ve only just had their first 3 million miler though several more are on the cusp.
Additionally, while Alaska doesn’t waitlist for confirmed upgrades – it has to be available for immediate confirmation when you call in – they’re going to introduce automatic alerts for members to do this so they don’t need to subscribe to third party tools to find out when space is available.
While a “waitlist would be ideal” and something they “want to work towards,” addressing an immediate member pain point has them automatically notifying members who are on flights where space opens when the member has a guest upgrade certificate in their account.
Alaska Airlines First Class
Who Wins, Who Loses?
There are a few things members do lose in Alaska’s changes. Not announced, but in 2026 the first tier of elites (MVPs) will see their free checked baggage allowance reduced from 2 to 1. That’s closer to industry standard, and a result of their oneworld membership – since they gave this benefit to their own members, they had to offer two checked bags to oneworld ruby members as well and that gets expensive.
At the same time, later in 2025 MVP members will get complimentary upgrades (to both extra legroom coach and first class) for companions traveling on the same flight with them.
Additionally, MVP Gold 75K members get a 50,000 mile bonus plus lounge passes and upgrade certificates today but will have to choose their preferred benefits going forward. There’s no takeaway from the top 100K tier, and they get more choices, but 75Ks will see some loss.
Ultimately though I think most members win out with these changes, which isn’t something I’m often able to say (or have often, over the last 8 years really).
Alaska Airlines
More From View from the Wing
Alaska
Bangladeshi man flown to Alaska to face federal charges in ‘extensive’ child sexual exploitation case
A Bangladeshi man who authorities say operated an international child sexual exploitation enterprise involving hundreds of children, including those in Alaska, arrived in Anchorage this week after spending several years out on bail in Malaysia.
Zobaidul Amin, 28, made his first federal court appearance in Anchorage on Thursday.
A federal grand jury in Alaska indicted Amin in July 2022 on 13 charges related to the production and distribution of child pornography, cyberstalking and child exploitation. Law enforcement in Malaysia was prosecuting him on similar accusations.
Amin is accused of orchestrating a vast online sexual extortion ring that resulted in the abuse of minors, primarily from the United States.
“Amin delighted in sexually abusing hundreds of minor victims over social media,” prosecutors said in a memorandum filed Thursday recommending that a judge keep Amin jailed while awaiting trial. “He bragged about causing victims to become suicidal and engage in self-harm. He shared hundreds of nude images and videos of minor victims all over the internet and encouraged other perpetrators to do the same.”
The FBI arrested Amin on Wednesday in Malaysia and took him to Alaska, Anchorage FBI spokesperson Chloe Martin said in an emailed statement.
Amin pleaded not guilty at Thursday’s hearing.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kyle Reardon assigned Amin a public defender and ordered that he remained jailed while his case proceeds.
Amin, wearing a yellow Anchorage Correctional Complex jumpsuit, quietly spoke only two words during the hearing: “Yes,” when Reardon asked whether he understood his rights, and “yes” after Reardon asked if Amin agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial to allow his attorney to adequately prepare.
For more than three years, federal officials sought to have Amin “expelled” from Malaysia, where he was a medical student, to face charges in the U.S., prosecutors said in their memorandum.
Authorities have said they uncovered the sophisticated child sexual abuse material production scheme after a 14-year-old girl told Alaska State Troopers in 2021 that Amin coerced her via social media into sending him lewd images of herself and participating in sexually explicit conduct over video calls.
When the girl stopped communicating with Amin, prosecutors said, he carried out previous threats to distribute the images to her friends and social media followers.
“Dozens of search warrants, subpoenas, and legal process revealed that Amin did the same thing to hundreds of minor victims,” prosecutors said in the detention memo, adding that it was one of the “most extensive” operations of its kind investigated by law enforcement.
But authorities had been unable to extradite Amin from Malaysia, they said.
Malaysian authorities, with help from U.S. law enforcement, also charged Amin for offenses related to the production and distribution of child sexual abuse images in 2022.
He was released from custody in Malaysia after his family paid a bail equivalent to $24,000, according to the detention memo.
The requirements of Amin’s release included that he surrender his passport, not contact his victims or engage in child sexual abuse image conduct, and report to police monthly, according to the memo.
Prosecutors said they were not aware of any violations but added that it was unclear how strictly the requirements were enforced.
Had Amin fled to Bangladesh, he would have been able to evade prosecution because the U.S. doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the South Asian country, according to the memo.
Officials didn’t publicly disclose additional details about the circumstances that led to his arrest and transfer to Alaska or why he hadn’t been moved to the U.S. sooner.
The FBI and U.S. Department of Justice have been working “in conjunction with Malaysian authorities” to get Amin transferred to U.S. custody, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska said in a prepared statement Thursday.
A child exploitation and human trafficking task force based out of the FBI’s Anchorage offices investigated the case with the support of numerous agencies, including the Anchorage Police Department and Alaska State Troopers, the Royal Malaysia Police, and a long list of law enforcement entities in Wyoming, Oregon, West Virginia and Florida as well as cities including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Newark, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
JUNEAU — The Alaska Senate has passed a bill that would allow physician assistants with sufficient training to practice under an independent license, removing the state’s current requirement that they work under a formal collaborative agreement with physicians.
Supporters say the change would reduce administrative burdens that can delay and increase the cost of care. But physicians who opposed the bill argue it lowers the bar for training and could affect patient care.
Senate Bill 89, sponsored by Anchorage Democratic Sen. Löki Tobin, passed by a unanimous vote in the Senate on Wednesday, with 18 votes in favor and two members absent. The bill would allow physician assistants to apply for an independent license after completing 4,000 hours of postgraduate supervised clinical practice.
Under current law, physician assistants in Alaska must operate under a collaborative plan with physicians. These plans outline the medical services a physician assistant can provide and require oversight from doctors.
The Alaska State Medical Board regulates physician assistants and authorizes them to provide care only within the scope of their training. Most physician assistants in Alaska work in family practice, though some are specially trained in particular fields. All care must be provided under a physician’s license through a collaborative agreement that also requires a second, alternate physician to sign off.
For some clinics, particularly in more remote areas, finding those physicians can be difficult.
Mary Swain, CEO of Cama’i Community Health Center in Bristol Bay, testified in support of the bill before the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee in March 2025. Her practice employs two physicians to maintain collaborative plans for its physician assistants. She said neither of them lived in the community, and the primary physician lived out of state.
Roughly 15% of physicians who hold collaborative agreements with Alaska-based physician assistants do not live in the state, according to Tobin. At the same time, Alaskans face some of the highest health care costs in the nation.
Jared Wallace, a physician assistant in Kenai and owner of Odyssey Family Practice, testified in support of the bill at a committee meeting in April.
Wallace said maintaining collaborative agreements is one of the most difficult parts of running his clinic. He said he pays a collaborative physician about $2,000 per physician assistant per month, roughly $96,000 a year, simply to maintain the required agreement.
“In my experience, a collaborative plan does not improve nor ensure good patient care,” Wallace said. “Instead, it is a barrier in providing good health care in a rural community where access is limited, is a threat that delicately suspends my practice in place, and if severed, the 6,000 patients that I care for would lose access to (their) primary provider and become displaced.”
Opposition to the bill largely came from physicians, who testified that physician assistants do not receive the same depth of training as doctors.
Dr. Nicholas Cosentino, an internal medicine physician, testified in opposition to the bill last April. He said that medical school training provides crucial experience in diagnosing complex cases.
“It’s not infrequent that you get a patient that you’re not exactly sure you know what’s going on, and you have to fall back on your scientific background, the four years of medical school training, the countless hours of residency to come up with that differential, to think critically and come up with a plan for that patient,” Cosentino said. “I think the bill as stated, 4,000 hours, does not equate to that level of training.”
The Alaska Primary Care Association said it supports the intent of the bill but argued that physician assistants should complete 10,000 hours in a collaborative practice model with a physician before practicing independently.
Other states that have moved to allow independent licensure for physician assistants have adopted a range of thresholds. North Dakota requires 4,000 hours, while Montana requires 8,000 hours. Utah requires 10,000 hours of postgraduate supervised work, while Wyoming does not set a specific statewide minimum hour requirement.
Tobin said the hour requirement chosen in the bill came from conversations with experts during the bill’s drafting.
“When we were working with stakeholders on this piece of legislation, we came to a compromise of 4,000 hours, recognizing and understanding that there was concerns, but also … understanding that it is a bit of an arbitrary choice,” she said.
The bill now heads to House committees before a potential vote on the House floor.
Fairbanks, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) – On Wednesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox and Lee Zeldin, the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), spoke to press at the University of Alaska Fairbanks power plant.
During their time at the university, the federal and state leaders spoke about developing resources such as coal, oil, gas and critical minerals in the 49th state.
During his 24-hour trip to Fairbanks, Zeldin said he has spoke to business and state leaders about environmental regulations impacting operations in Alaska, saying the EPA needs to consider whether regulations are solving problems or are solutions in search of a problem.
He also discussed the concept of “cooperative federalism,” where the EPA takes its cues from state leaders to determine where regulations and help are needed.
“We’re here at the University of Alaska’s coal plant, and the most modern coal plant in the United States of America,” Dunleavy said.
Zeldin said visiting Fairbanks in winter helps inform decisions the agency is considering.
“There are a lot of decisions right now in front of this agency that the first-hand perspective of being here on the ground helps inform our agency to make the right decision,” he said.
Zeldin also said the agency is hearing concerns from Alaska truckers about diesel exhaust rules in extreme cold.
“We then met with truckers who have been dealing with unique cold weather concerns with the implementation of EPA regulations related to diesel exhaust fluid system,” he said.
When asked about PFAS in drinking water, Zeldin said the EPA is not rolling back the standards.
“So the PFAS standards are not being rolled back at all,” he said.
On Fairbanks air quality and PM2.5 regulations, Zeldin said the agency wants to work with the state.
“We want, at the EPA, to help the Fairbanks community be able to be in attainment on PM 2.5. We want to make it work,” he said.
Dunleavy said energy costs and heating needs remain a major factor in Interior air quality discussions.
“People have to be able to live. They’ve got to be able to afford to live,” he said.
Zeldin said EPA is considering further changes to diesel regulations and urged Alaskans to participate in the rulemaking process.
“We need Alaskans to participate in that public comment period,” he said.
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