Hyperlink: Apply for the Alaska Airways Visa® Enterprise card and earn 60,000 Mileage Plan bonus miles plus a companion fare from $121 after spending a minimal of $3,000 inside the first 90 days

Alaska Airways Mileage Plan is amongst my favourite mileage currencies on the market. On a per-mile foundation, I worth Alaska miles greater than another airline miles (I think about them to be price 1.7 cents every). On this put up, I needed to speak a bit extra about Mileage Plan miles — how do you earn them, what are the foundations round redeeming them, and what are the very best makes use of of them?

Methods to earn Alaska Mileage Plan miles

Whereas Alaska Mileage Plan doesn’t accomplice with any of the main transferrable factors currencies, there are another helpful methods to earn Mileage Plan miles.

Earn Alaska miles with Alaska bank cards

Each the Alaska Airways Visa® Enterprise card (evaluation) and Alaska Airways Visa® Credit score Card (evaluation) are wonderful choices for incomes Alaska miles. These playing cards provide beneficial long run perks for Alaska frequent flyers, like a primary checked bag free, discounted entry to Alaska Lounges, financial savings on inflight purchases, and extra.

Earn Alaska miles with different bank cards

Whereas Alaska doesn’t accomplice with Amex, Capital One, Chase, or Citi, this system does accomplice with Marriott Bonvoy, so you may switch over Marriott factors. The ratio is that 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy factors convert into 25,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles (when you convert in several increments it’s a 3:1 ratio).

This could be a stable deal, and there are many bank cards that may earn you Marriott Bonvoy factors, together with the Marriott Bonvoy Daring® Credit score Card (evaluation), Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit score Card (evaluation), Marriott Bonvoy Enterprise™ American Specific^® Card (evaluation), and Marriott Bonvoy Sensible™ American Specific^® Card (evaluation). Nevertheless, if attempting to earn Alaska miles by bank card spend, a card just like the Alaska Airways Visa® Enterprise card is the most suitable choice.

Purchase Alaska miles

Alaska Mileage Plan is fairly aggressive about promoting miles, and this system appears to supply promotions on bought miles each couple of months. After we see these affords, you may count on bonuses within the vary of 40-60%.

It doesn’t value something to affix the Alaska Mileage Plan rewards program, so I typically advocate signing up forward of time — you must be a member for at the least 10 days to be able to reap the benefits of certainly one of these promotions.

Earn Alaska miles by flying

Not solely are there nice methods to earn Alaska miles both by bank cards or by shopping for them outright, however Alaska can also be an excellent program to credit score flights to.

For one, Alaska Mileage Plan is the final main US frequent flyer program to award miles primarily based on distance flown moderately than {dollars} spent.

Alaska additionally has wonderful mileage incomes charges on a wide range of airline companions, starting from Condor to Cathay Pacific. Alaska Mileage Plan helps you to earn miles for journey on the next airline companions:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Tahiti Nui
• American Airways
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Condor
• EL AL
• Fiji Airways
• Finnair
• Hainan Airways
• Iberia
• Icelandair
• Japan Airways
• Korean Air
• LATAM
• Malaysia Airways
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Ravn Alaska
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• Singapore Airways
• SriLankan Airways

Fundamentals of redeeming Alaska Mileage Plan miles

Alaska Mileage Plan has some nice redemption alternatives, although there are additionally fairly just a few guidelines to concentrate on. Let’s cowl a few of these fundamentals.

Alaska miles redemption companions

Alaska Airways belongs to the oneworld alliance, although the airline has a wide selection of companions past oneworld. It’s doable to redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles for journey on the next airways:

• Aer Lingus
• American Airways
• British Airways
• Cathay Pacific
• Condor
• Fiji Airways
• Finnair
• Hainan Airways
• Iberia
• Icelandair
• Japan Airways
• Korean Air
• LATAM
• Malaysia Airways
• Qantas
• Qatar Airways
• Royal Air Maroc
• Royal Jordanian
• Singapore Airways
• SriLankan Airways

Alaska Mileage Plan has partnerships with each Air Tahiti Nui and EL AL, however redemptions on these airways aren’t but doable. They need to be coming quickly. Excluding Cathay Pacific and LATAM award tickets, all different Mileage Plan accomplice awards could be booked on-line at alaskaair.com.

You probably have an advanced itinerary or an itinerary involving journey on Cathay Pacific or LATAM, you’ll need to name Alaska’s Mileage Plan accomplice award desk, which could be reached at 800-252-7522.

Alaska has separate award charts for every accomplice airline

Many airline loyalty applications have a single world award chart, and pricing is identical no matter which airline you fly. Within the case of Alaska Mileage Plan, there’s a separate award chart for every accomplice airline:

• Award pricing is totally different for every accomplice airline
• You may solely redeem for journey in choose areas, so there are some markets the place you may’t redeem on companions
• You may’t combine and match companions on an award ticket, however moderately you may solely journey with one accomplice; nevertheless, you may all the time fly Alaska Airways to the gateway on the identical award ticket to start out an award reservation, assuming there’s award availability

With Alaska Airways having joined oneworld, it’s anticipated that Mileage Plan will ultimately introduce a multi-airline award chart, permitting you to ebook a single ticket that features journey on a number of airways. Nevertheless, I believe the worth received’t be nearly as good as a few of Alaska’s higher particular person airline award charts.

Alaska permits stopovers on one-way awards

Considered one of my favourite issues in regards to the Alaska Mileage Plan program is that you’re allowed a stopover on a one-way award ticket when touring between areas. That is doable no matter which accomplice you redeem with.

So when you ebook a roundtrip as two one-ways, this implies you may doubtlessly get two stopovers on a roundtrip ticket. To ebook a ticket on-line with a stopover, simply use the multi-city operate, and you’ll search every portion of the ticket individually.

Alaska award stock discrepancies

On the floor Alaska Mileage Plan ought to have entry to the identical award availability as different accomplice airways do, although in some instances Mileage Plan inexplicably doesn’t have entry to the identical house. Mostly:

• Mileage Plan typically has entry to 1 much less first and/or enterprise class award seat on Cathay Pacific than different applications do
• Qantas awards typically don’t present up, although there’s not a lot rhyme or purpose to that
• Mileage Plan typically has entry to 1 much less enterprise class award seat on Aer Lingus than different applications do

This received’t be constant, however it’s one thing to concentrate on, and it positive could be irritating. There’s typically not any option to get round this.

Alaska 72-hour advance reserving coverage for Asia

Whereas this has restricted implications for many members, Mileage Plan has a coverage for journey inside Asia. Particularly, you may’t redeem miles for journey inside Asia when reserving inside 72 hours of departure. Apparently this rule exists on account of fraudulent redemptions, so it’s one thing to concentrate on.

Alaska award ticketing charges

There are a few charges related to redeeming Alaska Mileage Plan miles:

• There’s a $12.50 accomplice award reserving charge, which is charged every approach per passenger, and applies for all new accomplice award bookings (this isn’t waived for elite members)
• Should you ebook by cellphone, there’s a $15 service charge, which is waived for MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K members

Alaska award ticket change & cancelation charges

Alaska Mileage Plan fees $125 per individual to vary or cancel any award tickets, whatever the airline or kind of award. That charge is waived for MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K members. All passengers can cancel their tickets inside 24 hours of reserving, assuming they’re reserving for journey greater than 24 hours earlier than departure.

Sadly at this level Alaska’s coverage is just not notably buyer pleasant, particularly since applications like American AAdvantage now not have change or cancelation charges on awards.

Alaska award ticket gas surcharges

Alaska Mileage Plan passes on provider imposed surcharges (also known as gas surcharges) for journey on some accomplice airways. Particularly, these apply for journey on British Airways, Hainan Airways, and Icelandair. Luckily they don’t apply for journey on different accomplice airways.

Alaska award ticket maintain coverage

Alaska Mileage Plan doesn’t enable award tickets to be positioned on maintain. To ebook a Mileage Plan award ticket you have to have enough miles in your account, although you may cancel totally free inside 24 hours.

Greatest methods to make use of Alaska Mileage Plan miles

All of us have totally different journey targets, so there’s by no means going to be a one measurement suits all reply as to what the very best use of miles is. Personally my favourite option to redeem miles is for aspirational redemptions in first and enterprise class, since that’s the place you’ll get probably the most outsized worth.

The factor about Mileage Plan is that a variety of the worth of this system comes from a choose variety of nice accomplice redemption alternatives. Some companions have very excessive redemption charges, whereas others have very profitable charges.

On this put up I needed to share what I think about the very best makes use of of Alaska miles to be, roughly ranked beginning with the very best. Let me in fact acknowledge that with present journey restrictions, a few of these redemptions are much less beneficial than prior to now, particularly in relation to the flexibility to have a stopover.

1. Redeem Alaska miles on Cathay Pacific

Considered one of my favourite makes use of of Mileage Plan miles is for redemptions in Cathay Pacific first and enterprise class. Alaska Mileage Plan one-way redemption charges on Cathay Pacific are as follows:

• Between the US and Asia prices 50,000 miles in enterprise class, 70,000 miles in first-class
• Between the US and Africa, India, South Asia, and the Center East, prices 62,500 miles in enterprise class, 70,000 miles in first-class
• Between the US and Australia and New Zealand prices 60,000 miles in enterprise class, 80,000 miles in first-class

For instance, you could possibly redeem simply 60,000 miles for journey in Cathay Pacific enterprise class from the US to Australia. This implies you could possibly fly from New York to Hong Kong, have a stopover for a number of days (effectively, if/when Hong Kong reopens with out quarantine), after which proceed to Australia on the identical ticket. That’s a spectacular deal.

On the floor redeeming for Cathay Pacific first-class is an excellent higher worth, although Cathay Pacific usually makes at most one award seat accessible upfront, after which it’s solely inside a few weeks of departure when extra seats are opened, so this isn’t supreme for these planning upfront.

2. Redeem Alaska miles on Japan Airways

Japan Airways is an unimaginable airline, and Alaska Mileage Plan has nice redemption charges for journey on the provider. Alaska Mileage Plan one-way redemption charges on Japan Airways are as follows:

• Between the US and Japan prices 60,000 miles in enterprise class, 70,000 miles in first-class
• Between the US and Southeast Asia prices 65,000 miles in enterprise class, 75,000 miles in first-class

The massive worth right here is available in having the ability to have a stopover in Japan enroute to a different vacation spot in Asia. For instance, you could possibly fly from the US to Tokyo, cease for a number of days, after which proceed to Bangkok or Singapore. The problem is that Japan continues to stay closed to most vacationers in the intervening time.

3. Redeem Alaska miles on Qantas

Whereas Qantas isn’t nice about making award seats accessible, you received’t discover higher redemption charges for journey on the airline than you’ll discover by Alaska Mileage Plan. Alaska Mileage Plan one-way redemption charges on Qantas are as follows:

• Between the US and the South Pacific prices 55,000 miles in enterprise class, 70,000 miles in first-class

If you could find award availability, that is a completely superb deal. For instance, you could possibly redeem simply 55,000 miles to fly from Dallas to Sydney, have a stopover, after which fly from Sydney to Perth.

4. Redeem Alaska miles on Fiji Airways

Fiji is completely beautiful, and conveniently is correct on the way in which if touring from the US to Australia or New Zealand. So flying Fiji Airways, whether or not with the intention of visiting Fiji, or enroute to a different vacation spot, is a good possibility. Alaska Mileage Plan one-way redemption charges on Fiji Airways are as follows:

• Between the US and South Pacific prices 55,000 miles in enterprise class

Having the ability to redeem 55,000 miles for a one-way enterprise class ticket from the US to Australia with a stopover in Fiji is an unimaginable worth. The most important catch right here is that Fiji Airways doesn’t make many enterprise class award seats accessible, so it’ll take some effort to seek out accessible seats.

5. Redeem Alaska miles on LATAM

Whereas LATAM is now not a part of the oneworld alliance, Alaska Mileage Plan continues to have a partnership with the airline. Alaska Mileage Plan one-way redemption charges on LATAM are as follows:

• Between the US and South America prices 45,000 miles in enterprise class

Having the ability to redeem simply 45,000 miles for a one-way enterprise class ticket to South America with a stopover is a spectacular worth. For instance, you could possibly fly from Los Angele to Lima, have a stopover for a number of days, after which proceed from Lima to Santiago.

6. Redeem Alaska miles on Aer Lingus

The Aer Lingus partnership with Alaska Mileage Plan was launched a few years in the past, and this is among the finest methods to get between the US and Europe with out paying gas surcharges. Alaska Mileage Plan one-way redemption charges on Aer Lingus are as follows:

• Between the US and Europe prices 60,000 miles in enterprise class

60,000 miles for a one-way award between the US and Europe could be a nice deal, particularly when you think about you can add a stopover in Dublin with out paying additional miles.

7. Redeem Alaska miles on Finnair

Finnair is one other nice choice to redeem Alaska miles throughout the pond with out paying gas surcharges. Alaska Mileage Plan one-way redemption charges on Finnair are as follows:

• Between the US and Europe prices 70,000 miles in enterprise class

On the floor this isn’t that nice, since you could possibly redeem 57,500 American AAdvantage miles for one-way journey between the US and Europe in enterprise class, together with on Finnair. Nevertheless, the massive benefit right here might be the flexibility to have a stopover in Helsinki at no additional value, after which proceed to elsewhere.

8. Redeem Alaska miles on Singapore Airways

Although Alaska Airways is a part of oneworld and Singapore Airways is a part of Star Alliance, the 2 airways nonetheless have a partnership. Whereas Singapore Airways has traditionally blocked premium cabin lengthy haul award house for accomplice applications, curiously Alaska Mileage Plan has entry to fairly a little bit of that house.

Alaska Mileage Plan one-way redemption charges on Singapore Airways are as follows:

• Between the US and North Asia prices 80,000 miles in enterprise class, 110,000 miles in first-class
• Between the US and Southeast Asia prices 100,000 miles in enterprise class, 130,000 miles in first-class
• Inside Southeast Asia prices 25,000 miles in enterprise class, 35,000 miles in first-class
• Between Southeast Asia and North Asia prices 60,000 miles in enterprise class, 75,000 miles in first-class

I wouldn’t say the redemption charges between the US and Southeast Asia are that spectacular, although there are nonetheless some nice alternatives.

For instance, you could possibly fly from the US to Singapore to Japan (with a stopover in Singapore) for 80,000 miles one-way in enterprise class. Maybe the very best worth is a primary or enterprise class award inside Southeast Asia for 25,000 to 35,000 miles. You would have a stopover in Singapore, and will fly fairly a distance.

Backside line

On a per-mile foundation, I worth Alaska Airways Mileage Plan miles greater than another airline forex due to this system’s distinctive airline companions and the flexibility to do stopovers on one-way award tickets, which is one thing that only a few applications enable these days.

Regardless of a number of the irritating guidelines related to redeeming Alaska Mileage Plan miles, there’s a ton of worth available as effectively when you use your Alaska rewards on the fitting companions. It’s simply too dangerous that Hong Kong and Japan largely stay closed to vacationers, since Cathay Pacific and Japan Airways are the provider’s most helpful companions.

What’s your favourite use of Alaska Mileage Plan miles?