Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has just launched another miles sale where members can receive up to a 50% bonus through March 15, 2023.
Members can purchase up to 150,000 miles plus applicable bonuses per calendar year (100k per transaction) and Mileage Plan Elite’s have the annual limits waived.
Alaska Airlines joined Oneworld on March 31, 2021, but awards with many alliance airlines have been delayed. In addition, Alaska has ties with several non-Oneworld partners, including Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, and Condor.
You can access Alaska’s web page for buying and gifting miles here.
Alaska Airlines has instituted a maximum number of miles that non-elite members can purchase yearly (150,000). However, MVP, MVP Gold, and MVP 75K can continue purchasing miles without any limits (you have to make several purchases).
This is the current pricing:
For this example, I picked a 30k miles purchase as that is the minimum amount to earn the 50% bonus which comes in a staggered form:
- 3,000-9,000 Miles = 30%
- 10,000-29,000 = 40%
- 30,000-100,000 = 50%
The pricing under this sale is reasonable however I’d be careful when it comes to limitations on awards and the availability of flights.
Alaska Airlines is extremely difficult with routings and even airlines that can be booked with Mileage Plan miles. A full year since joining the oneWorld alliance there is still no comprehensive oneworld award that would allow combining all airlines or using any routing that’s permissible under normal ticketing rules.
They did release an award chart last December that has simplified redemption rates on paper:
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Releases “Comprehensive” Award Charts
Unfortunately, that still doesn’t let you combine several oneworld carriers as it’s pretty common practice with other programs.
Unless you have a clear use case, I’d be careful to purchase miles for a large amount of money. I transferred some Bonvoy points to Alaska last month and then availability dried up. This would be quite regrettable had I spent cash actual money on the miles.
Conclusion
Alaska Airlines miles are helpful for partner awards on premium cabins on airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and JAL. We’re still eagerly awaiting a fully comprehensive award chart that allows mixing and matching between all different Oneworld airlines but so far Alaska hasn’t moved much in that direction.
These mileage sales usually max at 60%, although they had one 70% bonus in 2020. So this particular sale with a 50% bonus is rather standard and I would wait for a better promotion to surface.
These are the Terms & Conditions of this promotion:
Transactions must be completed between 6:00 AM PT March 9, 2023 and 11:59 PM PT March 15, 2023 to be eligible for bonus miles.
Miles are purchased from Points.com Inc. for a cost of $27.50 per 1,000 miles, plus GST/HST for Canadian residents and QST for Quebec residents.
Miles are non-refundable and do not count toward MVP and MVP/Gold status.
You may purchase and gift Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles in increments of 1,000 miles up to 60,000 miles, and in increments of 5,000 miles up to a maximum of 100,000 miles per transaction.
MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K and MVP Gold 100K Mileage Plan member (Elite Member) accounts have no annual limit on the number of miles which may be purchased or gifted through Points.com. If you are not an Elite Member, your account may only be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles acquired through Points.com in a calendar year, whether purchased by you or gifted to you. Bonus miles do not count toward the maximum total of 150,000 miles.
Offer is subject to change and all terms and conditions of the Mileage Plan Program apply.
*Points.com Inc. is collecting Federal Excise Tax on behalf of Alaska Airlines Inc.
Alaska Airlines Inc. has the obligation to collect Federal Excise Tax and remit the tax to the appropriate government agency.