Regardless of being smaller than the Massive Three legacy carriers — American Airways, Delta Air Traces and United Airways — Alaska Airways has gained recognition amongst American vacationers because of its loyalty program, Alaska Airways Mileage Plan.
As a member of the Oneworld alliance, this system gives quite a few high-value partnerships with airways like American Airways, British Airways and Cathay Pacific.
Furthermore, Alaska Airlines acquired Hawaiian Airlines in a joint merger, and the provider is planning a major overhaul of its Mileage Plan program later in 2025.
This information will focus on redeem Alaska miles, particulars on its elite standing program and extra.
Alaska Airways Mileage Plan overview
Alaska Airways Mileage Plan is Alaska Airways’ frequent flyer program. You earn Alaska miles by flying with Alaska or its companion airways. This system additionally gives extra methods to earn miles, akin to by means of its shopping portal, dining program and cobranded credit cards. When you accumulate miles, you may redeem them for journey on Alaska or its companion airways.
Mileage Plan consists of an elite status program with 4 tiers: MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K and MVP Gold 100K. Every tier consists of upgrades, most well-liked seating and bonus mileage earned on Alaska flights. Elite members additionally get pleasure from restricted advantages on Hawaiian Airways, American Airways and different Oneworld companions.
Associated: 6 great benefits I received as an American Airlines elite flying Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airways companions
Alaska Airways is understood for its suite of airline partners, which incorporates airways in Oneworld and different alliances.
Oneworld alliance companions
Alaska joined Oneworld in late March 2021. Because of this the airline is now a companion with these airways:
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- American Airways
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Fiji Airways
- Finnair
- Iberia
- Japan Airways
- Malaysia Airways
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Air Maroc
- Royal Jordanian Airways
- SriLankan Airways
Different airline companions
Alaska has partnered with airways outdoors of Oneworld for years now. We’re hopeful these nonalliance partnerships will stay long-term now that Alaska is a Oneworld airline, however solely time will inform. Here is the complete record of Alaska’s different airline companions to earn and redeem miles with:
- Aer Lingus
- Air Tahiti Nui
- Condor
- Hainan Airways
- Icelandair
- Korean Air
- LATAM
- Oman Air
- Philippine Airways
- Porter Airways
- Singapore Airways
- Starlux Airways
Alaska Airways elite standing
Alaska Airways has 4 elite standing tiers.
To qualify, you must earn a set variety of elite qualifying miles, which will be earned by flying Alaska or its companion airways (together with award flights), bank card spending or different choose nonflight actions.
| Standing tier | Required variety of EQMs |
|---|---|
| MVP | 20,000 |
| MVP Gold | 40,000 |
| MVP Gold 75K | 75,000 |
| MVP Gold 100K | 100,000 |
There are additionally milestone rewards after incomes 10,000, 30,000, 50,000, 85,000, 150,000, 200,000 and 250,000 EQMs.
With Alaska and Hawaiian Airways’ merger, the carriers are additionally at present providing an elite standing match.
| When you have: | You will be matched to: |
|---|---|
| Alaska Airways Mileage Plan MVP standing | HawaiianMiles Pualani Gold standing |
| Alaska Airways Mileage Plan MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K or MVP Gold 100K standing | HawaiianMiles Pualani Platinum standing |
| HawaiianMiles Pualani Gold standing | Alaska Airways Mileage Plan MVP standing |
| HawaiianMiles Pualani Platinum standing | Alaska Airways Mileage Plan MVP Gold standing |
Plus, the airways supply members the chance to mix their elite qualifying miles throughout the 2 loyalty applications to earn standing.
| Mixed EQM stability: | Standing you will get with Alaska Airways Mileage Plan: | Standing you will get with HawaiianMiles: |
|---|---|---|
| 20,000 EQMs | MVP | Pualani Gold |
| 40,000 EQMs | MVP Gold | Pualani Platinum |
| 75,000 EQMs | MVP Gold 75K | Pualani Platinum |
| 100,000 EQMs | MVP Gold 100K | Pualani Platinum |
How one can earn Alaska miles
Incomes Alaska miles was tougher because the airline just isn’t instantly related to main bank card applications like American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards, however now you can transfer Bilt Rewards Points to Alaska Airways Mileage Plan.
Plus, since merging with Hawaiian Airways, Amex members can transfer their Membership Rewards points to HawaiianMiles after which switch these miles to Mileage Plan at a 1:1 fee. Nonetheless, Alaska has advised TPG that this chance could not final for much longer.
Earn miles when flying with Alaska Airways
Not like different main U.S. airways, Alaska continues to award miles based mostly on the precise size of a flight. You will earn 1 mile per bodily mile flown in customary economic system. Saver tickets earn 30% of the miles flown.
First-class tickets obtain a minimal 50% mileage bonus, leading to greater mileage earnings. Word that this bonus solely applies to paid first-class tickets, not upgrades. Elite members additionally earn bonus miles on all Alaska flights.
Bonus miles can accumulate shortly for frequent vacationers. Moreover, higher-fare economic system lessons supply bonus miles, though they could be costlier than customary economic system tickets. You’ll be able to discuss with Alaska’s website for extra details about incomes Alaska miles on Alaska flights.
Credit score companion flights to Mileage Plan
You’ll be able to credit score companion flights to Alaska Airways Mileage Plan, permitting you to earn each redeemable and elite qualifying miles. The miles earned depend upon the airline, flight size and fare class. To find out the incomes ranges, go to Alaska’s partner page and find the incomes chart for the precise companion and fare class. Multiply your flight’s distance by the share within the “Miles earned (complete)” column.
Spend on an Alaska Airways bank card
Alaska Airways has two cobranded bank cards with Financial institution of America: a private card and a enterprise card.
- Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card: New cardholders can obtain a 30% flight low cost code for a qualifying future flight after opening a brand new account. Moreover, they’re going to earn 60,000 bonus miles plus Alaska’s Companion Fare™ ($99 fare plus taxes and costs from $23) after making $3,000 or extra in purchases throughout the first 90 days of opening an account. This card earns 3 miles per greenback spent on eligible Alaska purchases; 2 miles per greenback spent on eligible fuel, electrical car charging station, cable, streaming service and native transit (together with ride-hailing companies) purchases; and 1 mile per greenback spent in all places else. Cardholders additionally get a free checked bag on all Alaska flights and 20% again on inflight purchases.
- Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card: Earn 60,000 bonus miles and Alaska’s Companion Fare ($99 fare plus taxes and costs from $23) after making $4,000 or extra in purchases throughout the first 90 days of opening an account. The cardboard earns 3 miles per greenback spent on eligible Alaska Airways purchases; 2 miles per greenback spent on eligible fuel, EV charging station, delivery and native transit (together with ride-hailing companies) purchases; and 1 mile per greenback spent on all different purchases.
Plus, for cardholders of the private Alaska bank card, you’ll earn 1 elite qualifying mile for each $3 spent (as much as 30,000 EQMs every year).
Switch Bilt Rewards factors
Bilt Rewards members can now switch factors to Alaska Airways Mileage Plan at a 1:1 ratio. That is enormous information for award vacationers, as Marriott Bonvoy factors are the one different main transferable foreign money that transfers to Mileage Plan.
Alaska Airways cardholders can earn 3 miles per greenback (on as much as $50,000 yearly) when utilizing their Alaska Airways Visa bank card to pay lease by means of Bilt. That stated, Alaska cardholders can pay a small processing charge to do that.
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Switch HawaiianMiles to Alaska Airways Mileage Plan
HawaiianMiles will be transferred to Alaska Airways Mileage Plan at a 1:1 fee. Since Alaska is a part of the Oneworld alliance, this opens up a slew of redemption companions, akin to American Airways.
Moreover, Hawaiian Airways is at present a switch companion of Amex Membership Rewards; Amex Membership Rewards factors will be transferred to HawaiianMiles at a 1:1 fee. Nonetheless, as talked about earlier, it is protected to say that the Amex switch choice will ultimately turn out to be out of date.
Different methods to earn Alaska miles
You’ll be able to earn miles utilizing the Mileage Plan Purchasing portal when purchasing on-line and the Mileage Plan Eating program when eating out.
On the purchasing aspect, Mileage Plan Purchasing awards bonus miles everytime you click on by means of the Alaska portal earlier than making a web based buy. It gives bonus miles with a whole bunch of various retailers, together with Apple and Saks Fifth Avenue. Every service provider awards a unique variety of miles per greenback spent, and charges can fluctuate continuously.
Be careful for shopping portal deals provided by Mileage Plan Purchasing. It sometimes runs limited-time bonuses the place you may earn additional miles by spending a selected amount of cash.
Mileage Plan Eating is one other alternative to earn bonus miles. Create an account on the Mileage Plan Dining website, and hyperlink your bank cards. For optimum advantages, use a card that provides bonus factors or miles on eating.
The miles you earn rely in your Mileage Plan Eating membership tier. These embody:
- Primary members: 1 mile per $2 spent
- Choose members: 3 miles per greenback spent, earned after you enroll in e-mail communications from Mileage Plan Eating
- VIP members: 5 miles per greenback spent, earned after you enroll in e-mail communications and dine at collaborating eating places 11 instances in a calendar 12 months
There are different methods to earn Alaska miles, akin to reserving rental automobiles and lodge stays with Alaska companions. You’ll be able to study extra about these incomes alternatives in our full guide to earning Alaska miles.
How one can redeem Alaska miles
You should use your Alaska miles for flights on Alaska Airways and its companion airways. Redeeming on companion airways usually gives the very best worth, particularly for worldwide first- or business-class flights.
Word that Alaska Airways flights are dynamically priced. Your value for a selected award ticket varies by route and day. You will usually discover the lowest-priced awards on brief flights, akin to Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport (SEA) to Portland Worldwide Airport (PDX) in Oregon and Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX) to San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO).
On the airline’s website, you will see award pricing for all of Alaska’s companions, relying on the area you might be touring to.
All companion awards at the moment are dynamically priced. As an example, American Airways award flights within the U.S. and Canada now solely have beginning costs after which pricing will “fluctuate relying on demand.”
Associated: Alaska Airlines tweaks award charts with HawaiianMiles
Add stopovers to one-way award tickets
One important benefit of reserving companion tickets with Alaska Airways is the ability to add stopovers to one-way award tickets. Reserving a ticket with a stopover prices the identical as reserving a nonstop flight to your ultimate vacation spot.
You’ll be able to have a stopover operated by Alaska Airways or a single companion in its hub metropolis.
How one can e-book Alaska Airways award tickets
You’ll be able to e-book most award tickets on the Alaska Airlines website. Log in to your account and enter your search standards on the homepage, making certain you choose the “Use miles” choice for award flights. Click on “Discover flights” to look and examine accessible choices within the middle of the display.
If you happen to discover a appropriate ticket, choose it and click on “Add to cart” to proceed with reserving.
For reserving stopovers, click on the “All search choices” hyperlink on the homepage and choose “multicity” beneath the “Flight sort” header. Enter your flights, and seek for connecting tickets. All accessible choices will likely be displayed within the middle of the display. If you happen to discover a fascinating itinerary, e-book your ticket as typical.
Alaska Airways Mileage Plan redemption candy spots
Now that about Alaska Airways Mileage Plan, let’s discover some prime methods to make use of your Alaska miles.
- Enterprise class to Fiji and Australia/New Zealand: One-way business-class seats on Fiji Airways now begin at 75,000 Alaska Airways miles. You might fly to New Zealand and Australia, with a stopover in Fiji for simply 10,000 miles extra.
- Home flights inside Australia: Alaska’s Oneworld companion Qantas operates many wide-body companies on the “golden triangle” routes between Sydney Airport (SYD), Melbourne Airport (MEL) and Brisbane Airport (BNE). These flights will be booked in economic system class beginning at 7,500 Alaska miles every method for journeys of 1,500 miles or much less.
- Enterprise class to the U.Okay. and Eire: Whereas many flight routes from North America to Europe will fall throughout the 3,501- to five,000-mile vary, akin to a flight from Miami Worldwide Airport (MIA) to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (MAD) costing 55,000 miles in enterprise class, there are a number of routes from the East Coast to the U.Okay. or Eire that can solely value 45,000 miles in enterprise class, as they’re beneath 3,500 miles. Two such examples are the New York-to-London and New York-to-Dublin routes.
- E-book South America flights on LATAM: Regardless of leaving the Oneworld alliance, LATAM nonetheless companions with Alaska Airways. By profiting from the free stopover, you may e-book flights like MIA to Lima, Peru’s Jorge Chávez Worldwide Airport (LIM) to Santiago, Chile’s Arturo Merino Benítez Worldwide Airport (SCL), permitting you to expertise two vibrant South American cities in a single journey from simply 25,000 miles for economic system and 50,000 miles for enterprise class every method.
Associated: Best Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan sweet spot redemptions you can book
Backside line
Alaska Airways Mileage Plan is a prime airline loyalty program, because of its big selection of companions and dependable award charts. Moreover, with its acquisition of Hawaiian Airways and up to date program bulletins, the Mileage Plan loyalty program gives many notable advantages.
Nonetheless, it stays to be seen how the upcoming joint loyalty program between the 2 carriers will comply with Alaska’s present Mileage Plan program. Our hope is it isn’t a complete devaluation of a worthwhile airline program.
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