![]() So, I ended up spending 13,000 Membership Rewards points and got back 12,500 Alaska miles. In the East Coast example above, the price of booking the flight with Membership Rewards went from the normal 20,000 points (at 1 cent each) to 13,000 points after the 35% discount. This then provides a 35% discount when using Amex Membership Rewards points to book Alaska flights via the Amex Travel portal. This can be made even better when you use Alaska as a chosen airline for the Amex Business Platinum. We value the redemption of Alaska miles at 1.3 cents each, so for each of these $200 flights, I got back ~$162 worth of miles. I earned 5,000 base miles, plus a 150% bonus (7,500 miles) for a total of 12,500 miles. For simplicity’s sake, let’s just say that the total roundtrip distance was 5,000 miles. I’m a 100K and took several flights to the East Coast earlier in 2023 that were around $200 roundtrip each. This can be quite lucrative on some flights, especially for elite members on discounted fares. MVP Gold 100K – 150% of actual flight miles.MVP Gold 75K – 125% of actual flight miles.In addition, elite members receive the following elite bonus: 0.3 miles per flight mile on Alaska and American Airlines basic economy flights.1.5-2 miles per flight miles on first class flights (depending on fare type).1.25-1.5 miles per flight mile on economy flights booked in full-fare economy.1 mile per actual flight mile on all main cabin fares except basic and full-fare economy.On Alaska-marketed flights, members earn: How to earn Alaska Air miles Alaska First Class Cabin Earning on Alaska and American Airlines flightsĪlaska is somewhat of a unicorn amongst US-based programs, as it still awards miles based on distance flown. It still doesn’t allow awards with multiple partners (although that’s supposed to change this year).Most newly-introduced partners have been added at terrible value.Alaska doesn’t partner with any transferable programs (like Ultimate Rewards or ThankYou points), making their miles harder to come by.Recently, domestic awards have been expensive, with saver space more difficult to find than in previous years.Although they have repeatedly promised that it won’t happen again, they continue to do it. Alaska has been plagued by a series of no-notice devaluations over the last 2-3 years.Alaska domestic first class seats lag behind many other domestic carriers, who have begun introducing lie-flat seating on transcontinental flights. ![]() Although Alaska has an extensive international partner network, it doesn’t offer any flights of its own outside of North America (unlike United, Delta, American and even JetBlue).There are still excellent sweet spots on the award chart (US-Oceania/Asia/South America intra-Alaska).Unique among US carriers, it offers a free stopover on most one-way awards.Meaningful elite benefits start at lower status tiers than many programs.Overall, it’s relatively easy to acquire elite status.Alaska offers very good return on domestic paid regular economy fares, primarily because its program still awards miles based on distance flown, as opposed to dollars spent.For many folks, especially on the West Coast, it’s a program worth paying attention to.Īlaska Air Mileage Plan Pros and Cons Pros Earnings when flying Alaska are arguably the best in the US, meaningful elite status is easier to achieve than in many programs and there are still excellent sweet spots be had. It’s not all bad news though, and there’s still good value to be had with Mileage Plan. Since then, we’ve seen devaluations to AA and Japan Airlines awards, new partners added at laughable rates, a lower-value “simplified” award chart and a severe cut to mileage earnings when flying basic economy. That same year Alaska joined the OneWorld alliance, news that some took with much trepidation since OneWorld also houses American Airlines and, at the time, many AA awards on OneWorld carriers were more expensive than Alaska’s prices on those same carriers (for example Qantas and Japan Airlines). First, Alaska did a no-notice devaluation of its awards on Emirates Airlines and then, in 2021, lost access to Emirates First Class entirely. The last few years have been up and down for Mileage Plan. Even though it was an independent carrier, Alaska developed a compelling coterie of direct partnerships that created some very valuable sweet spots, especially to Asia and Oceania. For quite some time, Mileage Plan was considered to be one of the best loyalty programs around and Alaska miles were coveted in the points and miles world. Additional Alaska elite status benefitsĪlaska Mileage Plan is the loyalty program for Alaska Airlines.Alaska Airlines elite status requirements.Transfering from other programs to Alaska Mileage Plan.Alaska Mileage Plan earning on partner flights.Earning on Alaska and American Airlines flights.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |