We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Buy Alaska Air Miles and get a 40% bonus
Alaska Air has promotions almost every quarter to buy points. In fact, there seems to be quite a few promotions lately for points purchases: Hilton ran an 80% bonus, IHG a 100% bonus, and now you can buy Alaska Air Miles and get a 40% bonus. This isn’t the best we’ve ever seen from Alaska, that’s 50%, but it’s 2nd best and a very good deal. I just wrote a Monday Memo about different situations where purchasing points can be a good idea, but let’s focus in on Alaska and some of their amazing opportunities.
Here’s a look at the deal:
The offer is tiered:
In my opinion I wouldn’t go for the deal without securing a 40% bonus. If you don’t need that many miles or don’t wish to spend the cash to purchase at that bonus level I’d wait. Another deal will come around later this year that could possibly afford you the opportunity to buy fewer miles and still get a good bonus.
60k + 24k would set you back $1773.75 or roughly 2.1 cents per point
Enough with the boring stuff. What are some cool things I could do with the points?
Here are the Alaska charts for redeeming awards on Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, and American Airlines from the Continental U.S. to Asia
70k Alaska would put you in Japan Airlines first class.
Japan Airlines First Class is truly incredible. They serve super expensive champagne, the seats are YUUUUUUGE, they put mattress pads down, and the service COULD NOT be better. These tickets go for $10k+. This is a prime example of using points to purchase a flight for significantly less money.
50k puts you in Cathay Pacific Business Class
Cathay has one of the best reviewed business class products in the sky. I’m hoping to fly them again soon as my experience wasn’t “superb”, but I also recognized that I’m an outlier. For a little over $1000 you could purchase points to fly one way. A fantastic deal, IMO!
And Alaska still has prices that match the old AA chart for Asia. So 62.5k puts you in their biz.
I’ve reviewed AA’s 777-300ER reverse herringbone business class many times and really enjoy it. While I’m not sure I’d spend the extra points to fly it over Cathay, it provides more opportunities for redemption in a very nice product.
Final thoughts:
I used Asia as an example, but there are other great spots in Alaska’s chart. In fact, Alaska still prices business and first class awards to Europe on AA metal at 50k and 62.5k. That’s a big savings compared to AA prices of 57.5 and 85k, and it’s their metal! There is another sweet spot on flights from the U.S. to the Middle East…
I wouldn’t advise buying points for the sake of it. As we saw last year with the Emirates devaluation, point values can erode very quickly. But if you have a trip in mind, see the availability, and these points would help you reach your goals…this is a very good offer and price to make it happen!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.