Deals

Ends October 5th: Buy Alaska Miles with up to a 50% bonus.

a stuffed animal in a chair

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. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


Alaska Air Mileage Plan is running a mystery bonus promotion that could get you miles for 1.97 cents a piece.

It used to be that Alaska would do a quarterly bonus on purchased miles. Now, they seem to have a promotion running every 6-8 weeks – goes to show you how much money they must be making off point sales. This new promotion is tiered depending on what you’re targeted for: 35%, 40%, or 50%. This is a good thing for those of us who are looking to snag a sweet deal on one of THE BEST airline currencies out there, and it’s especially sweet if you were targeted for the 50%.

a blue and white background with text

I was targeted for a 50% bonus on purchased Alaska Miles

a white background with blue text

This is a fantastic deal if you’re thinking of taking a long haul premium cabin flight.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of how it could makes great sense to buy miles for redemption. Remember you can book in a stopover on the way to maximize the places you see!

With a 50% bonus you could buy Cathay Biz from the U.S. to Asia for $1000. That’s incredible.

a stuffed animal on a pillow

Here’s a list of great award prices that will allow you to BUY the flight with miles CHEAPER than purchasing a ticket

  • To Asia
    • Cathay Biz is 50k One way
    • Cathy First is 70k One way
    • AA Biz to China is 55k
    • AA Biz to Japan is 50k
    • AA First to China is 67.5k
    • AA First to Japan is 62.5k
    • Japan Biz to Asia is 60k
    • Japan First to Asia is 70k
    • Japan Biz to S.E. Asia is 65k
    • Japan First to S.E. Asia is 75k
  • Europe
    • AA Biz is 50k,
    • AA First is 62.5k
    • BA Biz is 60k
    • BA First is 70k
  • Middle East
    • BA Biz is 70k
    • BA First is 80k
    • Cathay Business is 62.5k 
    • Cathay First is 70k
  • Australia
    • Qantas Biz is 55k
    • Qantas First is 70k
    • Cathay Biz is 60k
    • Cathay First is 80k
    • Fiji Biz is 55k

80k to fly FIRST CLASS US –> Hong Kong —> Australia is incredible.

a seat with a pillow on it

The promotion runs until October 5, 2017
a text on a white backgroundSee what bonus you were targeted for by clicking here!

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

a blue credit card with blue lines and white text

Learn More

 Affiliate link 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
    • Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
  • 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 2x on all other travel
  • 10% Anniversary Bonus
    • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
  • Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
  • $95 Annual Fee

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners

Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.

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.

4 Comments

  • Glenn September 27, 2017

    Can you do FIRST CLASS US –> Singapore —> Australia – New Zealand —> US on CX for 160K miles?

    • Kory September 27, 2017

      @Glenn, no. You can do US-HKG-Aus/NZ and back, but not Singapore as that route would be served by Cathay which stops in HKG. But easy to add the free stopover in HKG, then just book a separate revenue ticket from HKG-SIN.

      I just flew biz from SFO-HKG-ADL on biz for 70k on Cathay last week, then a return trip a couple days ago from SYD-HKG-SFO in first class (SYD-HKG was in biz because aircraft doesn’t offer a first but the HKg-SFO portion was in first). $150K points RT, i bought some miles using the 50% bonus to top off my account for the return flight home. Fantastic value IMO if you find award availability.

    • Miles September 27, 2017

      Hey Glenn – Kory is spot on. Another option would be US-HKG-SIN on cx then use United to fly Thai SIN-BKK-SYD 30/40k biz/1st and Then cx akl-Hkg-US. Would be a cool way to experience Thai First at a great price. You could also try and fly on Qantas back…using AS

  • ss August 22, 2017

    Thanks for the list, I’ve been wanting to do that for myself.

Leave a Reply to ss Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.