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I’m not alone in this desire.
Yesterday I wrote a post about re-qualifying for Alaska Airlines top tier MVPG75. One complaint I’d read about, and then experienced first hand, was the ill-timed status expiration of Alaska’s status. Their status expires at the year-end, December 31st. The problem with this is that any Mileage Plan members whose travel qualifies them for status in December won’t have it in early January. Any travel booked during this window doesn’t reflect the status which they achieved in the prior year. I was just MVP Gold through January 14th because my partner flights hadn’t credited yet. I didn’t fly during that time frame, but if I had, I would’ve been beat out for upgrades, and not given benefits reflective of the status I’d earned. The easy fix? Extend status, like other airlines, until January 31st.
Here’s a snapshot of my American Airlines Executive Platinum status: expiration January 31st.
I wouldn’t ask Alaska to emulate many things when it comes to American, but this is one of them. It allows a solid 31 days for any prior year status discrepancies to be resolved.
Erica commented on my post yesterday with her situation. It was similar to mine, but worse.
This is a pain in the butt for everyone. Not just Erica, who could be missing out on upgrades, but all of the Alaska reps who have to manually adjust everything. If Alaska would simply extend the status by 31 day, it would rectify this situation.
It makes sense given Alaska’s policy on missing partner flight credit.
Take my situation. I had flights on December 27th, 30th, and 31st. The flights on the 27th and 30th were with partners. Here’s a snapshot of Alaska’s own website that highlights their terms regarding requesting credit.
You must wait 14 days to even request missing credit.
Then it can take another two weeks for those flights to post.
I’ve never had to wait this long for flights to post, typically it’s taken just a couple of days, but I have had instances where more information was needed and it took a week after my initial contact.
If Alaska is going to say it could take nearly 4 weeks for flights to credit, they should extend status to insulate those loyalists who have regained status, and are merely waiting for their accounts to reflect it.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
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.
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