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Alaska Air announces more crossover benefits with Virgin America
Alaska has been very proactive and communicative with their members regarding the merger with Virgin America. I woke up today with an email announcing more crossover benefits between the two companies as they continue to co-exist under the same umbrella. Let’s take a look at what new benefits we can enjoy, and what we have to look forward to later in the year.
Most members want their elite status to be reciprocal. Alaska is taking steps to make that happen. Here’s what you can enjoy now
- Priority Check-in
- Priority Boarding
What’s coming later on in the year?
- Free bags
- Comped premium seat selection
- Paid 1st class upgrades
It isn’t listed but I would hope that complimentary upgrades would roll out as well
Some tips…
- Check in with the airline OPERATING the flight. This means you could have booked on Alaska, but will fly on Virgin. Check in with Virgin
- Preferred seating isn’t reciprocally comped yet for elites. So use your confirmation code
Overall
I’m impressed with how Alaska is handling the merger. Both airlines have very loyal customers and have treated them like partners throughout the process. The increased earning potential that Alaska has in place through the rest of the year on its partners is INSANE, and the airline’s loyalty program still earns a mile for every mile flown. At a minimum. That’s fantastic! Kudos to you Alaska. You’re upholding a great program and communicating changes well ( aside from that crazy Emirates deval).
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.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
80k offer in branch currently – I think this should be online soon
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
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.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 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 Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. 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.
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