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Buy Alaska Miles and get up to a 60% bonus
I’m a big fan of Alaska Airlines, carry Elite status, and think they offer one of the most valuable airline miles. That doesn’t mean it’s worth speculatively buying them, but when the bonus is high, and you have a need to shore up your account, it can be an opportune time to strike.
A little history: 70% has been the best public offer, and over the past few years that offer has popped up a few times. We see 60% bonus quite frequently, and this current offer is similar to one they presented a few years ago that allows you to buy today with up to a 60% bonus, and then a 70% bonus later in the year. Only those who buy now will have access to the 70% offer later ( so they say ).
I will note that we saw a 70% bonus in March of this year without the special trigger, so take that how you will. Alaska also changed their award chart March 1st, and have had some bad press, so they’ve been selling points with larger bonuses ever since.
The biggest reason you want to consider buying Alaska Miles is to use them for to fly expensive business and first class flights redemptions at a fraction of the cost. Most of you already know about this strategy, but keep reading as I explain what I’m talking about in more detail.
Only buy if you foresee a good use for them in the near future.
Buy Here, up to 60% bonus ( 1.72 c per point )
The offer is tiered depending on how many you purchase.
In October per the terms, you’ll have access to a 70% bonus on purchased Alaska Miles
100k with a 70k bonus ( 1.61c per point ) In a single purchase looks like this:
- I will note that you are limited to 100k + 70k purchases in a single purchase, and how many purchases you can make is dependent on your elite status.
If you have elite status with Alaska Airlines, you can repeat the purchase as many times as you want to fill your account with the desired miles you need.
Unlike some other airlines, Alaska will not limit the total amount of miles you can purchase for their elites, just the total you can purchase at one time. If you don’t have Elite status, you are limited to 150k miles per year whether those are bought or gifted to you. ( This does not include bonus points, so you’d be limited to buying 160k total with a a 60% bonus. I would split them into two purchases:
How long do Alaska miles take to populate your account
Most of the time, they populate instantaneously. However, don’t count on it. I wrote an entire post dedicated to my issue with this, and the miles took a little over 24 hours to end up in my account. It could end up longer.
Alaska Airlines is a part of One World
In 2020 Alaska Airlines announced that they were joining One World. This became official on March 31st, 2021. There is also improved benefits when flying domestically on American, including upgrades for Elites, lounge access, etc. In my opinion, it’s never been better to have Alaska Elite Status. Read the in depth break down here.
Again. I’d never recommend buying points speculatively, but price it out. Miles…do you buy Alaska Miles? Yes, we have!
When offers come up to get valuable points at a discount, I always think it’s worth considering when planning a trip. Often times simply buying points can result in a cheaper out of pocket cost than just buying the flights outright.
Alaska also allows you to book in a stopover on Award tickets.
I used the stopover to spend 3 nights in Hong Kong at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong – booked with Prive benefits.
We flew on their A350 from BNE to HKG and then HKG to LAX aboard Cathay Pacific First Class. Cathay’s Business Class is a wonderful product featuring reverse herringbone, cirrus seating that is amongst the tops in the world.
Here are the Alaska Award Charts
Interested? You can go here to purchase.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
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