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Alaska Air Mileage Plan is selling miles with a 40% bonus or 2.15 cents a piece.
I’m a big fan of Alaska, carry Elite status, but when I see miles discounted, I’m always tempted to add to my balance. Right now, with so much speculation in travel, I won’t be a buyer, but if you’re looking far out into the calendar…it would be worthwhile to you.
It used to be that you could buy Alaska miles with a bonus every few months, then 6-8 weeks, and now, they seem to have a new promotion that start a couple of weeks after the last one ending. ( If you’re keeping track there was a 50% bonus that ended in December, and a 40% that ended mid Feb ).
The biggest reason you want to buy Alaska Miles is it opens up the ability to use the points to redeem expensive business and first class flights for 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.
The deal goes until March 25th, 2020, and if you buy more than 14k miles, you’ll get a 40% bonus, or 2.15c per point.
Of course, I never recommend buying any points, regardless of program, on speculation. So only buy if you foresee a good use for them in the near future.
Click here to check your offer and purchase
The 40% bonus on purchased Alaska Miles is tiered so you’ll see this:
The more you buy, the bigger the bonus. This is actually the lowest entry point at 14k that I recall seeing. In the past this number has been at 40k+ so although the offer isn’t an all time high of 50%, you can access it at a lower entry point
- Buy 0 to 19k = no bonus
- 19k+ = 40% bonus
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. For instance, I flew to Australia in Qantas First Class for 70k miles. That ticket sells for north of $10k easily, and with points…roughly $1400. Obviously this is an extreme example, but it works for a domestic flights as well. Often times Alaska will have a one way premium transcon flight priced over $1000…but also priced at 25k points. Easy redemption there.
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. In this case…60k + 24k bonus.
If you don’t have Elite status, you are limited to 150k miles per year.
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 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’s a list of some of the best redemptions and why you may want to consider buying Alaska Miles
Check out Cathay Biz and First to Africa and Australia – unreal deals.
- To Asia
- Cathay Biz is 50k One way
- Cathy First is 70k One way
- 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
- Hainan Business Class is 50k
- Korean Airlines is 52.5k ( must be booked roundtrip, read this post for details )
- Europe
- AA Biz is 57.5k
- AA First is 80k
- FinnAir is 70k
- BA Biz is 60k
- BA First is 70k
- Middle East
- BA Biz is 70k
- BA First is 80k
- Emirates Business is 82.5k
- Emirates First is 150k
- Cathay Business is 62.5k
- Cathay First is 70k
- Australia – 70k miles to fly First Class from the States to Australia!
- Qantas Biz is 55k
- Qantas First is 70k
- Cathay Biz is 60k
- Cathay First is 80k
- Fiji Biz is 55k
- Korean Airlines for 125k roundtrip in Biz
- Africa
- British Airways Biz is 70k
- British Airways First is 80k
- Cathay Biz is 62.5k
- Cathay First is 70k
A few of my favorite Alaska redemptions
Cathay Pacific First Class for 70k miles.
Japan Airlines First Class for 80k
Interested? You can go here to purchase with up to a 40% bonus until September 22nd .
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If I get approved on Alaska Airlines Visa Signature that requires $1000 total purchase within 90 days, can I use that to pay for purchasing miles with 50% bonus and earn both bonus miles and current offer of 30k for meeting purchase requirements within 90 days?
yep! make sure you see if you’re targeted for the 40k offer too
Be aware of the new terms and conditions Alaska Air has put in place:
Your Mileage Plan account may be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles acquired through Points.com in a calendar year, whether purchased by you or gifted to you. MVP, MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75K
Absolutely true and when I updated the post I forgot to update those terms. Corrected now. thank you!
I’d love a breakdown of the redemptions listed above based on how hard they are to get. We all know the Australia F on Q is as rare as a unicorn (I scored one myself, but it took a year of trying and I ended up having to toss it back). But, I’m sure some of these options are relatively easy and I’m sure I’m among many who are willing to go almost anywhere if the price is right and it doesn’t take 20+ hours of playing around online (or, even worse, on the phone) to get the deal. Thanks!
Would be helpful to recommend best credit cards for purchasing–does Alaska use Points.com or will using the Alaska CC provide additional benefits?
Hey Gilly – its processed via points.com so pretty much universally 1x – some have gotten 3x with Ink Business Preferred but by my understanding that no longer exists
After helping us last year, the lightbulb went on and we just took advantage of this and more for Japan Gameshow Trip 2.0! For just over $1.5k, purchased 70k miles + $18 award fee to book a First Class(!!!) JAL flight from SFO to Haneda on a Sat. Then transferred Chase Points to United because there was a 72.5k + $50 fee offer on ANA Biz from Haneda to SFO. Had been hoping to even find an 83.5k chance for Biz so how lucky to come across this, right?
Prior to this, Barrie had found an economy flight on JAL for over $1.4k and for less than $200 more can now travel First and Biz. The cash cost of these flights would’ve cost almost $21k. I really struggled how to figure out the whole points and partners system last year and thank you for your patience, help searching and for educating me so I felt confident enough to do this myself this time around.
I highly recommend Miles/Zach’s services to make the most of planning a trip with miles and/or points. And to start early on with this blog to understand how to earn those with credit card(s).