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Buy Alaska Miles and get a 60% bonus
I’m a big fan of Alaska Airlines, carry Elite status, and when I see miles discounted, I’m always tempted to add to my balance. First off, prior to covid, a 50% bonus was Alaska’s best deal on purchasing miles, and 60% has been the best public offer since. I would point out some have received targeted 70% bonuses, but those were highly targeted and required having purchased massive amounts of points in the past to qualify. For everyone else…60% is the best we’ve seen.
Buy miles now with up to a 60% through 05/22/21
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.
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.
Buy Here
The 60% bonus on purchased Alaska Miles is tiered so you’ll see this:
The more you buy, the bigger the bonus. It’s actually a pretty good deal if you can’t buy more than 40k points since these levels are usually tied to lower bonuses.
- 3k – 14k = 40% bonus
- 15k to 100k = 50% bonus
You can purchase up to 100k with a 60k bonus ( 1.85c per point ) In a single purchase
I will note that you are limited to 100k + 60k 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. In this case…100k + 60k bonus.
If you don’t have Elite status, you are limited to 150k miles per year. ( This includes bonus points, so you’d be limited to buying under 150k total – so you’d want to buy 90k to max out the deal ).
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, 20201. 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.
- Alaska Airlines Elites has complimentary access to preferred seats including main cabin extra on all AA flights
- All flight credits due to expire July 5th, 2021 will be extended to Dec 31, 2021
- This means you must book by 12/31/21 and travel by 11/26/22
- 50% Elite miles on Alaska flights until June 2021
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 ( $1132 at a 70% bonus ). 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.
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
- 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
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I’ve purchased Alaska miles in the past and won’t do it again. Problem #1 is with trying to book international business class on partner airlines to Europe. With Alaska, there can be up to four flight segments and only one domestic segment will be in business or first class. The rest are in economy. It’s next to impossible to get a transatlantic segment in business class. Rarely, a British Airways transatlantic segment is available in business (or even premium economy), but the surcharges are rediculous—that’s problem #2. When using United Miles, on the other hand, the international flight is always in business class but the domestic legs will be in economy.
Thank you for the article! I’ve only been targeted for a 50% bonus. Is there a way I can influence that? I live in Alaska and have tickets I’d like to buy for myself and my daughter to Ohio in June.
That’s obviously a huge bonus. Thank You
It is up to 50% miles, I personally am targeted for 40%. I have MVP Gold Status as well
“Enjoy 40% bonus miles on your purchase when you buy miles now through August 26, 2020.”
That’s obviously a huge bonus. Great
I got their email and am excited to buy some points! What is the expiration policy with Alaska if we want to bank the miles for a trip in Fall 2021?
You just need some activity every 24 months. Between mileage purchases, shopping portals, dining miles, affiliated credit cards, etc, you should be good even if your trip plans change.
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).
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
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!
+1.
Your list is great, and thanks for making it. Putting a brief note next to some of the redemption options would be fair, though. Sure, we know that Cathay only will sell Alaska one first class award seat per flight, Finnair business class space and Qantas first class space for two people are almost impossibly rare, and BA has eye watering fuel surcharges, but newcomers may not know these things. Then they feel burned that they were advised to buy miles for this amazing redemption without being told about the drawbacks. I genuinely like your blog and your enthusiasm, but think that maybe some brief mentions of drawbacks would be the way to go.
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!
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