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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 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 ever since, and that offer comes and goes. Right now, the offer is back up to 60% for some people. I was actually targeted for just 50%, but there are reports of people getting 60%.
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 so this isn’t quite the best we’ve ever seen, but pretty good.
Buy miles now with up to a 50% bonus through 05/21/23
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 and 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…50k + 30k bonus. You can repeat the purchase again and again to add as many points as you want with a bonus.
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 150k total with a a 50% bonus. I would split them into two purchases:
- Buy 50k with 60% bonus = 80k
- Buy 50 with a 60% bonus = 80k
- Buy 50k with 60% bonus = 80k
- Max Total = 240k
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. For instance, I flew to Australia in Qantas First Class for 70k miles, but these are very hard to come by.
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.
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
With much of the world still under lockdown make sure you search for award availability prior to buying points. Many of these partners, while offering incredible redemption options, have quite strict rules.
- To Asia
- Cathay Biz is 50k One way
- Cathy First is 70k One way
- Japan Biz to Japan
- 60k from West Coast
- 80k from East Coast
- Japan First to Asia
- 85k from West Coast
- 100k from East Coast
- 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 65k
- 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 85k from West Coast
Interested? You can go here to purchase.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
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
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
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
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.
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