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Until March 17th Alaska is offering up to a 40% bonus on purchased miles
The reasons you want to buy miles are very simple.
- You need to shore up your balance in order to book a trip you have plans to make, or will make.
- Buying points is a discounted way to access aspirational flights ( business and first class )
- Buying points is cheaper than paying for a ticket on its own, even in economy.
If you don’t identify with one of those three reasons. You don’t need to buy points. A bigger balance is simply a risk you’ll get hurt if those points are devalued.
Alaska Airlines is one of the best ways to accomplish these purposes and why I promote their point sales every single time. While 40% isn’t the best ever, that’s 50%, is does price their points at 2.1 cents a piece. A very competitive price and one I’ve taken advantage of in the past.
Alaska partners with some of the best airlines in the world offering incredible, jawdropping experiences in both business and first class. Experiences I’ve actually reviewed and can’t wait to do again. Those experiences are why I’ve been loyal to the brand for my paid tickets as well. I spent two years as a top tier, MVP Gold 75k, and currently maintain Gold status.
I’ve flown the likes of Cathay Pacific First Class, Japan Airlines First Class, Qantas First Class all with Alaska Miles. I want to use them to fly Korean Air, Hainan, FinnAir, and IcelandAir.
Here’s a look at the deal:
As you can see you need to buy 20k for the 40% bonus to kick in.
Miles… I want to see what you’re talking about when you say aspirational premium product.
Cathay Pacific First Class – 70k Alaska Miles or $1470 purchasing them with a 40% bonus
Cathay Pacific Business Class for 50k points
Japan Airlines First Class for 70k points
I’d never recommend buying points speculatively, but price it out.
I flew to Australia in Qantas First Class for 70k miles. That ticket sells for north of $10k easily, and with points…under $1500. Obviously this is an extreme example, but look into what these flights cost in Economy. It may not be $1500 one way, but it ain’t cheap.
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.
You need to buy a minimum of 20k miles for the 40% bonus to kick in.
- Buy 20k and get 40% bonus
- *some are targeted for 10k
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.
Alaska also allows you to book in a stopover on Award tickets.
I used the stopover feature last year to spend 3 nights in Hong Kong at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong – booked with Prive benefits.
Here’s a list of some of the best redemptions you can make with 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 is 50k
- Korean Air Business ( r/t ) is 105k ( 120K S.E. Asia )
- Europe
- AA Biz – 57.5k
- AA First – 85k
- BA Biz is 60k
- BA First is 70k
- FinnAir is 70k
- Iceland Air is 50k to Iceland, 55k to Europe
- Middle East
- BA Biz is 70k
- BA First is 80k
- 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 ( great way to build in a stopover )
- Fiji Biz is 55k
- 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 the 40% bonus.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 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℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
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.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
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.
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