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Is a premium Alaska Visa Signature Card coming?
A few weeks ago I wrote about an online survey I took that provided the opportunity to win 10k Alaska points for taking the survey. In total the survey took maybe 10-15 minutes to complete and one of the questions I was asked was in regards to my interest in upgrading to a new Alaska Visa Signature Card. It’d have “more benefits and a higher annual fee.” I marked “very interested, number 7.” I currently have an Alaska card for each of my two businesses. If a co-branded card would come out that would provide more bennies…particularly the ability to earn Alaskan EQM for spend…I’d do it in a heartbeat.
The survey question that piqued my interest
This is certainly no indication that a new card is coming, but I’d say it does indicate that they are putting their toe in the water.
For me, the biggest incentive would be the ability to earn Elite Qualifying Miles for Alaska.
Alaska has great mileage bonuses for their elites, and I think a pretty good network of partners ( with great bonuses on them as well). Alaska’s MVP Gold and MVP75 give an amazing 100% and 125% bonus on miles flown, respectively. Inching closer to qualifying for those status levels through spend, and not having to put my butt in a seat, would be great. Additionally, MVP75 even gives a 50k point bonus when you re-qualify. Those EQMs are mega valuable not just for perks while flying, but for earning tons of bonus miles.
Since Alaska has a different qualifying structure whether the you earn your EQM through Alaska Metal or Partner metal a REALLY cool spend based perk would be stripping that differentiation. Other airlines have credit partners that eliminate the EQD requirement for their status. Instead of this EQD waiver, Alaska could offer status based off of total EQM flown regardless of how they were earned, i.e. – Earn 50k EQM and get MVP Gold, etc.
This is what I’d love to see :
- Spend $25k on an Alaska premium card and earn 5k Bonus EQMs, and so on…
- Spend $25k and the differentiation between Alaska Metal and Partner drops.
- Earn 10% back on redeemed miles
- $195 annual fee.
Of course, other benefits like Global Entry fee reimbursement, checked bags, priority boarding, companion certificates would all be nice too, but it’s obtaining and maintaining status that intrigues me the most.
What’s the competition offering?
Here’s a look at the Barclay Aviator Silver ( their premium co-brand with AA) and its added benefits. Particularly the EQM
As you can see below, the card earns EQM and EQD off of spend. Alaska has no EQD requirements, but I’d gladly put spend through a credit card (think taxes) to earn very valuable EQM alongside Alaska Miles.
- 5k EQM for each $20k spend, up to 10k EQM
- 10% back up on redeemed points per year, up to 10k a year.
The Delta Platinum Amex gives you the opportunity to earn MQM ( their version of EQM) through spend as well.
- 10k MQM after $25k spend, an additional 10k after another $25k spend.
Other than the no longer publicly available United Presidential Plus card – there isn’t a United card that offers PQM. However…you can earn a PQD waiver through spend.
If Alaska were to offer a premium card, would you be interested, and what perks would be most beneficial?
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
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
- 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.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.