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Reminder – Buy Alaska miles with up to a 50% bonus.

Cathay Pacific Business Class A350 Brisbane to Hong Kong

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Alaska Air Mileage Plan is running a mystery bonus promotion that could get you miles for 1.97 cents a piece.

I’m a big fan of Alaska, even carry their top tier status, but when I see miles discounted this much, I’m tempted to add to my balance. It used to be that Alaska would do a quarterly bonus on purchased miles. Now, they seem to have a new promotion that starts within 6-8 weeks of the last one ending. ( If you’re keeping track it was for 40%).   The biggest reason these point sales are so valuable is the ability to use the points to buy insanely 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. The deal goes until October 4th, 2018

Of course, I never recommend buying any points currency on speculation. So only buy if you foresee a good use for them.

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If you’re targeted for a 50% bonus on purchased Alaska Miles you’ll see this:

It’s tiered meaning to more you buy, the bigger the bonus:

  • Buy 10,000-19,000 miles, receive a 20% bonus
  • Buy 20,000-39,000 miles, receive a 35% bonus
  • Buy 40,000-60,000 miles, receive a 50% bonus

Buy Alaska Miles with up to a 50% Bonus

I’d never recommend buying points speculatively, but price it out.

But 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…under $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.

a seat in an airplaneYou 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, just the total you can purchase at one time. In this case…60k + 30k bonus.

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.

a room with a view of water and boats

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
  • 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
    • 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
  • 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.

a man sitting on a chair with his arms raised

Japan Airlines First Class for 80k

a stuffed animal in a chair

Interested? You can go here to purchase with up to a 50% bonus until October 4th .

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

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$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 3x on dining
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  • 3x on select streaming services
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  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel Portal
  • 2x on all other travel
  • $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via 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.
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  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
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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.

6 Comments

  • Sonny September 24, 2018

    Hi, nice post.
    What about South America? Can you book a ticket with Alaska miles to fly with LATAM, British, iberia or AA from South America? For example Argentina?

    Thanks

    • Miles September 24, 2018

      Sonny – I’d recommend you checking out our Alaska booking article https://monkeymiles.boardingarea.com/tips-booking-alaska-airlines-award-flights-like-pro/ – the long and short is yes you can on LATAM but you need to pay close attention to flight numbers. AS shoudl have access to AA saaver space, you can’t redeem on iberia, but you can on BA. I’m actually using AS to fly back from EZE on AA later this year

      • Sonny September 24, 2018

        Great I’m reading your older post right now!
        1- How many Alaska Airlines miles did cost yoy fly from EZE tu Us? Will you flight to MIA, NY or Dallas?
        2- You didn’t find ticket reward with LATAM or you just prefer AA? Latam demands yoy more miles than AA?
        3- If I create a new AS account with 0 (zero) miles. May I simulate an award search with flights of LA, AA?

        Thanks!!

      • Sonny September 24, 2018

        I add another one…
        Can you book one way with AS miles flying with AA, Latam and others?

        Because for example with Latam miles you can’t book one way (at least on international flights). Has to be roundtrip.

  • yy September 24, 2018

    What is that tax recovery fee and is there any way to avoid it?

    • Miles September 24, 2018

      Depends on the carrier – BA is high, QF low, CX decent ( $100ish ), JL low

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