DEAL: BUY Alaska Air MILES with up to A 60% Bonus (1.85 CTS/MILE) UNTIL AUG 15TH

Fly Qantas’ Business Class with Alaska Air miles (Source)

Through Thursday, August 15, 2024, the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program is offering a bonus on purchased miles. It’s possible that different members will be targeted for different offers, though all the accounts we manage show a bonus of up to 60%. You’ll have to log into your account to see what you’re eligible for. The bonus offer of up to 60% is structured as follows:

• Buy 3,000-19,000 miles, get a 40% bonus

• Buy 20,000-39,000 miles, get a 50% bonus

• Buy 40,000-100,000 miles, get a 60% bonus

How Much Does It Cost to Buy Alaska Mileage Plan Miles?

Ordinarily, you can buy Alaska Mileage Plan miles for 2.75 cents each pre-tax, before any discounts or bonuses. If you are eligible for the 60% bonus and purchase 100,000 Mileage Plan miles pre-bonus, you’d receive a total of 160,000 Mileage Plan miles at a cost of $2,956.25, which is a rate of 1.85 cents per Mileage Plan mile.

Typically, when we see promotions on purchased Alaska miles, the bonus is in the range of 40-60%. So the 60% bonus is among the better offers that we see from the program.

How Many Mileage Plan Miles Can You Purchase?

The number of Alaska miles you can buy depends on your status:

• Alaska Mileage Plan elite members (MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K) can purchase an unlimited number of miles.

• Alaska Mileage Plan non-elite members can purchase up to 150,000 miles per calendar year; that limit doesn’t include the bonus miles.

Note that in all cases you’re limited to purchasing 100,000 Mileage Plan miles per transaction (pre-bonus), though you can always make multiple transactions. Furthermore, you can only purchase miles if you’ve been a member of Mileage Plan for at least 10 days.

Is Buying Alaska Mileage Plan Miles Worth It?

The Alaska Mileage Plan program recently underwent some major changes, introducing new zone and distance-based award pricing. These changes are a mixed bag, though on balance there’s still a lot of value with the Mileage Plan program:

• Alaska Mileage Plan has attractive award redemption rates, especially when you’re traveling shorter distances; there’s not a better value program for short-haul premium cabin awards.

• Alaska Mileage Plan has a unique array of airline partners — the airline belongs to the oneworld alliance, so has lots of partners within the alliance, but also has several non-oneworld partners, ranging from Condor, to Fiji Airways, to Icelandair, to LATAM, to Singapore Airlines.

• Alaska Mileage Plan allows stopovers on award tickets, which most programs don’t allow nowadays; this can stretch your miles a lot further.

• Miles are sold at a reasonable price and can be bought in large quantities, making this a great program for “starting from scratch” and saving money on a premium international ticket.

Fly Starlux’ First Class with Alaska Air miles (Source)

So yes, we think there are many situations where there’s huge value in buying Mileage Plan miles, especially if you find premium cabin award space on airlines like Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qantas, etc.

On What Airlines Can You Redeem Alaska Mileage Plan Miles?

Currently, it’s possible to redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles on the following partner airlines:

• Aer Lingus

• Air Tahiti Nui

• American Airlines

• British Airways

• Cathay Pacific

• Condor

• EL AL

• Fiji Airways

• Finnair

• Hainan Airlines

• Iberia

• Icelandair

• Japan Airlines

• Korean Air

• LATAM

• Malaysia Airlines

• Qantas

• Qatar Airways

• Royal Air Maroc

• Royal Jordanian

• Singapore Airlines

• SriLankan Airlines

• Starlux Airlines

What Are Good Uses of Alaska Mileage Plan Miles?

With the changes we recently saw to the Alaska Mileage Plan program, the sweet spots are totally different than before. In the past, the program was best for long-haul premium cabin awards, while now the program is best for short-haul awards in all cabins. There’s lots of value to be had for partner redemptions, especially on shorter trips. In many ways, Mileage Plan is now a competitor to programs like British Airways Executive Club, which have lucrative distance-based pricing.

Tip: Take Advantage of Alaska’s Stopover Policy

One of our favorite aspects of Alaska Mileage Plan miles is that you’re allowed a stopover on a partner award ticket without paying additional miles. Since you’re allowed a stopover even on a one-way, this means you could have two stopovers on a roundtrip award.

Nowadays, most airline loyalty programs have eliminated free stopovers on award tickets, so this is something that really sets the program apart. The only exception is that stopovers aren’t allowed if your award is exclusively for travel within Asia.

Fly JAL’s fantastic new business class on their A350-1000s (Source)

Are There Fuel Surcharges on Alaska Mileage Plan Awards?

Many consumers are frustrated by the practice of airlines adding carrier-imposed surcharges to award tickets. In the case of Mileage Plan, most partners don’t have these surcharges. However, there are surcharges for travel on British Airways, Hainan Airlines, and Icelandair, which is something to keep in mind.

How Much Are Alaska Mileage Plan Miles Worth?

Everyone will value mileage currencies differently, but we value Alaska Mileage Plan miles at ~1.5 cents each, which is in line with the highest we value any single airline mileage currency. We tend to value points pretty conservatively, and there are many ways to get more value from Mileage Plan miles than that.

Do Alaska Mileage Plan Miles Expire?

Alaska Mileage Plan miles don’t expire as long as you have at least some account activity once every 24 months. Account activity could include earning or redeeming miles.

Bottom Line

Alaska Mileage Plan is one of the most lucrative loyalty programs to buy miles from, thanks to the excellent redemption rates, stopovers on one-way awards, and variety of partners. Mileage Plan is offering a bonus on purchased miles, and it appears that the standard offer is for up to a 60% bonus. This is an opportunity to pick up miles for around 1.85 cents each. There’s lots of value to be had with this offer if you’re being strategic, though admittedly not all sweet spots are as good as they used to be. Everyone should crunch the numbers for themselves, and we’d only make a purchase with a specific use in mind.