Cool: Alaska Airlines Gives All Employees 90K Miles

Alaska Airlines is celebrating its 90th anniversary in a way that will make anyone who is into miles jealous.

Alaska celebrates 90th anniversary with 90K miles

Alaska Airlines is celebrating its 90th anniversary and is giving all of its employees 90,000 mileage plan miles. This gesture is described by Alaska Airlines.

While many of us were instructed to stay home during the pandemic, airline employees were part of the essential workforce who remained on the front lines. Each day brought new challenges, regulations and precautions that our people had to carefully navigate while continuing to care for our guests, communities and each other.

As we inch our way to a new normal — happily seeing travelers’ pent-up desire to hop on a plane — Alaska is taking a moment to thank each employee for their relentless commitment to caring for our guests for 90 years & counting by giving them 90,000 miles to fly anywhere in the world.

I value mileage plan miles at 1.7 cents each, so I would value 180,000 miles at $1,530 I think the airline is accounting for the cost of miles at around one cent per mile.

Roughly two billion Mileage Plan miles will be issued by Alaska Airlines. Since there will be tax implications with this gift, it's possible some employees don't want the miles.

This is the first time that Alaska Airlines has offered employees miles in this way, but Southwest Airlines will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in the year 2021.

Are miles really worth it for airline employees?

Free or heavily discounted travel is one of the perks of working in the airline industry. Employees of Alaska Airlines are paid.

• Free or heavily discounted travel on Alaska Airlines (taxes & fees still apply)
• Heavily discounted travel on many other airlines

If you have flown recently, you know that flights are very full. It can be difficult to plan travel around non-revenue travel since you could end up getting denied for several flights.

It's a great perk to get miles that can be used for travel. Employees may want to use their miles for travel. Oneworld airlines and some other partners can be redeemed on the Mileage Plan. Some people might want to give these to friends and family members who don't get the same travel benefits.

Premium travel on partner airlines is where you'll get the most bang for your buck with mileage plan miles. There is a guide to redemption of mileage plan miles here.

If I were an Alaska Airlines employee, I would want to redeem my miles for business and first class travel to Australia or Asia. It can be difficult to find award availability, but it is an unbeatable use of mileage plan miles.

Bottom line

The employees of Alaska Airlines have been given 90K miles to celebrate the carrier's 90th anniversary and to thank them for their hard work during the swine flu epidemic. Airlines already give travel benefits to their employees, so this will be useful for many. Some Alaska employees might be able to maximize their miles for international travel.

What do you think about Alaska giving mileage gifts to employees?