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Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is one of my favorite programs to buy miles from, both thanks to the frequency with which they sell miles, and what a good deal their redemptions can be.
Last week Alaska Mileage Plan launched their latest promotion on purchased miles. This is in line with their best offer ever, which we only saw once before.
This promotion was supposed to expire yesterday, but this is a heads up that it has just been extended for an additional two days. If you were interested in buying miles but haven't yet done so, you have until tomorrow.
Through Tuesday, June 30, 2020, Alaska is offering a bonus on the purchase of miles. Generally Alaska's bonuses on purchased miles are targeted, so different accounts may see different offers.
In this case I'm targeted for up to a 60% bonus on purchased miles, which is huge. Prior to this spring, the biggest bonus we ever saw on purchased miles was for 50%.
Others may see a different bonus, so you'll have to log into your Mileage Plan account to see what your account shows. Presumably some people who weren't targeted for a 60% bonus last time will be targeted for it this time around.
My version of the promotion is tiered, as follows:
Historically Alaska Mileage Plan seems to offer anywhere between 35% and 50% bonuses on purchased miles. When they offer that deal, the price per purchased mile ranges from ~1.97 with a 50% bonus, to ~2.19 cents with a 35% bonus.
This 60% bonus offers a significantly lower cost. If you're eligible for a 60% bonus on purchased miles then you could buy 160,000 miles at a cost of $2,750, which is ~1.72 cents per mile.
Not only is Alaska offering the biggest bonus ever on purchased miles, but there also currently aren't any federal excise taxes on buying points, lowering the cost even more.
The maximum number of miles you can purchase per transaction is 100,000 pre-bonus (this is new, because the maximum used to be 60,000), and you can purchase a total of up to 150,000 miles per calendar year. However, if you're an Alaska elite member there's no limit to how many miles you can buy.
In general, you always want to think about how you'll use these miles, and the potential value for converting your cash to points before you make any purchases.
There are several unique elements to the Mileage Plan program, which means buying miles with Alaska can be a very good deal. I wouldn't purchase miles for domestic economy flights in most cases, as the best values are typically for their international awards - make sure to check out my guide on the best uses of Alaska Airlines miles for more details and some examples of great values to be had.
This is something that makes Mileage Plan really unique, as Alaska allows stopovers even on most one-way award tickets.
Do note that they recently added restrictions to this, though, and they no longer allow stopovers on awards within Asia (though they do allow stopovers on awards between Asia and other regions).
Flying from New York to Singapore via Hong Kong? You can stop in Hong Kong for a few days (for no additional miles).
Flying from Dallas to Dubai to the Maldives? You can stop in Dubai (again, for no additional miles).
Flying from Los Angeles to Auckland via Fiji? You can stop in Fiji and have two vacations in one.
I can't think of another lucrative frequent flyer program that offers complimentary stopovers on one-way awards booked on partner airlines.
Keep in mind this also means that if you're flying roundtrip and booking as two one-ways, you can actually do two stopovers - one in each direction.
There are lots of people who frequently take advantage of these promotions, and one thing that has long made Alaska Mileage Plan unique is that they've had no limit on how many miles you can purchase. While there was a limit on how many miles you could buy per transaction, you could make as many transactions as you'd like.
Alaska Mileage Plan limits non-elite members to buying 150,000 miles per calendar year. Meanwhile elite Mileage Plan members (MVP, MVP Gold, and MVP Gold 75K) continue to not have a limit on how many miles they can buy.
Here's how Alaska describes the terms for buying miles:
Your Mileage Plan account may be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles acquired through Points.com in a calendar year, whether purchased by you or gifted to you. MVP, MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75K
Why would Mileage Plan add a limit on how many miles you can buy? In reality they were probably making money on a vast majority of transactions, because even when you're buying miles for the purposes of redeeming in first and business class on partner airlines, Alaska is only paying a fraction of the normal costs for these tickets.
My guess is that this limit was added due to the number of mileage brokers out there buying and selling miles. Airlines do everything they can to stop these people for a variety of reasons, and I'm guessing they found most people buying miles in big quantities were doing that. Of course this won't be a foolproof solution, since those people can also get status.
I'd be curious to know to what extent this impacts the total number of miles they sell, but it shouldn't impact most "regular" buyers.
Alaska doesn't belong to any of the "big three" alliances, though they partner with some airlines that belong to oneworld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance, as well as other unique, non-alliance carriers.
For example, Alaska partners with Emirates, Fiji Airways, Icelandair, and Hainan (which has excellent award availability).
To give a few examples of some of the great uses of Mileage Plan miles (all of which allow stopovers on one-way awards):
Alaska miles are the best way to redeem for Cathay Pacific first class
In some cases, Alaska doesn't have access to some partner award seats.
This is especially common on Cathay Pacific, Emirates, and Qantas. It is something to be aware of, so I'd recommend looking into this before buying any miles.
As long as you've been a member of Alaska Mileage Plan for at least 10 days, you can purchase miles during this promotion.
Redeem Alaska miles for Japan Airlines first class
Of course, you don't have to buy miles to take advantage of these deals - Alaska also offers two credit cards that can help you rack up points quickly:
Both offer welcome bonuses after completing a moderate minimum spend, along with Alaska's famous Companion Fare, which lets you "buy one, get one for cheap" for economy flights on Alaska. This is one of the easiest companion tickets to use, and the main reason I keep the cards year after year.
Alaska mileage purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don't count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spend.
Therefore I'd recommend using a card on which you're trying to reach a minimum spend, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending, like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® ( review) or Citi® Double Cash Card ( review).
See this post for more on the best credit cards for buying points.
Redeem Alaska miles for LATAM business class
Alaska Mileage Plan's current promotion potentially offers the lowest cost we've ever seen on purchased Mileage Plan miles. We saw a 60% bonus last month, but prior to that we had never seen a bonus like that before. Not only that, but you don't have to pay federal excise taxes on buying miles at the moment, lowering the cost even further.
In general I wouldn't recommend buying miles speculatively right now, but this is also a really good price on Alaska miles, given that there are several great ways to redeem Alaska miles.
I really can't overstate how valuable the stopovers on most one-way awards are, not to mention some of the unique airline partners that Alaska has, all of which you can learn more about in my guide to the best uses of Alaska Airlines miles.
If you've been considering this promotion but haven't yet made a purchase, the good news is that the promotion has been extended by two days, so you have until tomorrow.
Do you plan on purchasing Alaska miles with this promotion?
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