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For the second month running, Alaska Airlines has launched a new mileage sale in which it’s offering select Mileage Plan members a mystery maximum bonus which varies from account to account.
If all you see is a 40% bonus (as I do), it may be worth waiting to see if the next sale offers you anything better a that’s likely to coincide with Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but if you’ve been targeted for a 60% bonus as a few people have been, that’s probably as good as things are likely to get.
The 60% bonus sale
- Buy 1,000 – 2,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and get no bonus
- Buy 3,000 – 19,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and get a 40% bonus
- Buy 20,000 – 39,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and get a 50% bonus
- Buy 40,000 – 100,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and get a 60% bonus
This is almost always what the Alaska Airlines 60% bonus sale looks like, so it may seem familiar.
Key terms
- Transactions must be completed by 11:59 PM PT October 31, 2024 to be eligible for bonus miles.
- Miles are purchased from Points.com Inc. for a cost of $27.50 per 1,000 miles, plus a 7.5% Federal Excise Tax*, GST/HST for Canadian residents, and QST for Quebec residents.
- Miles are non-refundable and do not count toward MVP and MVP/Gold status.
- You may purchase and gift Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles in increments of 1,000 miles up to 60,000 miles, and in increments of 5,000 miles up to a maximum of 100,000 miles per transaction.
- MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K and MVP Gold 100K Mileage Plan member (Elite Member) accounts have no annual limit on the number of miles which may be purchased or gifted through Points.com.
- If you are not an Elite Member, your account may only 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.
- Bonus miles do not count toward the maximum total of 150,000 miles.
Full terms and conditions can be found on the sale page
The numbers
Because Alaska Airlines doesn’t vary the cost/mile within each of its pricing bands, Mileage Plan members will be paying the lowest cost per mile available in this sale whether they buy 40,000 or 100,000 miles.
Here’s what a 40,000 miles purchase looks like:
And here’s what a 100,000 miles purchase would look like:
In both cases, the cost/mile comes to ~1.85 cents.
To buy or not to buy?
Before I go any further, here’s the usual disclaimer:
If you have no immediate use for Alaska Miles, you shouldn’t be taking part in this sale. It’s never a good idea to stockpile miles and there’s nothing here that changes that so my fundamental rule applies.
Now that that’s out of the way…
One of the biggest positive aspects of the Alaska Mileage Plan program is that it doesn’t impose a limit on how many miles you can purchase in a single promotion or in a calendar year if you hold elite status. Technically, elite status holders can keep buying miles until they run out of money.
If you don’t have Alaska Mileage Plan status, you’ll have to make do with buying a maximum of 150,000 miles pre-bonus (240,000 miles post bonus).
The first thing that need to be pointed out is that Alaska Airlines make wholesale changes to its award charts earlier this year, so if you’re not up to speed with what those changes look like you should read this article before you go any further.
A lot of great sweet spots disappeared in March 2024, so you can access the current Mileage Plan award charts via this link if you want to check the prices of the awards you’re interested in.
Having said that, there are still some very good uses for Alaska Airlines miles and to show you what I mean, here are a few examples together with the cost these awards based on a purchase price of 1.85 cents/mile:
Business Class awards (one-way)
- American Airlines or Air Tahiti Nui: Los Angeles – Auckland = 75,000 miles/$1,388
- Air Tahiti Nui: Los Angeles – Tahiti = 75,000 miles/$1,388
- Aer Lingus: JFK/Boston – Dublin = 45,000 miles/$833
- Aer Lingus: Chicago – Dublin = 55,000 miles/$1,018
- Royal Air Maroc: JFK – Casablanca – Madrid = 55,000 miles/$1,018
- Malaysia Airlines: London – Kuala Lumpur – Perth = 85,000 miles/$1,573
- Malaysia Airlines: London – Kuala Lumpur – Tokyo = 85,000 miles/$1,573
Note: Taxes and surcharges would apply in a lot of these cases and so would have to be taken into account.
Economy Class awards
- American Airlines: Miami – Aruba = 7,500 miles/$139
- American Airlines: Los Angeles – Los Cabos = 7,500 miles/$139
- Qantas: Sydney – Melbourne = 4,500 miles/$84
- Qantas: Sydney – Brisbane = 4,500 miles/$84
- JAL: Tokyo – Seoul= 7,500 miles/$139
While all of the redemptions I’ve listed above can be pretty good (you’ll have to check cash fares to be sure of getting a good deal), some of them are very, very good.
JFK to Dublin and back for under $2,000 is a great deal, as is JFK – Casablanca – Madrid for under $2,400 (once taxes and fees have been added in) and with Mileage Plan now only charging 4,500 miles for Economy Class awards on flights of under 700 miles, it has taken over the mantle from British Airways as the best oneworld program to use for short flights.
Use the right credit card
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan mileage sales are processed by Points.com and that eliminates the scope to earn a travel/flight/airline bonus by using a credit card that offers bonus points for shopping in one of those categories. With that option closed off, this makes this sale a good opportunity to use a credit card on which you’re working towards a strong welcome bonus or, if you’re not working towards a card’s welcome bonus, the Citi® Double Cash credit card which offers 2% cash back on all purchases would be one of the better options to use.
Bottom line
The key to doing well out of this sale is this: Do your research, find awards that work for you, and only then buy the points you need – it’s hard to get burned when you buy miles and use them within days of the purchase. Do not stockpile!
