ENDING TODAY: Buy Alaska Miles For 2.11 Cents Each (Book Cathay Pacific Business Class From $1,794 RT)

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The latest Alaska mileage sale seems to have been going for quite some time but today is the day it finally ends. No doubt there will be another promotion along in due course but there’s no guarantee that it will be as good (or better) than this one…and this one is pretty good.

As I always remind readers, Alaska Mileage Plan miles are one of the last airline currencies that I genuinely consider buying every time a good sale comes around and that’s entirely because I know much value I can get out of them.

If you’re thinking of booking Business Class or First Class awards on airlines like Cathay Pacific, Korean Air or even LAN Alaska Miles can save you quite a bit of money (providing you find award availability) and, most importantly, you don’t have to be US-based to make the most of these miles (I explain more in the post linked here).

The Alaska Mileage Promotion Ending Today

Headline T&Cs’s

• Mileage Plan accounts need to have been active for at least 10 days to participate in this promotion (if you don’t currently have an account you should make sure you sign up for one so you’re eligible the next time a good offer comes around).
• The promotion runs until 11:59pm PST on 13 July 2018 (TODAY)
• All purchases of Alaska Miles are processed by Points.com so you won’t earn a credit card category bonus when buying miles.
• Miles must be purchased in increments of 1,000.
• There is no limit to how many Alaska miles you can buy. You can only buy up to 60,000 miles (+ bonus) in a single transaction but there’s no limit to the number of transactions you can make.

The Offer

• Buy 0 – 9,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and earn no bonus
• Buy 10,000 – 19,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and earn a 20% bonus
• Buy 20,000 – 29,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and earn a 30% bonus
• Buy 30,000 – 60,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles and earn a 40% bonus

Buying 60,000 miles you would net 84,000 miles (after adding in the bonus) for a cost of $1,773.75:

84,000 miles at a cost of $1,773.75 works out to ~2.11 cents per mile.

That may not sound all that great (because it wouldn’t be if you were buying American or United miles) but, used correctly, these miles can help you buy very good premium cabin flights for a lot less than you would have to pay with cash/credit card.

The Beauty Of Alaska Mileage Awards?

1. Alaska Airlines doesn’t belong to a major worldwide alliance but it has built up a range of  useful airline partners with whom Mileage Plan members can use Alaska Miles.
2. Mileage Plan has some very flyer-friendly rules which offer good mileage redemption opportunities.

Here are the main flyer-friendly rules:

• Mileage Plan allows one free stopover on award tickets – even when booking one-way awards.
• There are no charges for cancelling an award and re-depositing the miles as long as you’re more than 60 days away from departure.
• Mileage Plan allows members to purchase as many miles as they need – there are no restrictions on the number of miles that can be bought in a calendar year. You may only buy 60,000 miles (plus the bonus) in one transaction but there’s no limit to the number of transactions you can make.

Wondering how best to use Alaska miles purchased in this promotion?

Your location in the world will probably dictate which airline(s) you’re most likely to want to use but, to give you a few ideas, here are some of my favorite Alaska Mileage Plan redemptions:

Roundtrip Business Class Awards

(Costs to book with miles from this sale are in brackets)

• Cathay Pacific: USA – Asia costs 100,000 miles ($2,110)
• Cathay Pacific: Europe – Hong Kong costs 85,000 miles ($1,794)
• JAL: USA – Asia costs from 120,000 miles ($2,532)
• Korean Air: USA – Asia costs from 105,000 miles ($2,216)
• LAN: USA – South American costs 90,000 miles ($1,899)
• Qantas: USA – Australia costs 110,000 miles ($2,321)

Note: Taxes and surcharges will need to be added to these costs but, certainly for departures from the US, they shouldn’t be too bad at all.

Roundtrip First Class Awards

(Costs to book with miles from this sale are in brackets)

• Cathay Pacific: USA – Asia costs 140,000 miles ($2,954)
• Cathay Pacific: Europe – Hong Kong costs 140,000 miles ($2,954)
• JAL: USA – Asia costs from 140,000 miles ($2,954)
• Qantas: USA – Australia costs 140,000 miles ($2,954)

Note: Taxes and surcharges will need to be factored in.

Alaska doesn’t charge fuel surcharges on the award tickets mentioned above and that makes these redemptions very attractive indeed.

American Airlines is also an Alaska Mileage Plan partner and, technically, a good option if you’re looking to use Alaska Miles (e.g. Europe – Hawaii roundtrip Business Class for just 115,000 miles). Unfortunately American Airlines Business Class saver awards are so scarce nowadays that I’ve stopped listing them alongside the other awards mentioned in this post.

If you can find American Airlines Business Class awards they can be great value…but the key word here is “if”.

Bottom Line

Alaska Mileage Plan has been known offer bonuses of up to 50% (Joanna was targeted for this last year ) so, if you’re not sure if you should be buying miles now (or if there aren’t any awards available right now), you may want to hold on to see what Alaska offers later in the year….but don’t assume that you’re definitely going to get a better offer than this one.

Alaska’s 50% bonus promotions are often targeted which makes the 40% bonuses just about as good as it gets for some of us (I rarely seem to be targeted for the top bonus) so, with that in mind, if you see a good value award available it may be a good idea to go ahead and book rather than hope you can save a few more dollars down the line.

Link to Alaska Mileage Plan Buy Miles Promotion

Featured image courtesy of Alaska Airlines