Alaska Airlines Elite Status Promotions: Fast Track to Elite, Status Match Plus Lounge Membership

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Alaska Airlines is currently running several elite status promotions. For the next month, Alaska Mileage Plan members who failed to requalify for elite status in 2022 can still fast-track to re-earn their status. And, as a sweetener to its standard status match opportunity, Alaska is offering some members a 90-day lounge membership for starting an elite status match by March 20, 2023.

Here are the details of these Alaska elite status promotions.

Alaska Airlines Fast Track to Elite Status Promotions

Alaska Airlines Elite Status Retention Challenge

If you failed to requalify for status in 2022, all is not lost. You can still take advantage of a fast track to re-earning that status. To qualify, you must have earned MVP, MVP Gold, or MVP Gold 75K and held that status as of January 1, 2022.

This promotion is quite similar to the elite status retention promotion offered by Alaska Airlines at the beginning of 2022 — just with a shorter travel period.

Normally, Mileage Plan members need to earn:

• 20,000 elite qualifying miles and fly 30 segments to earn MVP.
• 40,000 EQMs and 60 segments for MVP Gold.
• 75,000 EQMs and 90 segments for MVP Gold 75K.

With this fast-track promotion, you only need to earn the following Elite Qualifying Miles between January 13 and April 13, 2023:

• To re-earn MVP, members only need to earn 5,000 EQM.
• MVP Gold requires that members earn 10,000 EQM.
• MVP Gold 75K has a requirement of 20,000 EQM.

To qualify, travelers must fly two segments on flights marketed and operated by Alaska. This is applicable to all three tiers (meaning just 2 instead of the standard requirement of 12 segments to earn MVP Gold 75K). Any status extended through this promotion will be valid through the end of 2023.

Here are the full details of this promotion.

Terms and Conditions

• You must have held an MVP, MVP Gold, or MVP Gold 75K Elite status on January 1, 2022, to be eligible for this promotion.
• Members who gained their elite status through a status match and didn't retain that status are not eligible.
• Award travel and bonus miles are not eligible base flight miles.
• Gold Guest Upgrades, Lounge Day Passes, and MVP Gold 75K MVP nominations will be available after the member has met the requirement for the respective elite status.
• Members who receive MVP Gold 75K status as part of this offer are not eligible for the 50,000 bonus miles or American Airlines systemwide upgrades associated with qualifying for MVP Gold 75K status.

Alaska Airlines “Coast to Elite” Elite Status Challenge for Californians

Alaska is offering a separate promotion for residents of California. This promotion has even fewer requirements to fast track to Alaska Airlines elite status. But it's only available through March 31, 2023 and is limited to earning MVP or MVP Gold elite status.

Check out our separate article covering Alaska's Coast to Elite status offer.

Alaska Airlines Status Match Promotions

Alaska is one of several airlines offering a Status Match challenge. Elite status members from the following airlines can status match to Alaska Airlines — all the way up to MVP Gold 75K status:

• Aeromexico
• Air Canada
• American Airlines
• Delta
• Frontier
• Hawaiian
• JetBlue
• Southwest
• United

An Alaska Airlines elite status that has been attained with a status match will be valid for 90 days. After that, members can keep their status by meeting the following criteria:

• MVP status: fly 5,000 miles on Alaska Airlines
• MVP Gold members: fly 10,000 miles on Alaska Airlines
• Mileage Plan MVP Gold 75K members: fly 20,000 miles on Alaska Airlines

If you complete your status match by June 30, 2023 and then meet the necessary criteria within 90 days, your elite status will be valid until the end of 2023. Statuses matched between July 1 and December 31, 2023 will be valid through the end of 2024 if you meet the challenge requirements.

Use this link to match your elite status to Alaska Airlines.

Lounge Membership for Californian Members Matching to MVP Gold 75K

Alaska is offering a complimentary lounge membership for California residents that match their status to MVP Gold 75K. You'll enjoy full access to Alaska lounges during the 90-day challenge period. But you'll need to act quickly as this elite status promotion sweetener ends on March 20, 2023.

Unfortunately, this promotion is only available to Mileage Plan members registered in California.

Our Take

It wasn't until mid-2022 that travel really started getting back to normal. That made it hard for a lot of people to earn another year of elite status with Alaska Mileage Plan.

Some really worked hard to earn another year of elite status, but others were caught out. Those are the ones that can really take advantage of a fast track to elite status. True, it's not as good as having the status automatically renewed for another year. However, it helps out those who didn't travel like normal during 2022.

Status matching to Alaska Airlines is also a good opportunity if you already have an elite status with a participating airline. If you're a resident of California, you have a chance to receive a 90-day lounge membership when you match your status to MVP Gold 75K status by March 20, 2023.

You can also take advantage of the Coast to Elite Status Challenge promotion currently offered by Alaska. With that promotion, you don't already need to hold elite status.

Make sure to check out our guide for the Alaska Mileage Plan program, and the current bonuses offered on the Alaska Airlines Visa^® credit card.

Will you take advantage of this Alaska fast track to elite status promotion?