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This Alaska Mileage Plan buy miles promotion has ended. However, you can still purchase Alaska Mileage Plan miles.
Alaska Airlines just launched its latest promotion to buy miles, offering Mileage Plan members the chance to buy Alaska miles with up to a 50% bonus. At that rate, targeted members can buy Alaska miles for 1.97¢ apiece. Note that some members are only seeing a 40% bonus.
This isn't quite the best deal we've seen from Alaska Airlines. But, for the right redemption, this buy miles deal can still prove to be valuable. This bonus promotion runs through 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on September 23, 2023.
A Note on Buying Alaska Miles
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is our favorite frequent flyer program for several reasons. It partners with amazing airlines like Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines. In addition, it offers some of the most lucrative points redemptions. This was made even better when Alaska joined the Oneworld alliance back in March 2021.
Still, generally speaking, buying miles is not a good idea for most people. This is because you typically won't be able to redeem miles for a higher value than you purchased them.
With that said, you can find some cases where it can make sense to buy miles. First, buying miles can still make sense if you need to top off your balance to complete a specific redemption. Second, you should consider buying miles if the cost is considerably cheaper than paying for the flight you want outright. Both of these exceptions are magnified when there's a mileage sale — like there is right now.
Buy Alaska Miles Offer Details
Promotions to buy Alaska Airlines miles can be targeted, so different members may see different bonuses. You'll have to log into your account to see your available bonus. The general terms we see are the following:
- Must purchase by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on September 23, 2023, to take advantage of this promotion.
- Offer requires you to buy at least 25,000 Mileage Plan miles to receive the maximum 50% bonus.
- Miles are non-refundable and do not count toward elite status.
- Maximum of 100,000 miles per transaction (before the bonus).
- Mileage Plan members without elite status may be credited up to a maximum of 150,000 miles acquired through Points.com in a calendar year, whether purchased by you or gifted to you.
- Members with Alaska elite status (MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K) have no limit on the number of miles that can be acquired through Points.com.
Bonus tiers
Targeted Alaska Mileage Plan members can buy Alaska miles at the following rates during this tiered promotion:
- 1,000–2,000 miles: No bonus
- 3,000–14,000 miles: 30% bonus
- 15,000–24,000 miles: 40% bonus
- 25,000–100,000 miles: 50% bonus
The minimum amount of Alaska miles that you can buy with the 50% bonus is 25,000 miles. You'll end up with 37,500 miles (25,000 miles + 12,500 bonus miles) for a cost of $739.06. That's 1.97¢ per mile.
If you were to maximize this offer, you'd receive 150,000 Alaska miles (100,000 miles + 50,000 bonus miles) for $2,956.25 — or 1.97¢ per mile. This purchase rate is less than the value AwardWallet users tend to get from Alaska miles. This means that it might be a good deal for some people, depending on the redemption.
The value of Alaska Mileage Plan miles
Alaska Mileage Plan miles are some of the most valuable miles around. In recent redemptions, AwardWallet users have obtained 2.57¢ per mile on average when redeeming Alaska Mileage Plan miles.
The catch: Alaska miles are only really valuable for certain redemptions. In addition, we see that in the breakdown of redemption rates by flight type:
- Short-haul economy/premium economy: 1.17¢
- Short-haul business/first class: 3.8¢
- Long-haul economy/premium economy: 1.32¢
- Long-haul business/first class: 4.39¢
Therefore, you may struggle to get enough value from Alaska Mileage Plan miles for economy and premium economy awards to justify buying miles at 1.97¢ each. However, first- and business-class awards can be an incredible use of Alaska miles. We will highlight some of these opportunities below.
Buying Miles for Alaska Partner Redemptions
In our previous post detailing Mileage Plan sweet spots, we listed several of the top-value redemptions possible with Alaska miles. Let's take a look at a few of these sweet spots and compare the typical cash price with the cost to purchase the necessary miles under this promotion.
Los Angeles – Fiji (stopover) – Auckland in Fiji Airways business class
- Mileage rate: 55,000 miles each way
- Typical cash price: $2,867 one-way
- Redemption rate: 5.2¢ per mile
- Cost to purchase 55,000 miles at 1.97¢ per mile: $1,084 each way
Washington DC – Singapore in Cathay Pacific business class (with a stopover in Hong Kong)
- Mileage rate: 50,000 miles each way
- Typical cash price: $4,665 one-way
- Redemption rate: 9.3¢ per mile
- Cost to purchase 50,000 miles at 1.97¢ per mile: $985 each way
Hong Kong – Dubai in Cathay Pacific business class
- Mileage rate: 30,000 miles each way
- Typical cash price: $5,074 one-way
- Redemption rate: 16.9¢ per mile
- Cost to purchase 30,000 miles at 1.97¢ per mile: $591 each way
Potentially Get a Refund for the ‘Tax Recovery Fee'
Alaska Airlines is responsible for levying this as part of ticket prices, as well as for mileage purchases. Since the airline partners with Points.com to process mileage purchases, Points.com passes it on to loyalty members as a “Tax Recovery Fee.”
Interestingly, you may not have to pay this fee.
When domestic airlines levy a Federal Excise Tax on mileage purchases, it's with the assumption that the purchased miles will be used for domestic air travel. However, as many award travelers are probably aware, this often isn't the case. If you use those purchased miles for international travel, hotel stays, gift cards, or any other redemption, you should be able to get it refunded.
To learn more, check out Gary Leff's post about it at View From The Wing. If you get the fee refunded, this promotion's best rate drops to just 1.83¢ per mile.
Alaska Buy Miles History
We have compiled a list of former Alaska Airlines buy miles promotions. As you can see, there have been quite a few previous promotions that have also offered a 50% bonus. Thus, this current bonus is one of the best you will find from Alaska Airlines. This is a pretty solid deal considering the value of Mileage Plan points.
Several promotions in 2020 offered a 60% bonus and lacked the Federal Excise Tax, resulting in the best rate we've seen at 1.72¢ per mile. This current 50% bonus — which includes the Federal Excise Tax — results in a 1.97¢ per mile purchase rate. Certainly not the best we've seen from Alaska Airlines, but still a solid deal for these valuable Alaska Airlines miles:
| Promotion Ended | Max Bonus | Min Cents Per Mile | Targeted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-09-23 | 50% | 1.97 | Yes |
| 2023-09-17 | 60% | 1.85 | Yes |
| 2023-08-20 | 60% | 1.85 | No |
| 2023-06-26 | 50% | 1.97 | No |
| 2023-05-21 | 60% | 1.85 | Yes |
| 2023-03-19 | 50% | 1.97 | No |
| 2023-02-20 | 60% | 1.85 | Yes |
| 2022-12-23 | 50% | 1.97 | No |
| 2022-11-02 | 60% | 1.85 | Yes |
| 2022-09-22 | 50% | 1.97 | No |
| 2022-09-15 | 60% | 1.85 | No |
| 2022-08-21 | 60% | 1.85 | No |
| 2022-06-25 | 50% | 1.97 | No |
| 2022-05-23 | 60% | 1.85 | Yes |
| 2022-03-20 | 50% | 1.97 | No |
| 2022-02-20 | 60% | 1.85 | No |
| 2021-12-23 | 50% | 1.97 | No? |
| 2021-10-30 | 60% | 1.85 | Yes |
| 2021-09-21 | 50% | 1.97 | No |
| 2021-09-15 | 60% | 1.85 | No |
| 2021-08-23 | 60% | 1.85 | No |
| 2021-06-25 | 50% | 1.97 | No |
| 2021-05-22 | 60% | 1.85 | Yes |
| 2021-03-18 | 50% | 1.97 | Yes |
| 2021-02-14 | 60% | 1.85 | Yes |
| 2020-12-23 | 50% | 1.83 | No |
| 2020-10-31 | 60% | 1.72 | Yes |
| 2020-09-20 | 50% | 1.83 | No |
| 2020-08-26 | 50% | 1.83 | No |
| 2020-06-30 | 60% | 1.72 | Yes |
| 2020-05-30 | 60% | 1.72 | Yes |
| 2020-02-16 | 40% | 2.15 | No |
| 2019-02-22 | 40% | 2.11 | No |
| 2018-12-21 | 50% | 1.97 | Yes |
| 2018-10-04 | 50% | 1.97 | Yes |
| 2018-07-13 | 40% | 2.11 | Yes |
| 2018-07-03 | 50% | 1.97 | Yes |
| 2017-10-31 | 50% | 1.97 | Yes |
| 2017-07-01 | 50% | 1.97 | Yes |
| 2017-04-06 | 40% | 2.11 | No |
| 2016-09-29 | 50% | 1.97 | Yes |
| 2016-06-13 | 50% | 1.97 | Yes |
| 2016-03-31 | 40% | 2.11 | No |
Maximize Your Purchase
Like many airlines, Alaska sells miles via Points.com. That means your purchase won't code as a flight purchase or trigger the travel category on most credit cards. Consider using one of these payment methods:
- Any credit card where you're working on a sign-up bonus. These are the best welcome offers available right now.
- Any credit card with perks you can unlock from spending, such as hotel free night awards, hotel elite status, or airline elite status.
- Your best credit card for everyday spending, such as the Citi® Double Cash Card or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.
Related: Which Credit Card Should You Use to Buy Points and Miles?
Other Ways to Get Alaska Miles
Keep in mind that you may not need to buy Alaska miles. Instead, consider transferring Marriott points to Alaska Airlines. Bonvoy points transfer to Alaska at a 3:1 transfer ratio with a 5,000-mile bonus for every increment of 60,000 points that you transfer at a time.
Unfortunately, Marriott is the only transfer option really worth considering. For reference, other hotel transfer options include:
To see all of your transfer options, check out the AwardWallet Transfer Times Tool.
Final Thoughts
In the past few years, Alaska Airlines has increased the frequency of bonuses it offers through mileage sales. That means it's important to always check the current promotion to see if you can grab these miles at a lower price.
As the chart shows, Alaska Airlines has frequently run buy miles promotions with a 60% bonus, which drops the purchase price to 1.85¢ per mile. So, this 50% bonus promotion isn't the best deal we've seen from Alaska Airlines. Still, if you have a high-value redemption in mind, it may be worth buying Alaska miles at this rate.
Would you buy Alaska Mileage Plan Miles for 1.97¢ each?
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Here’s the issue with buying Alaska miles: award availability is tighter than using AA miles. Yes, awards can cost considerably less than AA, but unless one makes their award purchase in the golden weeks of award seat release, chances are there will be NO award seats available! The JAL devaluation was a shady move as well. I don’t trust Alaska anymore!
is Alaska Miles just devalued now?
It looks like JAL awards have been devalued. Are there any other changes that you’re seeing?
AS has created a good promotion.
Just 50% for me.
AK Airlines is my preference. Now I can fly from Pullman WA and Spokane WA as well as Seattle. Yay!
I like that AS is having this bonuses. I have seen that they offered the bonus on less than 5k miles. So they are changing the amount you have to buy to get the bonus. Not too keen on that but they do what they have to do. I think it’ll make me think before topping off my account though.
I love when AS does these promos. I have to extend the life of my miles and I get extra. I usually wait until there is a promo to buy miles with AS. I see buying miles with AS a good thing even when it’s not a good idea to buy miles. I have a stort term trip planned and see it as a benefit to be able to buy the miles with a bonus.
I need to extend the life of my kids miles, so this is good news. I was waiting to see if they offered a bonus again. I like when their bonuses match when I need to extend the life of miles.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is #1 !
I cannot wait until Asia reopens to us. Cathay Pacific Biz class!
That fiji stopover looks like a great way to get to Nz.
Why Can’t we get a 50% bonus on buying just a couple thousand miles?? Say 1,000 to 2,000… it seems fair at all levels right?
CX will not fly to IAD again anytime soon.
AS is the only airline where I buy miles to top off my account. I get good use out of their program. I will buy miles from them again to top off. I think their promos are good, especially since they do not have a cc to transfer points from into their program.
Alaska might be my new favourite airline.
Is anyone else charging the federal excise tax?
I love this.. Alaska is by far the best airline out there. the 24 month activity for expiration is on point!
I really like these promos from Alaska. I am wondering about doing this one. My travel is a bit of time off from now, however I would like to have the miles in my account ready. But I do worry about the cost of miles going up too, like you said. I’ll just have to weigh my options.
Big fan of Alaska air and it seems like 60% is the best they do- wish it was 100% bonus!
Great info on the taxes; didn’t know about it. Thanks… Makes the Aeroplan 50-80% bonus offer I just received look a little better since I assume there’d be no U.S. recovery fee.
Alaska Airline mile seem to be the most valuable of the domestic us airlines.
Just in time for me to reset the clock on my soon to be expiring Alaska balance, excellent.
This can be a solid deal if you can use it on Business Class on some of Alaska’s high end mileage partners….this is about as good as it gets for buying Alaska miles.
Love the chart showing the history of the cost per mile to buy. Keep it up. Wish everyone did this to see how the current bonus compares and also how often they do it.
It is possible to buy miles with Visa card issued in Argentina?
I haven’t heard of issues with non-US CCs, but I don’t know for sure about Argentina.
Still a little high, unless you really need the points, like to buy around $1.50
I checked my account and my offer only shows 40% discount. Bummer 🙁
For that LAX – NAN – AKL trip, it looks like the 55K miles is for LAX – NAN in coach. Is that right, or do I just need to keep searching different date?
Yeah, you need to search for different dates. Alaska can be quite obnoxious about showing mixed cabin awards on its website. So, you may have better luck just searching LAX-NAN in business class to find a date for that leg – and then find a NAN-AKL leg after that date.
The pandemic will be over at some point and somewhat normal travel will resume. The question is: will there be other offers to buy miles that will be as good as this one?
Yes, the miles offers have become more frequent and Alaska makes no exception.
I still wait that the pandemic situation improves and that the rules to travel will be more clear and uniform around the world.
So I won’t buy this time. Maybe next time.
Frequent mile sales are indeed a legacy from the chaotic 2020.
If you’re travelling in the next 6 months, may be a good deal but man, too many uncertainty right now to start buying miles.
Hmm did not realize the minimum number of miles needs to be purchased to hit the 40% bonus threshold is 40,000 miles. Will have to pass, unfortunately.
Good offer. I think Alaska airlines mileage plan one of the best programs available. Let’s hope it keeps like this when the OW partnership comes to life.
I think it is still a bit early to buy for the “recovery.”
Great deal for Alaska points, but I might hold off until things get closer to normal.
That’s the very challenge however, because as things get closer to normal, there historic offers will understandably fade.
This is an excellent promotion, for one thing. I have to say, Alaska Airlines’ mileage redemption rate is quite worthwhile overall.
The only reason to remotely justify this rate is that AS is now part of the oneworld.
I’d say that’s more a reason to avoid this promo. Alaska already has great award charts. OW membership may lead to a devaluation of those rewards or non-OW partners being dropped. Hopefully not, knock on wood 🙂
Quite a nice promo and the price for the miles is interesting.
The only issue is the redemption which will not be imminent and so there is some risk to buy miles in advance for a future redemption.
Especially because something can change in Mileage Plan after Alaska will join Oneworld.
Not sure if it’s just me, but it feels like a lot of miles and point sales lately. Guess their way of raising much needed funds.
Will wait for a 1.5c deal to come along.
Your HKG-DXB example is incorrect. Business Class on that route requires 30K Mileage Plan miles; 22.5K is the rate for economy class. If and when CX flies to DXB again, of course.
My best CX redemption was YVR-JFK(F)‐HKG(J)-CPT(J) for 70K. I am not a buyer though. I earned over 300K RDM flying in 2020. As for CX, it is doubtful that they will be flying any aircraft with F cabins this year, nor will they be flying to many “sweet spot” destinations that are open to discretionary travelers.
James
Ooof. You’re exactly right. I just fixed that. Thanks for pointing that out.
And that’s an insanely excellent redemption! I especially like the YVR-JFK backtrack! Did you stopover in HKG? My wife and I were looking to do something similar (JFK-HKG-CPT/JNB) but we couldn’t find availability on the HKG-ZA leg for our dates. So, we are doing JFK-HKG(stopover)-DXB.
AS doesn’t usually allow backtracking. I had booked a separate YVR-JFK award in F for two as I wanted to fly the route before it was terminated. I changed our JFK-HKG-CPT award which now commenced the morning we arrived from YVR. I was worried out being protected if YVR-JFK was delayed. AS combined the two awards into one and refunded the points difference.
We had an 11 day stopover in HKG and used that time to fly revenue to/from SYD on QF.
Returning from CPT was CPT-JNB-LHR-YVR in BA(d) F for 80K miles.
Are you flying EK back to JFK? Don’t forget to add Hawaii or Mexico to your Itinerary after a stopover. You will only need a one-way back to JFK for that second trip. You can have a free stopover at the partner gateway including within the US.
James
Sounds like an awesome trip! Thanks for the tips and I love the BA(d) mention 😀
We are hoping to do a bit more complicated of a trip than just returning to JFK. But we still need availability and routes to open up before we can book the full epic trip. That said, we are planning to do first class on CX, EK, QR, EY, SQ, and hopefully LH – all in one trip!
The mileage difference between C and Y class awards in the DXB case is really small; it is certainly worth it to buy points in this case.
Of course, 1.85 cents per mile is a great rate. Unfortunately, I think it portends a coming devaluation. We will see.
I think you are right. There is no way the current award chart is sustainable.
Buy milles generally Is most expensive, but in this time could be a good opportunity, each company should offers better milles price.
Limited value after loosing EK F redemptions.
Pretty sweet offer if you need to buy miles.
Otherwise, not really worth it to buy IMHO
Good deal! Hope Alaska continues to have excellent redemptions once they join OW.
The sale is interesting but its is best to have a plan to use them first.
Also this time I’ll pass.
I would like to redeem first the miles that I already have in my account before buying further Alaska miles.
Moreover, the 60% bonus was better than the current 50% bonus.
The Wallet offer was still much better than this, but at any rate not a bad deal.
What is the timeline for these miles to be merged into Aadvantage miles?
Alaska miles can’t be merged with American AAdvantage miles. They are two separate loyalty programs. Alaska miles can book American Airlines flights though.
If I had a trip planned in the next year, I would definitely be looking at this offer especially the Business or First Class deals.
I will not be buying any Alaska miles at this time. With all the current travel restrictions, especially international and Hawaii, I am not sure why anyone would be buying any airline’s miles?
If you are going to highlight the DFW -> SYD route then I think its important to note that Quantas has currently suspended all international flights with no date set for them to resume.
Indeed it has. And unfortunately a lot of the best examples for using AS miles are affected by the pandemic. While we await their return, we will work in other examples.
This airline has reduced the stress of flying immensely! Our affinity credit card meant we got 2 free bags.
Promotion extension = not sold.
This is not the time to buy miles for me. It is time to wait and see which airlines are left after the pandemic.
Alaska has the best miles sales…..
Thank you. I notified a friend and he managed to get a flight from Sydney to Dallas in August next year. Hopefully we can all fly again by then.
It is interesting that the QF awards for August 2021 are available when the QF international flying program is suspended indefinitely.
Also interesting is that QF has stopped selling international tickets through late October 2021 & all of QFs A380 fleet, the only aircraft with an F product, are parked in the Majove Desert until 2023.
Also, CX isn’t flying an F configured aircraft to the US right now and has recently announced that EWR, IAD & SEA are permanently removed from their route network. LGW, DUB & BRU are also axed.
I wouldn’t speculate on the redemptions remaining the same with free stopovers once AS joins oneworld on March 31st, 2021. That just adds to the risk.
James
That’s all the case. However, I know that there are a few award travelers that are hoping to book one last trip using the current Alaska award chart — including me!
This sounds great if it were at any time; but for now it is not time to travel.
I will not buy any miles on any airline until next year. I really don’t know who will survive..
The promo is very good, especially if you unlock the 60% promo for buying miles in October.
Anyway, I have already some miles and recently I have cancelled a redemption and I had some miles deposited back in my account.
For this reason I will pass.
I think the best place to use Alaska Airlines Miles is to redeem for Cathay Pacific Business Class. I will buy some Alaska Miles as a spare. Next time I can redeem for a great business class mileage.
I can’t believe how good a deal the redemptions featured at the end of the article are. Under $1300 to fly to Australia in First. Wow. Makes me wish I could fly right now even more!! ??
Love these AS mileage sales!
Looks like this could be one of the few times to buy miles.
I never buy miles but am considering this as my existing AS miles are going to expire if I don’t do something soon to extend them…
Here are ur various options for how to extend the expiration date on your Alaska miles: https://awardwallet.com/blog/alaska-mileage-plan-miles-expire/
Love flying on Alaska but our flights are on indefinite hold because of Covid 🙁
I’m about to fly Alaska for the first time since the pandemic. It should be interesting. I have gotten some great value redemptions with their miles, alsthough today I am crediting the flight to AA.
As always the risk here seems to be that alaska is going to join OW by end of the year, which means a devaluation is very likely going to happen.
Has anyone successfully redeemed Alaska miles for a partner award lately (in the past two months)? My impression is that partner awards have dried up. Please share any success stories. Thanks!
Partners are barely flying, that’s why.
its a shame they got rid of unlimited stopovers on awards in Asia.
The only situation that makes sense in buying miles without a bonus is when your miles are about to expire and you don´t have the chage of flying
With so many ways to earn points through various cards, why take the chance by buying miles? I rather just keep earning them through my credit card than just to buy on speculation. The risk vs rate of return seems pretty high for something like this.
Even though the most recent promotion to buy Alaska miles ended on June 30, 2020, it is interesting to consider buying Alaska miles at the standard rate because there are some values in certain situations.
I think that I’m in a wait-and-see what happens to alaska after they join oneworld before considering buying points.
Although it is a good offer, I think you have to wait to buy miles. When flights are massively reactivated, airlines will have competitive offers (I hope).
I could not find in the terms of service the description of the algorithm that decides who gets the 40% or the 60% bonus. Shouldn’t that be informed somehow in the tos? Thanks as usual AwardWallet
Hey Joaquin, in my experience, most programs don’t release any details about the criteria for targeted offers. I haven’t seen anything explaining this one.
Agreed, this is the 2nd time that Alaska offered 60% bonus, I always redeem Japan airline and Cathay via Alaska miles but travel is not an option for me right now and miles expire after a certain period of time. So it might not be a good idea to purchase miles without knowing when can we use it!
Excellent note, but today it is uncertainty to travel. If we were in a normal situation, I would clearly travel with these promotions, they are an opportunity!
Glad I held off on this one! Time to buy
I wish they had more transfer partners. This would make it a lot easier to earn miles without having to resort to flying.
Never a good idea to buy miles, especially when no promotion.
Removal of the stopover rule was heartbreaking for AS redemptions. RIP
As far as I saw, the stopover rule was only removed for certain intra-Asia awards — not all AS awards. Let me know if you see otherwise because that would be a huge blow!
I am glad to be able to make a comment here.
I could not find in the terms of service the description of the algorithm that decides who gets the 40% or the 60% bonus. Shouldn’t that be informed somehow in the tos? Thanks as usual AwardWallet 🙂
I wish we could break the code on how they are targeting members!
im glad i waited to get miles. this is even a better deal than it was a few weeks ago!
This is a good offer. Watch for deals like this as the covid panic subsides. Oh, they’ll try to keep the phobia alive while the election season is alive, but hospitalizations are down, so people will be travelling. Pack your suitcase and jump on these deals!
As the pandemic subsides, deals like this will slow down though.
I like Alaska as an airline and from a customer service perspective. Any time I’ve had an issue they’ve always given me extra miles or award certificates to use. Wouldn’t hesitate to buy some miles from them.
US flyers are very fortune with remedial customer service miles and certificates.
So many offers, and here the nation is waiting for a vaccine.
Ah, too bad we have no plans to travel any time soon.
It probably can make sense, but only if you have something specific in mind. You can afford to wait until then, definitely not wise to buy without a specific redemption lined up.
I’m a bit nervous about when it will feel safe to fly again, but there are definitely great opportunities now for stocking up on discounted miles for when you’re comfortable using them again!
Agreed, this is the 2nd time that Alaska offered 60% bonus, I always redeem Japan airline and Cathay via Alaska miles but travel is not an option for me right now and miles expire after a certain period of time. So it might not be a good idea to purchase miles without knowing when can we use it!
Thanks for the update on Alaska offers. I took advantage of the previous offer in May for two reasons: 1.) To top off my Alaska miles to give me a little extra cushion for the trip I plan to take and 2.) To quickly meet the spending requirement on a new card that will give me another cushion with that airline for a future trip I am looking forward to taking.
Alaska is definitely my favorite points next to AA and UR. I would like to purchase some right now to fly CX and JL on F to Thailand. Appreciate Award Wallet for the AA points.
I wonder when is Alaska going to offer a 100% bonus?
Some of the best uses of Alaska miles is on partner awards eg Cx F and QF F….and these airlines are barely, if at all, flying currently due to Covid 19…so no matter how cheap they are, i will be holding off buying til there is more travel certainty in the post Covid 19 world.
I am not going to buy the miles right now, but I will get the Alaska credit card to keep . I don’t think buying miles will be worth it right now
The price for Alaskan miles is a good deal. I expect that after all the silly covid panic, that there will be many such deals to watch for. I like this one though.
Nice! I just wish all these guys would figure out how to give bonus points for using their own credit card to buy the points. United did that for me at Black Friday 2018
That’s awesome. United does seem to understand that as buying gift card on the United app gives a 25% mileage bonus just for holding the card and they also have a separate category on the shopping portal that offers higher values for cardholders.
Am I missing something? It’s showing me maximum 50% bonus.
One week only! Buy miles now and get up to 50% bonus miles. Hurry—this offer ends on June 28, 2020.
Buy 3,000 – 29,000 miles, get a 40% bonus
Buy 30,000 – 100,000 miles, get a 50% bonus
Ah bummer! It didn’t seem like this was a targeted offer as we all received a 60% bonus. But it seems clear from your data point that it is targeted. I’m updating the post to indicate that.
I buy Mileage Plan miles if there is a good offer and I know how to use the miles soon.
I can see the logic behind buying the miles. Alaska I believe is pretty solid with not devaluing. But still my trip is several years off. But I can still buy miles later and that is a great idea. I like their elite promo right now, I just don’t think it’ll help me with even charging on their credit card to earn some elite points.
It’s definitely not a good idea to purchase miles speculatively, especially during this time when COVID is still around. I’d rather buy it and burn it!
i would not buy anything at this time unless 200% bonus is offered.
IMO buying miles without any kind of discount makes no sense, unless one really needs to top off an account by fewer than 10,000 miles.
Definitely worthwhile if you need to reach a certain number of points.
Pity I was NOT targeted for 60% bonus. But anyway would hold off buying anything in this uncertain time.
Who knows when AS will start changing award charts. Most likely when the join OW officially.
im gonna have to get the visa alaska credit card. it will soon be a good time to go alaska and use miles
This should be the standard advice for everyone. Absolutely no, you shouldn’t, unless topping off. Heck, I’d pretty much say the same thing about discounts, unless you already have travel in mind.
worthwhile if you just needed a little to top off towards a flight you were looking to book anyways
I will hold off on this as too pricey. We have no travel plans for the foreseeable future. My feeling is better deals will be coming our way when the airlines start to attempt to ramp up their operations.
Time to stock up on some miles during this brief period of no flying due to covid. It’s only a matter of time before things pickup again.
It has turned out that the pause may not be so brief after all, unfortunately.
Finally a bonus higher than 50%.
I’m taking my chances and buying some miles this time…hopefully the COVID19 situation will improve a lot in the coming months.
Im going to take your advise and not buy as I dont have any where I want to travel to right now.
I wonder how the system decides who gets how much bonus.
60% sounds awesome, but yet again flying when COVID is still around…
Not to get political, but I think 10 years from now we’ll all see that this was blown way out of proportion. Studies are already showing that large percentages of random people have the antibodies meaning they had the virus and didn’t even know it.
No deal on any airline’s miles no matter how good could tempt me to buy at the moment. The risk for an airline failing in the current environment is too high for comfort. For the airlines that survive a devaluation of their mileage program is an easy target to reduce liabilities on the balance sheet to help them recover.
I know why they’re doing this but this is a catch-22. They need cash to help stay afloat but I’d never buy miles speculatively as the risk of devaluation or worse, bankruptcy, is higher than ever. Ok that’s not really a catch-22 but you see my point.
I don’t think airlines will bankrupt this time around but I will not buy miles because of the current situation anyway.
I don’t think bankruptcy is on the table but as Warren Buffet said, the industry may come out very different. At least I think he said that.
I’d agree with this. We already have so many points, I can’t imagine paying money for more. Cash is king.
If someone was going to book right away, then maybe. But in these times, I think purchasing points is a bad idea.
I never flew this airline before but everything I read is great.. this is another example
I’ll have a choice for Hawaiian or Alaska business soon and I think I’m going to go with Hawaiian but I am intrigued to see what Alaska has to offer. I’ve heard good things.
60% is only slightly higher than their previous promotions. Looking for 100%+ before I buy any miles.
As you said, “it’s probably not a good idea to purchase miles speculatively.” I’m going to take that advice to the bank ?
I agree. I think that the airlines will run more saver awards in the near future to entice people to fly again. Fares would also be cheaper until people start to feel comfortable flying again so buying the miles might not be the cheapest option.
They’re in quite a predicament. Yes, they’ll want to entice people to fly again… somehow. But, most predictions I’ve seen is that airfare will have to be more expensive, for many reasons. They’re desperate for money. They need to spend meaningful $s on new safety precautions. And, they’ll probably be forced to limit seating in a significant way due to social distancing requirements.
Agreed. I think it may turn into the economics of business class. Airlines definitely use statistics and have algorithms to set business class prices knowing how many they want to sell to turn the profit they want.
It may be the same case here. A higher fare may turn some away and cause some empty seats but if 80% of the plane is booked at a higher rate, it’s worth losing a couple seats of revenue for that.
Like many have said, the air travel industry may have just been changed forever and will take a long time to return to normal, if that happens.
I don’t think many people will take up on the business class award sales offer at the moment.