Bonus Points

Alaska Airlines Elites To Lose American Airlines Systemwide Upgrade Vouchers

Losing a benefit is never fun, even if said benefit is sometimes hard to use. In this instance, the casualty is the international upgrade certificates, or American Airlines Systemwide Upgrades, that Alaska Airlines awards its Mileage Plan MVP Gold 75K and 100K members annually. Starting in 2025, Alaska will sunset this benefit. Here's what Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan elites need to know about this development.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Experiencing Technical Issues With Singapore Airlines Awards

If you've poked around the Alaska Airlines website and tried to book a Singapore Airlines award recently, you might have noticed a surprising lack of flights. And by that, we mean that flights aren't available — like, at all. Is something changing with the Alaska-Singapore partnership? Or is this a casualty of Alaska's new Mileage Plan award chart rollout? Here's what travelers need to know.

Alaska Airlines Just Made It Easier to Get a Refund for a Schedule Change or Flight Cancellation

In the wake of grounding its entire fleet of Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, Alaska Airlines just significantly improved its policies for schedule changes and flight cancellations. Travelers can now claim a full refund to their original form of payment (not just a trip credit) for schedule changes and flight cancellations, without having to contact an Alaska Airlines representative. Here's what you need to know about these changes.

Alaska Airlines & Hawaiian Airlines To Combine. Here’s What We Know.

In major news, Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines will combine. The exact logistics for how this will impact members of both loyalty programs aren't known, but we know there will be just one loyalty program going forward. We also know that Alaska is acquiring Hawaiian; however, the verbiage in the press release oscillates between references to keeping both airlines and having a single airline going forward. Here's what we know and what we don't know about this major announcement.

Alaska Mileage Plan ‘Erroneously’ Charging Higher Taxes and Fees on Qatar Awards

Late last week, AwardWallet caught that Alaska severely increased the out-of-pocket costs for awards on Qatar Airways. Rather than charging under $50 out-of-pocket each way, awards are currently pricing as high as $800 one-way. Thankfully Alaska confirmed that these fees are being "erroneously" charged. Here's what you need to know about this situation - and your alternatives in the meantime.

Crazy Good Availability for Starlux Flights Using Alaska Miles

Alaska Airlines and Starlux (the Taiwan-based airline) launched a partnership earlier this year, and mileage redemptions with Alaska Mileage Plan miles are now live. That means you can book Starlux awards. And I'm not just saying, "In theory, you can book awards." You really can book awards...pretty much any day you want. Let's show you how to take advantage of this award availability for a dream trip to Taiwan or onward to other points in Asia.