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Alaska Airlines Credit Cards: Everything You Need to Know

Daniel Goz

Alaska Airlines credit cards are a solid option for anyone with good credit who lives in an area served by Alaska Air or one of its 17 airline partners. After you get the sign-up bonus, this card is best for earning Alaska Airlines rewards and supplementing your everyday cards that have more versatile points currencies.

This post is your go-to place for everything about Alaska Airlines credit cards and it’s Mileage Plan frequent flyer program. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is consistently ranked highly by customers and experts alike, offering exceptional redemption values to Hawaii and Asia. Between the low domestic and international premium redemption rates, good sign-up bonuses and its famous annual companion pass, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan should not be overlooked.

This article will cover:

Top 3 Reasons to Consider Alaska Airlines’  Credit Cards

Besides the fantastic redemption rates and generous routing rules, these are the top three reasons to love Alaska Air:

1. Luxury Partners

Alaska Airlines partners with Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines and Qantas. These airlines are known for their opulent first class products, and Alaska has some of the best redemption rates for these airlines.

2. Changes and Cancellations

You can make unlimited changes or cancel your ticket for free up to 60 days prior to departure.

3. Not Enough Points?

Alaska Airlines offers quarterly sales where you can buy miles, often for as little at 1.97 cents each. And if you sign up for a Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa credit card, you can transfer a substantial amount of points to the Alaska Airlines mileage program. Although you’ll want to earn most of your points through the methods below, it’s good to have a cheap way to fill up your account!

Credit Cards That Earn Alaska Airlines Miles

If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably looking for the best way to earn Alaska Airlines miles. The best option, as usual, is through credit cards.

In the case of Alaska, there are three options. While the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card is the best of the bunch, it’s not, in some respects, the best airline card on the market. The sign-up bonus is relatively low, and it does not come with a few features you’d expect from a co-branded airline card, like priority boarding and in-flight discounts.

However, there are still plenty of reasons to get this card over a more expensive one. Here’s the breakdown:

Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card

Voted the best co-branded airline credit card by readers of Global Traveler magazine, this card offers an easily attainable sign-up bonus and a fantastic companion pass.

40,000-Point Sign-Up Bonus: Enough for a Round-Trip Ticket

The sign-up bonus for the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature is 40,000 bonus miles after making $2,000 in purchases within the first 90 days. Most bloggers value these points between 1.9 and 2.5 cents each. Given those valuations, the bonus is worth between $760 and $1,000.

You can get even better value when traveling abroad. For example, a one-way Cathay Pacific business class ticket on the flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong costs just 50,000 miles, an insane value when you consider a ticket you’d pay for outright currently costs just under $4,000. If you’re looking to travel abroad, that easily justifies the relatively small, $75 annual fee.

Alaska Airlines Annual Companion Pass

This could be one of the best credit card perks in the world and is certainly the best for the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature. With the companion pass, someone can fly with you for just $99 plus taxes and fees (starting at $22). You’ll get a companion pass after every account anniversary, too. This means you can fly roundtrip from California to Hawaii and your partner will pay as little as $121 to join you.

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How to Redeem the Alaska Airlines Companion Voucher

But wait—it gets even better. New cardholders get a companion fare for just the taxes and fees when they sign up for the card. This saves you $99 your first year and could get you a ticket for as little as $22! This voucher can be applied to all Alaska Airlines or Virgin America flights.

Earn Alaska Airlines Miles

You’ll earn at the following rates with the Alaska card:

The 3x points earning is higher than on any other airline co-branded credit card, though I wouldn’t regularly use this card for non-Alaska purchases

Other Perks of Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card

The Alaska card comes with a few additional perks, including:

While you’ll always want to use your card for Alaska purchases, you don’t even have to use it to take advantage of the free bags benefit as long as you show your card at check-in.

CAUTION

Even if you apply for the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card, you could end up with the Alaska Airlines Visa Platinum Card.

Yes, you heard me right. Occasionally the card issuer, Bank Of America, will not approve you for the Visa Signature card based on your creditworthiness. Instead, they will give you the lower end Visa Platinum card, which has different perks.

They will send you this card without notifying you that it is actually different than the one you applied for. Keep reading to find out what this card has to offer, and what you can do to avoid disappointment.

Alaska Airlines Visa Platinum Plus Credit Card

Did you get this card and miss your chance to appeal the decision? Don’t worry! This isn’t that bad. The card you end up being approved for is determined by several factors, including your income and credit history. If you keep this card, at least for a year, you’ll build a history with Bank of America and hopefully be approved for the Visa Signature the second time around.

Sign-Up Bonus

You’ll get just 5,000 Alaska miles after making $1,000 in purchases within 90 days of the card being issued. While this is an insanely low sign-up bonus, you’re essentially buying 5,000 Alaska Airlines miles for $50, which comes out to one cent each. That’s not a bad deal!

$50 Annual Alaska Voucher

Every year, Bank of America will give you a $50 Alaska Airlines voucher that can be applied to any Alaska Airlines or Virgin America flight. The voucher is sent out just after the first of every new year, so you can end up with two in one year of card membership. Again, this more than offsets the small annual fee.

Earn Miles

The Alaska Platinum Plus card earns miles at the following rates:

These rates are actually on-par with most other co-branded airline credit cards.

Other Perks of Alaska Airlines Visa Platinum Plus Credit Card

The Platinum Plus version of this card comes with the same additional perks as the Visa Signature, including:

As you can see, there is still plenty of value to be had with this card.

Things to Note

You cannot apply directly for the Platinum Plus card. Bank of America makes the choice for you. If you want to make sure you get the Visa Signature card, call Bank of America immediately after your application is approved or goes pending. If you’ve been approved for the Platinum Plus, try to convince them you are suitable for the Visa Signature card instead. Alternatively, if they refuse to bump you up to the better card, ask to close the account immediately before they can add it to your credit score.

Alaska Airlines Visa Business Credit Card

This card is similar to the personal Visa Signature card, but the great part is that you can sign-up for both and receive a total of 80,000 miles in sign-up bonuses. Better yet, this card also comes with the Companion Fare offer, meaning that each year you will have two companion fares to use, assuming you have both the personal and the business card.

40,000-Point Sign-Up Bonus

The Alaska Airlines Visa Business card offers the same 40,000-mile bonus as Alaska Visa Signature card. To receive the bonus, you have to spend $2,000 on the card in the first 90 days after account opening.

Do You Need a Business to Qualify for a Business Card?

Credit card issuers tend to define a business rather loosely when considering customers for business credit cards. You will probably qualify as a small business owner if you’re an independent contractor or freelancer, even if it’s a part-time gig. You can even get a business card if you simply sell items on eBay or Etsy.

Many issuers don’t even require you to provide proof of independent income. They can use your personal credit history instead. Your credit limit will be bigger, though, if you can show that you have a steady revenue stream from your business. But that doesn’t really matter since you can still get the sign-up bonus and perks that come with the business card.

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa: Another Option for Alaska Airlines Miles

Points earned on the Marriott Bonvoy credit card can be transferred to more than 40 airlines, including Alaska Airlines.

Right now, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card is offering a 75,000-point sign-up bonus, which can be converted into 25,000 Alaska Airlines miles. This card is a must if you travel with miles and points.

75,000-Point Sign-Up Bonus With the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card comes with an outstanding sign-up bonus of 75,000 points after spending $3,000 in the first three months. While the number of points is incredible, those points are also so valuable that most bloggers consider the bonus to be worth at about $700.

Bonvoy points tend to transfer to airlines at a ratio of 3:1, meaning that 75,000 Bonvoy points would get you 25,000 Alaska miles. Marriott tends not to offer special bonuses when you transfer Bonvoy points to airline mileage programs. However, they do offer a 5,000 mile bonus each time you transfer 60,000 points to an airline. So with 75,000 points from the sign-up bonus, you’d actually get 30,000 Alaska miles.

Earn Miles

The Bonvoy Boundless card earns points at the following rates:

Other Perks of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Credit Card

The Bonvoy Brilliant credit card comes with a few other great perks, including:

Annual Fee

The card has a $95 annual fee.

How to Earn 115,000 Alaska Airlines Miles in 3 Months

If you plan it right, you should be able to get 89,000 Alaska Airlines miles within three months. First and most importantly, you should have a good credit score (720+). If you don’t know your credit score, check it using an app like Credit Karma. Once you know your score, here are the next steps:

STEP 1

First month: Apply for theMarriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express card and spend $3,000 in first month. This will give you 81,000 points (75,000 bonus plus 6,000 points for what you spent, and the 6,000 is the minimum you’ll earn, since you will earn more points if you use the card for restaurants, airfare or Marriott purchases).

STEP 2

Second month: Apply for the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit card. Make sure you are actually getting this card and not the Platinum Plus. Spend $2,000 during this month and get a total of 42,000 Alaska miles.

STEP 3

Third month: Apply for the Alaska Airlines Visa Business credit card. Spend $2,000 and get another 42,000 miles.

STEP 4

Transfer the 81,000 points from your Bonvoy card to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plus program at a 3:1 ratio. You’ll receive 27,000 miles plus the 5,000 mile bonus, for a total of 31,000 Alaska miles.

If everything is done right, you should have 115,000 Alaska Airline miles to spend on your next vacation. As always, make sure you take good care of your credit and keep track of the cards in the process.

Why Alaska Airlines Miles Are Awesome

Alaska Airlines miles are valuable for everything from short-haul economy flights to long-haul first-class travel. If you use their award zones right, you can get flights for as little as 5,000 miles. The best part is that Alaska offers free stopovers on one-way award tickets.

For example, you could fly from Anchorage to Fairbanks, spend a weekend there, and continue up to Barrow for merely 7,500 miles plus $6 for one way. That same tickets costs over $250 in cash.

How Much Are Alaska Airlines Miles Worth?

Alaska’s miles are worth, on average, 1.6 cents per mile for domestic travel. For top international business and first class redemptions, you’ll usually get over five cents per mile.

If you think of each mile as a cashback value, it’s your choice how much your rewards will be worth. If you’re redeeming for economy, you’re earning a whole lot less than the potential five cents per point that you’ll get when redeeming for business or first class!

What Is CPM and How Is It Calculated?

Cents Per Mile (CPM) is a way to measure the value of miles. It tells you how many cents you get for each mile you redeem by dividing the cash price of the airline ticket (minus taxes and fees charged for an award ticket) by the number of miles the award flight costs. This is a somewhat subjective calculation because the price of the flight in both cash and miles fluctuates by season and availability.

Of course, some destinations can get you higher CPMs. If you manage to find Qantas awards to Sydney, you’ll be looking at a 10+ CPM. While Qantas tends to be stingy about releasing premium-cabin award space, you can, in theory, book a one-way business class flight from the U.S. to Australia for just 55,000 miles, or 70,000 miles in first class.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Partners

Since Alaska isn’t part of an alliance, they have a unique array of partners they’ve gathered over the years. You can redeem miles on almost all their partners, but you cannot mix them on the same itinerary. The solution? Just book two one-ways. It’s the same price as a roundtrip!

Alaska Airlines Partners With the Following Airlines:

Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Condor, Emirates, Fiji Airways, Finnair, Hainan Airlines, Icelandair, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, LATAM Airlines, PenAir, Qantas, Ravn Alaska and Singapore Airlines.

How Far Can Alaska Miles Get You?

Given that they have partners everywhere in the world, your miles can take you anywhere! As of February 2018, Alaska Airlines has hubs in the following cities:

Don’t live on the West Coast? With their partners, you can fly from just about anywhere to just about anywhere. It costs the same to fly with Japan Airlines from New York to Delhi as it costs to fly from Los Angeles. You can also fly American, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Korean Air or Hainan to Asia.

Meanwhile, you can catch American, British Airways, Icelandair or Condor to Europe (not the most exciting selection of airlines to this continent, I’ll admit). To Africa or the Middle East, Emirates and Cathay Pacific are your options. And to Oceania, you can take Qantas or American. Lastly, you can fly American or LATAM to South America.

Mileage Plan Program Perks:

Good To Know

Conclusion

Alaska Airlines has the best loyalty program in the U.S. Through credit card sign-up bonuses, you can easily rack up 115,000 miles in just three months. Depending on which airline you use, that’s enough for a round-trip, business-class or premium-economy ticket to Asia, Europe, South America or Oceania.