EXPIRED This article relates to an offer or promotion which has now expired.
It’s been over a month since our article about one of Alaska Airlines’ most generous promotions – up to 50% bonus when you purchase their Mileage Plan miles, presuming you were targeted for that bonus level though it appears many people were this time round.
Well maybe you never checked your account, or maybe you forgot about it, but the good news is there are still 7 days to act if you want to lock in the bonus miles.
The offer
We outlined the details of the offer in our article here, however to recap if you are targeted for the full 50% bonus miles rate then provided you purchase at least 40,000 miles (60,000 with the bonus) it works out as a purchase rate of 1.97US cents (around 2.7 Singapore cents) per mile.
Just 50,000 Alaska miles is enough for two of you to enjoy a ‘return’ Business Class flight to Tokyo on JAL using the ‘stopover trick’, see here for details.
Alternatively, just fly yourself from Singapore to Los Angeles or New York in Business Class on Cathay Pacific for the same rate.
Purchases are unlimited (almost)
Although the highest level of miles you can purchase is 60,000 (90,000 including the bonus) in a single transaction, remember you can effectively buy an unlimited volume of Alaska miles by repeating the purchases.
You can only make a maximum of four miles purchases per credit card however, so you are technically limited by the number of credit cards you have.
This could be useful if you have big redemption plans or a number of trips coming up and you know award availability exists (don’t buy large volumes speculatively is our advice).
Can I sign up now and take advantage?
Unfortunately no, Alaska Mileage Plan accounts must have been open for 10 days to be eligible to buy miles, so it’s too late now to sign up and make a purchase with the current bonus.
In any event it seems like anyone who signed up as a new member during this promotion was targeted at a lower bonus purchase rate of 35%, far less attractive than the top tiers where 40 or 50% were offered.
When does the offer end?
Slightly confusing as the purchase deadline of 11.59pm on 4th October 2018 is based on PST (Pacific Standard Time), which no one uses in the summer months. That would be 3.59pm on 5th October 2018 in Singapore, however we would urge you to assume 2.59pm on 5th October 2018 in Singapore in case they mean PDT (Pacific Daylight Time).
Don’t forget to check our full article outlining the benefits of Alaska miles and this promotion.
Click here to buy Alaska miles
(Cover Photo: Kenneth Gill)
I was searching for award flights from Singapore to Europe (London, Paris) for next Spring period. Not a single business class seat is available for April and May 2019 and noticed that the business class column is missing from the selection. Is Finnair not allowing redemption on business class seat anymore?
Business Class on Finnair is still available, SIN-HEL or CDG or LHR on 8th & 9th October for example has award space. They do limit Business redemptions quite strictly however and availability often appears quite last-minute.
Using the ‘Award calendar’ view on the Alaska site is the easiest way to find available dates, you can then filter for Business Class. You’re right to say though that as it stands there are no available dates in April or May 2019 on the SIN-HEL route.
Keep checking, or perhaps consider Cathay Pacific ex-HKG for a Europe redemption using Alaska miles.
Anyone found J availability on CX ex-HKG to Europe in jun/ Jul/ Aug 2019? 330 days out using BA, JAL and Qantas and only been able to find PY and Y. Sigh
For those curious about the timing of the purchase period – it actually ended at 2.59pm Singapore time today as we expected might be the case. That’s 11.59pm PDT, not PST as the terms and conditions stated.
Useful to know for future reference with Alaska promotions, they’re really talking about local time on the US West Coast when they say PST.