Biggest ever Alaska buy miles bonus – up to 60%, but should you?

Alaska Airlines last ran a mileage sale almost exactly a month ago. At the time we said it was a strange time to be offering a ‘buy miles’ promotion, with so much of the world under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and many wondering which airlines (and frequent flyer programmes) will survive this crisis and which won’t.

A month later and if anything, the uncertainty has increased, with major airlines like South African Airways and Virgin Australia, both SIA partner airlines, looking perilously close to being the first two major airline victims of the pandemic’s effects on the industry.

One thing Alaska Mileage Plan has no doubt felt the need to do in its latest ‘buy miles’ promotion is ‘up the ante’ a little, by targeting selected accounts with a 60% bonus for those purchasing or topping up their balance between now and 1st June 2020.

The April 2020 offer

This is the second Alaska miles bonus offer since the coronavirus situation took hold, with a previous week-long bonus 40% sale running last month.

Remember even in the ‘good times’ – these miles are regularly on offer at 40-50% bonus levels.

Pro Tip: Never buy Alaska miles at full price, unless you need a small top-up quickly to achieve a specific redemption, or to urgently keep your existing balance alive if it is about to expire. These miles are almost always available on offer (there were seven purchase bonus offers in 2019 alone).

Alaska Airlines typically tailors these promotions slightly depending on your customer profile, so you’ll need to log on to your Mileage Plan account to check how your individual bonus is structured – since not everyone always gets exactly the same deal.

At the top end you’ll have a record 60% bonus (Alaska miles have only ever been sold at a maximum 50% bonus in the past), though there are also reports of 50% and 40% bonus levels being offered this month.

Here’s a typical 60% deal:

• 0 – 9,000 miles – no bonus (2.75 US ¢ / mile)
• 10,000 – 19,000 miles – 20% bonus (2.29 US ¢ / mile)
• 20,000 – 39,000 miles – 40% bonus (1.96 US ¢ / mile)
• 40,000 – 100,000 miles – 60% bonus (1.72 US ¢ / mile)

A 40% deal seems to be structured as follows:

• 0 – 4,000 miles – no bonus (2.75 US ¢ / mile)
• 5,000 – 14,000 miles – 20% bonus (2.29 US ¢ / mile)
• 15,000 – 100,000 miles – 40% bonus (1.96 US ¢ / mile)

Why buy Alaska miles?

In normal circumstances we’d recommend buying Alaska miles at 50% (or now 60%) bonus rates for excellent value First and Business Class award tickets with airlines like Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.

That’s because even if you don’t earn Alaska miles through other means (e.g. Kaligo hotel bookings, or crediting miles from paid Emirates / SIA bookings to the programme), the effective ‘fares’ you are paying for these redemptions are highly competitive even having only acquired your miles in one of these sales.

In many cases, taxes are low with no fuel surcharges levied and Alaska allows free stopovers for no additional miles on most itineraries.

Let’s look at some examples, with the effective cost shown based on buying all the miles you need for the booking.

		Effective cost buying at bonus levels (US$):
		40%	50%	60%
Singapore to New York First Class*	75,000 miles	$1,473	$1,375	$1,289
Singapore to New York Business Class	65,000 miles	$1,276	$1,191	$1,117
Singapore to Tokyo Business Class	25,000 miles	$491	$458	$430

* Business Class Singapore to Tokyo, First Class Tokyo to New York

Singapore to the USA in JAL First Class for 75,000 Alaska miles is one of the standout redemptions in the programme, and just in case you thought it wasn’t possible:

This itinerary would cost you just US$1,289 if you bought Alaska miles at a 60% bonus rate, though to be fair no one will be complaining much about spending US$1,375 or US$1,473 for the experience at the lower 50% and 40% bonuses respectively.

While the first flight up to Tokyo is in JAL’s Business Class seat, you’ll be in First Class for the longer overnight flight to New York.

Better still, you can search and book JAL award tickets using Alaska miles wholly online, including availability view by month, no fuel surcharges are added so the taxes are low, and you can have a free stopover in Tokyo on this itinerary for no additional miles (just US$22 in additional taxes).

		Effective cost buying at bonus levels (US$):
		40%	50%	60%
Tokyo to Los Angeles Business Class	80,000 miles	$1,571	$1,467	$1,375

There aren’t really any great value ways to use Alaska miles on Singapore Airlines, since the intra-Asia stopover ‘tricks’ were shut down in October 2019.

Perhaps the only decent value option is a Business Class ticket on one of the airline’s fifth freedom routes between Tokyo and Los Angeles, usually 92,000 KrisFlyer miles but available for 80,000 Alaska miles or the equivalent of US$1,375 with a 60% purchase bonus.

It’s not an incredible deal but personally we would probably rather buy the Alaska miles for this one and save the 92,000 KrisFlyer miles for a better value redemption, assuming we needed to fly this city pair in isolation.

		Effective cost buying at bonus levels (US$):
		40%	50%	60%
Singapore to Los Angeles First Class*	70,000 miles	$1,375	$1,283	$1,203
Singapore to Los Angeles Business Class	50,000 miles	$982	$917	$859
Sydney to New York First Class*	80,000 miles	$1,571	$1,467	$1,375
Sydney to New York Business Class	60,000 miles	$1,179	$1,100	$1,031
Hong Kong to London Business Class	42,500 miles	$835	$779	$730
Singapore to Tokyo Business Class	22,500 miles	$442	$413	$387

* Business Class to Hong Kong, then First Class to the USA

There are some great value ways to use Alaska miles on Cathay Pacific, including Singapore to the USA in Business Class for US$859 (if you buy at the 60% bonus rate).

Even Singapore to Tokyo or Seoul for example drops to US$387 in Business Class at a 60% bonus.

Bear in mind though that Cathay Pacific awards using Alaska miles are not searchable or bookable online, so you’ll have to call to secure them. Using the British Airways Avios or American Airlines AAdvantage search engines to check award availability beforehand is usually accurate.

		Effective cost buying at bonus levels (US$):
		40%	50%	60%
Sydney to Dallas First Class	70,000 miles	$1,375	$1,283	$1,203
Sydney to Dallas Business Class	55,000 miles	$1,080	$1,008	$945
Perth to Sydney Business Class	20,000 miles	$393	$367	$344

If you’re based in Australia, using Alaska miles for coast-to-coast domestic flights in Business Class, like Perth to Sydney or Perth to Melbourne at 20,000 miles each way is great value – just US$344 when buying at a 60% bonus. Pick an Airbus A330 or Boeing 787 for the newest flat-bed seats.

It’s also worth checking out Australia to USA award pricing.

Business Class on one of the world’s longest flights (the 16-hour mammoth from Sydney to Dallas) comes in at less than US$1,000 when buying miles at a 60% bonus.

		Effective cost buying at bonus levels (US$):
		40%	50%	60%
Singapore to Chicago Business Class	120,000 miles return	$2,357	$2,200	$2,063

Korean Air awards must be booked as a round-trip, however for 120,000 miles you can fly from Singapore to the USA and back in Business Class for US$2,063 at the 60% bonus rate.

Deadline: 1st June 2020

The offer closes at 11.59pm PST on Monday 31st May 2020, which is 2.59pm on Tuesday 1st June 2020 Singapore time.

Alaska is strict about the offer deadline, so it will completely disappear at the end time – we’ve tested it to the minute in the past. We would therefore recommend making your purchase before approximately 2pm on 1st June in Singapore if you’re interested, just in case you have any issues or the payment doesn’t go through first time.

Click here to buy Alaska miles

Cancellation fees

Do note that Alaska Airlines charges a US$125 fee (around S$178 at the time of writing) for award ticket changes or cancellations, which is pretty steep. You’ll no doubt want to have relatively firm travel plans and dates before booking, in order to avoid this penalty.

Note: Alaska is currently offering change and cancellation fee waiver for award tickets booked between now and 31st May 2020, for travel booked through the end of April 2021, due to the coronavirus situation. Tickets must be changed or canceled prior to the departure of your original flight.

All options

For those not familiar, here’s a recap of the airline and route options using Alaska Miles applicable to the majority of our readers in Asia-Pacific.

Airline	Routes
	Asia – Canada/USA, Caribbean & Mexico Australia/NZ – Canada/USA
	India/South Asia – Canada/USA & Mexico
	Asia – Canada/USA Australia/NZ – Canada/USA India/South Asia – Canada/USA Intra-Asia Hong Kong – Africa, Australia/NZ, Europe, India/South Asia & Middle East
	Asia – Canada/USA Australia/NZ – Canada/USA India/South Asia – Canada/USA
	Australia/NZ – USA
	Asia – Canada/USA, Europe & Mexico India/South Asia – Canada/USA, Europe & Mexico
	Asia – Canada/USA & Mexico Intra-China
	Asia – Canada/USA Intra-Asia
	Asia – Canada/USA Australia/NZ – Canada/USA India/South Asia – Canada/USA Korea – SE Asia
	Australia/NZ – Canada/USA Intra-Australia
	Asia – USA Asia – South Pacific Asia – India Asia – Middle East Asia – Europe Asia – Africa Intra-Asia

You can search and redeem online for all partners, except Cathay Pacific and LATAM, where it has to be done over the phone.

You can view the full Alaska miles award charts here.

Which card to use

If you are going to buy in this promotion, and assuming like most of our readers you are based in Singapore, you’ll want to achieve the maximum number of credit card miles for the purchase itself when buying Alaska Miles.

The transaction itself happens in US dollars (i.e. non-SGD) and is processed by points.com.

You can earn the most extra miles for the purchase transaction by using one of the following Singapore issued credit cards if you can:

Card	Miles per S$1	Notes
Citi Rewards Visa / MasterCard (see our review)	4.0	4 mpd on all online spend in a statement period, capped at S$1,000 per card.
DBS Women’s World Mastercard* (see our review)	4.0*	4 mpd on all online spend in a calendar month, capped at S$2,000.
UOB Visa Signature	4.0	4 mpd on all overseas spend of at least S$1,000 in a statement period, capped at S$2,000.
BOC Elite Miles World Mastercard (see our review)	3.0	3 mpd on all non-SGD spend, with no cap.
Standard Chartered Visa Infinite (see our review)	3.0	For non-SGD spend, provided total card spend (any currency) is S$2,000 or greater in the same statement cycle.
UOB PRVI Miles (see our review)	2.4	All non-SGD spend.
OCBC Voyage Visa (see our review)	2.3	All non-SGD spend.
Citi PremierMiles (see our review)	2.0	All non-SGD spend.
Citi Prestige (see our review)	2.0	All non-SGD spend.

* Note: One of our readers reported that using the DBS WWMC card via points.com does not automatically award the higher 4 mpd earn rate. You must usually appeal and claim the miles later.

Should you buy?

Our own opinion? Short of a miraculous shift in the pandemic and global airline fortunes around a month from now, when this offer is coming to an end – “great rate, but we’ll pass thanks”.

Even at the lowest purchase level to trigger the 60% bonus, you’re parting with US$1,100 (S$1,500+), and right now we think that’s just not sensible.

Alaska Airlines should survive COVID-19, but no airline is 100% immune. Crucially, Alaska Mileage Plan is not ring-fenced from the airline. If Alaska Airlines goes down, so do your miles.

If you used Alaska miles in this example to make a partner redemption, like a JAL flight sometime in 2021, chances are it will not be honoured as the financial compensation between Alaska and the partner airline for an award flight happens after the flight has taken place.

Given that JAL won’t be compensated in this case, they likely won’t honour the booking.

There’s also the risk of devaluation. Alaska miles have been devalued before, sometimes without notice, and the airline’s upcoming entry into the oneworld alliance spells bad news for future changes to the award charts in our opinion.

Still tempted? There’s no rush

If you remain tempted by the offer and have been targeted at the 60% level, our advice is still to wait before buying. Remember you have until lunchtime on 1st June 2020 (coincidentally the new end date of the extended ‘circuit breaker’ period) in Singapore to lock in miles at this price.

Wait until late May, at least five weeks from now, to see how the situation is developing around the world before parting with your cash for these miles, even at a 60% bonus level, unless you’re literally looking to jump on a redemption immediately.

Lots can happen between now and then and you may thank yourself for putting off the decision, plus even if you do go ahead it will then probably be on your subsequent credit card statement compared to buying today!

Final thought – it’s not much better than a 50% bonus

Lots of these great value deals we’ve outlined look very tempting, especially if you’re looking to book well into next year for example.

However it’s also worth noting that Alaska miles are regularly offered at a 50% bonus level, typically several times a year. As you can see from the tables above, the actual ‘cost’ difference for most of these valuable Alaska miles redemptions isn’t that great between the 50% bonus and the 60% bonus levels.

For example, a First Class award on Cathay from Singapore to Los Angeles comes out at US$1,283 if you buy the miles at a 50% bonus and US$1,203 if you buy at a 60% bonus. That’s not a huge difference – it’s a still great value redemption either way.

Just another good reason to pass on this one, in our opinion. A 60% bonus just isn’t high enough in the current circumstances.

If you still want to though:

Click here to buy Alaska miles

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(Cover Photo: Alaska Airlines)