Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Program Review

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Review Summary

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is the 1st best frequent flyer program for 2022, according to WalletHub’s review. Some of Mileage Plan’s biggest strengths include miles worth an average of 1.03 cents apiece, lots of bonus miles for MVP members, and many earning options.

Below, you can find all the important details of the Mileage Plan program, including its status levels and perks, as well as how to earn and redeem miles. You can also see how Mileage Plan stacks up against other popular frequent flyer programs.

Mileage Plan Review Scorecard

#4 for Earning Policies
#2 for Rewards Value
#2 for Redemption Policies
#4 for Destination Coverage
#2 for Other Features

How to Earn Mileage Plan Miles

Category Rating: 78% (12/15)

Mileage Plan members earn miles for making purchases through Alaska Airlines and its partners. Below is a list of the types of transactions that accrue miles, as well as the amount they award.

Transactions That Earn Mileage Plan Miles

• 1 Mileage Plan mile per $1 spent: Alaska Airlines flights and flights on partner airlines.
• 1 - 3 Mileage Plan miles per $1 spent: Purchases on an Alaska Airlines credit card.
• 1 - 2 Mileage Plan miles per $1 spent: Stays at hotel partners like IHG, Marriott and Westmark.
• 250 - 10,000 Mileage Plan miles per stay: Stays at hotel partners like Rocketmiles, Coast Hotels, Choice and Best Western.
• 50 Mileage Plan miles per day: Car rentals from partners like Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, National, Thrifty and Alaska Airlines Car Rental. Can earn up to 500 miles per qualifying rental for rentals of 5+ days.
• 5 Mileage Plan miles per $1 spent: Purchases with Mileage Plan Dining (plus a bonus of 1,000 miles on the first meal).
• 0.5+ Mileage Plan miles per $1 spent: Purchases from 800+ stores through Mileage Plan Shopping (earning rate varies by store).
• 0.5 Mileage Plan miles per $1 borrowed/refinanced: Student loans and personal loans with SoFi.

Mileage Plan partners with a few other merchants, such as 1-800-Flowers.com, Rover, Teleflora and Vinesse Wine Clubs to offer miles, too. In addition, you may be able to find special deals on Mileage Plan flights on the Alaska Airlines website. Such deals might let you spend fewer miles than usual on a reward booking or earn more than usual on a regular booking.

Other Key Things to Know About Earning Mileage Plan Miles

Earning limitations: Alaska Airlines does not specify a maximum number of miles you can earn per ticket.

Retroactive flight credit for members: Mileage Plan members can get credited for miles from any Alaska Airlines flight taken in the past 12 months if their frequent flyer number was not on the reservation (as long as they were a member at the time).

Retroactive flight credit for non-members: New Mileage Plan members cannot get miles for flights taken before they became a member.

How Much Are Mileage Plan Miles Worth?

Category Rating: 100% (20/20)

Mileage Plan miles are worth 1.03 cents each, on average, according to WalletHub’s research. That means you need about 24,000 Mileage Plan miles to get a free flight, based on the average domestic fare of $245.

Below, you can check out how many Mileage Plan miles you’ll need for some popular round-trip routes, on average.

• New York to Seattle: 60,000 miles (or $496.79)
• Los Angeles to Seattle: 20,000 miles (or $226.80)
• Chicago to Seattle: 40,000 miles (or $396.79)

How to Redeem Mileage Plan Miles

Category Rating: 97% (19/20)

Other Key Things to Know About Redeeming Mileage Plan Miles

• There are some booking blackout dates, and Alaska Airlines cannot guarantee the availability of award seats on any flight.
• You can book a flight with miles up to 331 days before departure.
• There is no short-notice booking fee.
• Alaska Airlines allows one layover/stopover on one-way reward flights, and two on round-trip flights. Flights with stopovers can only be booked over the phone.
• There is a $125 award-ticket redeposit/cancellation fee that applies to all changes made more than 24 hours after booking.

Other Features of the Mileage Plan Program

Category Rating: 62% (12/20)

The Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan rewards program is free to join, but you won’t receive any benefits from it other than earning miles until you qualify for one of the “MVP” levels. Qualification for Mileage Plan “MVP” status is based on:

• Mileage Plan miles earned
• Segments flown (number of flights taken)

The more times you fly with Alaska Airlines, and the more money you spend with an Alaska Airlines credit card, the higher your status level will go. The higher your Mileage Plan status level is, the more benefits you will receive on Alaska Airlines flights and the more you will save when you fly.

Below, you can see exactly what you’ll need to do to achieve and maintain each Mileage Plan status level, along with the perks that come with it.

Members must satisfy a given status level’s qualifying requirements between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 to reach or maintain that status level and enjoy its benefits. Once you earn any Mileage Plan status level, you will keep it for the rest of the current calendar year and all of the next calendar year.

Other Key Features

• Miles expire after 24 months of inactivity (no earning or redemption).
• You can reactivate expired miles for a fee.
• You can transfer miles between accounts, for a fee of $10 per 1,000 miles.
• Buying miles costs more than they’re worth, as Mileage Plan miles are sold at a 85% markup, on average.

Where Can Mileage Plan Miles Take You?

Category Rating: 52% (13/25)

Alaska Airlines flies to 104 U.S. destinations and 15 international destinations. In addition, Alaska Airlines has 15 partner airlines from the oneworld Alliance and 8 non-alliance partners, which collectively visit 385 U.S. destinations and 2,036 international destinations.

You can’t directly transfer miles from the loyalty programs of these partners to Mileage Plan or vice versa. For example, you can’t turn Mileage Plan miles into American Airlines miles. However, you can earn and redeem Mileage Plan miles on flights with all Alaska Airlines partners.

Summary: Alaska Mileage Plan Scores by Review Category

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Credit Cards

Opinions and ratings are our own. This content is not provided, commissioned or endorsed by any issuer. Some offers are from WalletHub partners.

Applying for an Alaska Airlines credit card is worth considering if you have good credit or better and fly with Alaska Airlines at least a few times per year. There are two Alaska Airlines credit cards, one for consumers and one for businesses. You can some more details about both offers below.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Credit Card Offers Compared

8 Tips for Mileage Plan Members

1. The best way to redeem Mileage Plan miles is for Alaska Airlines flights. Miles are worth 1.03 cents apiece that way.
2. Pool or transfer miles if it makes sense. Mileage Plan allows members to pool their miles together for easier redemption, but there is a fee of $10 per 1,000 miles
3. Avoid buying Mileage Plan miles, if possible. Mileage Plan miles cost more to purchase than they are worth when redeemed, on average. However, it could be worth buying a small number if it puts you over the top for a free flight.
4. Take advantage of status perks. One of the biggest reasons that airline rewards programs are worth joining is that their status levels tend to provide a wealth of benefits, such as bonus miles, free checked bags and complimentary upgrades. Make sure you take advantage of everything Alaska Airlines MileagePlan offers.
5. Consider applying for an Alaska Airlines credit card. The best Alaska Airlines credit card could save the average person well over $1,000 during the first two years of use, according to WalletHub’s calculations.
6. Try the Island Approach with your credit cards. Alaska Airlines credit cards offer competitive rewards on Alaska Airlines flights, but different credit cards may provide better terms on other types of transactions. Using a collection of cards for specialized purposes can enable you to get the best deal on everything you buy.
7. Make sure to read Alaska Airlines reviews & Mileage Plan FAQs. Learning from experts and fellow travelers will help you pick up some helpful tips as well as avoid tricks and pitfalls.
8. Compare your flight options if you’re not wedded to Mileage Plan. Alaska Airlines is not the only airline with a rewarding loyalty program. You can see how Mileage Plan compares to a couple of popular alternatives below. You can also check out WalletHub’s rankings of the Best Frequent Flyer Programs to learn more.

Mileage Plan vs. SkyMiles vs. AAdvantage

Mileage Plan Review Methodology

Overall program rankings are based on the same methodology as WalletHub’s annual study on the Best Frequent Flyer Programs. Editor’s ratings reflect the sum of each rewards program’s scores across the study’s 6 major categories – airline coverage, partner coverage, rewards value, earning policies, redemption policies and additional features & policies – adjusted to a 5-point scale, to create a representative distribution of ratings.

WalletHub calculated Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan mile values by comparing flight rates between U.S. cities and popular travel destinations – both domestic and international – to the number of miles needed to book a flight. We applied the process to round-trip flights from Friday to Monday for each destination’s high and shoulder tourist seasons.