Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Program Review

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Review Summary

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is the 1st best frequent flyer program for 2025, according to WalletHub’s review. Some of Mileage Plan’s biggest strengths include miles worth an average of 1.37 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

Mileage Plan Snapshot

How to Earn Mileage Plan Miles

WalletHub Rating for "Earning Policies": 80% (12.00 / 15 points)

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 mile flown: 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, Westmark and Alaska Airlines Hotels.
• 250 - 10,000 Mileage Plan miles per night: Stays at hotel partners like Rocketmiles, Coast Hotels, Choice, Best Western and Alaska Airlines Hotels.
• 1 - 2 Mileage Plan miles per $1 spent: Cruises with partner CruisesOnly.
• 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 2,000 miles per qualifying rental for rentals of 5+ days.
• 1 Mileage Plan miles per $1 spent: Car trips booked on Lyft.
• 5 Mileage Plan miles per $1 spent: Purchases with Mileage Plan Dining (plus a bonus of 500 miles on the first meal).
• 0.5+ Mileage Plan miles per $1 spent: Purchases from 850+ stores through Mileage Plan Shopping (earning rate varies by store).

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?

WalletHub Rating for "Rewards Value": 65% (12.94 / 20 points)

Mileage Plan miles are worth 1.37 cents each, on average, according to WalletHub’s research. That means you need about 26,715 points to get a free flight, based on the average domestic fare of $366.

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: 48,658 points (or $666.61)
• Los Angeles to Seattle: 23,474 points (or $321.60)
• Chicago to Seattle: 29,752 points (or $407.60)

How to Redeem Mileage Plan Miles

WalletHub Rating for "Redemption Policies": 97% (19.39 / 20 points)

Other Key Things to Know About Redeeming Mileage Plan Miles

• There are no booking blackout dates, but 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 no award-ticket redeposit/cancellation fee that applies to all changes made more than 24 hours after booking on Main and First Class fares.

Where Can Mileage Plan Miles Take You?

WalletHub Rating for "Destination Coverage": 52% (12.97 / 25 points)

Alaska Airlines flies to 107 U.S. destinations and 21 international destinations. In addition, Alaska Airlines has 13 partner airlines from the oneworld Alliance and 20 non-alliance partners, which collectively visit 528 U.S. destinations and 2.081 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.

Mileage Plan Status Levels

WalletHub Rating for "Status Levels": 55% (4.93 / 9 points)

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

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.

Mileage Plan Status Level & Perks

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.

In light of the above information, Mileage Plan's scores for this section are as follows:

Ease of achieving elite status: 59% (1.77 / 3 points)

• According to our study, the cost of achieving elite status with Alaska Airlines is $12,933.

Valuable membership perks: 53% (3.16 / 6 points)

• Based on average spending profile, new members can expect to receive free checked baggage, complimentary upgrades, priority check-in/security/boarding and priority on overbooked flights as a valuable perks. Heavy travelers could expect to qualify for: Free checked baggage, complimentary upgrades, priority check-in/security/boarding, complimentary companion upgrades and priority on overbooked flights.

Other Features of the Mileage Plan Program

WalletHub Rating for "Other Features": 64% (7 / 11 points)

The "Other Features" component of this Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program review focused on four sub-categories. Below, you can see how many points Mileage Plan earned in each category, along with the corresponding WalletHub Rating.

Other Key Features

• Miles do not expire. Accounts will be temporarily inactivated if unused for 24 months but can be reactivated at any time, with all miles intact.
• 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 161% markup, on average.

 

8 Tips for Mileage Plan Members

1. The best way to redeem Mileage Plan miles is for Alaska Airlines flights. Miles are worth 1.37 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 $1,500 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 – earning policies, rewards value, redemption policies, destination coverage, status levels and other features – 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.