There’s a new targeted Amex Offer out that can make for a nice savings for Alaska Airlines travelers as you can get $100 back on $500 or more on Alaska Airlines flights, but there’s a catch — you’ll have to book via Amex Travel (and have and enroll in the Amex Offer).
The Deal
- A new targeted Amex Offer is out that’s good for $100 back when you spend $500 or more on Alaska Airlines flights at AmexTravel.com [enrollment required]
Key Terms
- Offer valid only for Alaska Airlines marketed flights booked directly with American Express Travel online through AmexTravel.com, the Amex® App, or by calling the number on the back of your Card.
- Flights must originate in the US and be paid for in USD, in an amount totaling at least $500 between 2/26/2024 and 5/26/2024, in order to qualify.
- Excludes flights purchased as a Flight + Hotel package through American Express Travel, and any flights booked directly with Alaska Airlines (outside of American Express Travel) or through other third-party sites and apps.
- Excludes all other types of American Express Travel bookings or purchases not listed as eligible.
- Excludes fare upgrades, seat selection/baggage fees, in-flight spend, gift cards, hotel, car services, travel insurance, Alaska trips, Alaska Lounge membership, Alaska Lounge merchandise and day passes, purchase of points/miles, Alaska Airlines Freight and Alaska Lounges/Boardrooms.
- American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. is acting solely as a sales agent for travel suppliers and is not responsible for the actions or inactions of such suppliers. Certain suppliers pay us commission and other incentives for reaching sales targets or other goals and may provide incentives to our Travel Consultants. For more information visit www.americanexpress.com/travelterms. California CST#1022318; Washington UBI#600-469-694.
- American Express identifies qualifying transactions based on information provided by the participating merchant.
- Offer is non-transferable.
- Valid only on purchases made in US dollars.
Quick Thoughts
There are a few key restrictions here to keep in mind:
- You have to book via Amex Travel. While that means you could earn bonus points depending on the card you use for the purchase, it also means potential headaches if you need to change or cancel your reservation.
- The offer is basically only valid on airfare — things like seat selection, baggage fees, and even flight + hotel packages are excluded.
- Flights must originate in the US and be charged in US dollars
If you can work within those confines, this deal could obviously save you some money. Keep in mind that Costco very frequently (almost always?) offers a $500 Alaska Airlines gift card for $450. This deal is better in that the discount is higher and you can at least potentially have credit card travel protections since you’ll be booking your flight with a credit card instead of a gift card. On the other hand, if you would ordinarily consider using a gift card, this only improves the discount by $50 and adds the potential hassle if you might cancel your flight or in the event of irregular operations. I’d probably still be happy enough to get the $100 discount if I needed to buy an Alaska Airlines flight, but it’s worth keeping in mind that there are potential downsides.
Overall, this deal will probably work out well for those who travel with Alaska Airlines frequently.
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But I will not be able to apply my Alaska Companion Fare Coupon, right?
Correct.
I have a Amex Plat Biz card with Alaska as my carrier for the 35% rebate. The offer is on my personal Plat card, however. Can I still get my 35% rebate if I make the flight using my Plat personal card?
yes
Are you sure about that? That would be great, but that seems really surprising!
Well, your question is a little confusing, but I think the answer is no. Let’s back up: the offer is for $100 back on $500. You need to be paying with cash (not points) to be able to trigger the offer. I don’t think you will trigger the offer when using points to pay for the flight (somebody correct me if I’m wrong — I know that the flight initially charges your card and then the points reimburse you, but I believe that it didn’t work to trigger an Amex Offer for me when doing it that way in the past). I don’t think you can combine the 35% rebate and the Amex Offer even if you had the Amex Offer on your BizPlat card.
I’m looking to purchase a ~$600 Alaska first class ticket that meets this offer’s criteria. However, I was likely going to make the purchase using Amex points and my Biz Plat at Amex Travel to get the 35% points rebate….so the net cost would be just under 40K Amex points. Any idea if using Amex points instead of cash at Amex Travel would still trigger this $100 credit?
Its triggered on delta flights for me in the past for similar offers with the method you are describing.
Well than I stand corrected on my comment above. I didn’t think that worked for me when I tried it in the past.
I’ll see what happens. I needed to book a couple of flights with Alaska anyway and it just happened to bring me over $500.
I selected Points and had my Amex Plat personal card selected vs my Amex Biz Plat card with Alaska as my airline.
Here’s hoping that the charges convert to points as expected and that in a month from now, I see two things: $100 statement credit for the offer, and 35% returned for using my points with one of my Biz Plats set to Alaska.
I’ll update once I have the DP.
On March 2nd, I received $100 from ALASKA AIRLINES SEATTLE. I can only think that this would be for the $500+ I spent using Amex Travel and paying with points. So, I’m happy to say that Nick was wrong on this one :-).
I’m still waiting to see if I get my 35% rebate on these flights since I did book it selecting my Platinum personal card for the $100 back.
I’ll share once a month has gone by to see if I get my rebate.