Alaska Mileage Plan is the loyalty program for Alaska Airlines. For quite some time, Mileage Plan was considered to be one of the best loyalty programs around and Alaska miles were coveted throughout the world of points and miles. Even though it was an independent carrier, Alaska developed a compelling coterie of direct partnerships that created some very interesting opportunities, especially to Asia and Oceania.
While some of that previous shine has worn off, the last couple of years have been pretty exciting for Mileage Plan. The airline joined the oneworld alliance in 2023 and since then has made several broadly positive changes to the program including a unified award chart that covers all partners (and has some very good sweet spots), distanced-based elite-qualifying mileage earnings on all award flights and, perhaps most interestingly, acquiring Hawaiian Airlines.
That last point has caused much of the recent excitement, as HawaiianMiles are now transferable to Alaska on a 1-1 basis until the two programs merge this year. That transferability has opened up indirect transfers from American Express Membership Rewards to Alaska and enabled the ability to combine Hawaiian and Alaska miles from several members into one account (both of these will go away within a matter of months) if you’re a Hawaiian cardholder.
Some things haven’t changed, though. Earnings when flying Alaska are arguably the best among US carriers, meaningful elite status is easier to achieve than in many programs and there are still excellent sweet spots be had. For many folks, especially those on the West Coast, it’s a program worth paying attention to.
What to expect from Mileage Plan in 2025
2025 is going to be an exciting year for Mileage Plan:
- As a result of getting wide-body jets with lie-flat seats from Hawaiian, Alaska will be operating transoceanic flights from the US for the first time, starting with Japan and Korea.
- Alaska will be launching a new premium card with 3x earnings when abroad, a companion fare that’s good on award tickets and an accelerated path to elite status
- In a long-overdue change, you’ll finally be able to book award tickets that involve multiple partners. Currently, awards with multiple partners are limited to American, British Airways and Finnair.
There’s a few things that we still don’t know about what’s ahead:
- Will elite benefits change when HawaiianMiles and Mileage Plan merge? Alaska has generous perks in terms of complimentary upgrades to first class, same-day confirmed changes, premium economy upgrades at booking and “guest upgrades” that can be used in advance for yourself and/or companions. Will those benefits apply to the new long haul flight and/or on Hawaiian?
- Will the Alaska Companion Pass apply to the whole route network? Alaska’s companion pass can be an incredibly powerful instrument that allows up to three (and sometimes more) stopovers on multi-city itineraries. It currently applies to Alaska’s entire route network. Will it apply to transoceanic and Hawaiian flights as well? If so, that’s a huge win.
Alaska Air Mileage Plan Pros and Cons
Pros
- Alaska offers very good return on domestic paid regular economy fares, primarily because its program still awards miles based on distance flown, as opposed to dollars spent.
- Overall, it’s relatively easy to acquire elite status.
- Meaningful elite benefits start at lower thresholds than many programs.
- Unique among US carriers, it offers a free stopover on most one-way awards.
- Award changes are free and easy.
- There are still excellent sweet spots on the award chart (short haul US, US- Oceania/Asia/South America; intra-Alaska).
- Miles from multiple accounts can be used towards the same reservation.
- Award flights booked through Alaska earn elite-qualifying miles based on distance flown, including partner awards
Cons
- Although Alaska has an extensive set of international partners, it is just starting to offer flights outside of North America, so has a much less robust route network than competitors like Delta, United and American.
- Alaska domestic first class seats lag behind many other domestic carriers, who have begun introducing lie-flat seating on transcontinental flights. That will begin to change now that Alaska has access to Hawaiian’s fleet.
- Alaska doesn’t partner with any major transferable programs except for Bilt Rewards, making their miles harder to come by.
- It still doesn’t allow awards with multiple partners outside of American, British Airways and Finnair (although more are expected to be added this year).
How to earn Alaska Air miles
Earning on Alaska and Hawaiian flights
Alaska is somewhat of a unicorn amongst US-based programs, as it still awards miles based on distance flown. On Alaska and Hawaiian flights, members earn:
- 1 mile per actual flight mile on all main cabin fares except basic and full-fare economy
- 1.25-1.5 miles per flight mile on economy flights booked in full-fare economy
- 1.5-2 miles per flight miles on first class flights (depending on fare type)
- 0.3 miles per flight mile on Alaska and American Airlines basic economy flights
In addition, elite members receive the following bonuses on paid fares:
- MVP – 25% of actual flight miles
- MVP Gold – 50% of actual flight miles
- MVP Gold 75K – 100% of actual flight miles
- MVP Gold 100K – 150% of actual flight miles
This can be quite lucrative on some flights, especially for elite members on discounted fares. Let’s say that I’m a 100K member taking a flight to New York City that cost around $300 roundtrip. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll count the total roundtrip distance as 5,000 miles. I’ll earn 5,000 base miles, plus a 150% bonus (7,500 miles) for a total of 12,500 miles. We value the redemption of Alaska miles at 1.3 cents each, so for this theoretical $300 flight, I got back ~$162 worth of redeemable miles.
This can be made even better when you use Alaska as a chosen airline for the Amex Business Platinum, as I’d then receive a 35% discount when using Amex Membership Rewards points to book Alaska flights via the Amex Travel portal.
In the East Coast example above, the price of booking the flight with Membership Rewards would go from the normal 30,000 points (at 1 cent each) to 19,500 points after the 35% discount. So, by using Membership Rewards, I end up spending 19,500 points and get back 12,500 Alaska miles for a net cost of ~7,000 points. Oh yeah, and I get a roundtrip flight to New York as well.
Obviously, it doesn’t always work like this, but Alaska’s distance-based program creates opportunities for outsized earnings on economy (and first class) flights that no longer exist in the more common revenue-based programs.
Alaska Mileage Plan earning on partner flights
Alaska is a member of the oneworld alliance, but also has some appealing partnerships with airlines that aren’t oneworld members. These partnerships fall under two categories; those that allow you to both earn AND redeem miles and those that allow you to earn miles when purchasing a codeshare flight through Alaska but aren’t open for redemptions:
| oneworld Partners | Non-alliance partners (earn and redeem ) | Non-alliance partners (earn only) |
|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | Aer Lingus | Aleutian Airways |
| British Airways | Air Tahiti Nui | Bahamasair |
| Cathay Pacific | Condor | Cape Air |
| Fiji Airways | Hainan Airlines | Contour Airlines |
| Finnair | Icelandair | Kenmore Air |
| Iberia | Korean Air | Mokulele Airlines |
| Japan Airlines | LATAM Airlines | Southern Airways Express |
| Malaysia Airlines | Oman Air* | |
| Qantas | Porter Airlines | |
| Qatar Airways | Singapore Airlines | |
| Royal Air Maroc | STARLUX Airlines | |
| Royal Jordanian | ||
| Sri Lankan Airlines |
Alaska used to have different earn charts for all of their partners airlines that varied tremendously depending on the partner that you were flying. Paid British Airways premium flights were famously lucrative, offering up to 500% earnings in redeemable miles.
As part of Alaska’s 2025 updates to Mileage Plan, the partner earning chart was drastically simplified based on whether you bought your ticket through Alaska or not. Spoiler alert…tickets purchased via Alaska (which are often more expensive) still can earn you a plane-full of miles. Those that are purchased through other channels? Less so.
| Class of Service | Purchased through Alaska | Other channels | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redeemable Miles | Elite-Qualifying Miles | Redeemable Miles | Elite-Qualifying Miles | |
| International First | 350% | 350% | 150% | 150% |
| International Business | 250% | 250% | 125% | 125% |
| Domestic First | 150% | 150% | 100% | 100% |
| Premium Economy | 150% | 150% | 100% | 100% |
| Economy | 100% | 100% | 50% | 50% |
| Discount Economy | 100% | 100% | 25% | 25% |
The earnings on partner flights when purchasing through Alaska are terrific. Even discount business flights, which can sometimes be had for “reasonable” prices between Europe and the US, receive 250% redeemable and elite-qualifying miles…and that’s without any elite status factored in. An MVP Gold 75K member earns 100% bonus on miles flown, so that would take redeemable miles earn up to 350%.
Unfortunately, that’s only when buying ticket through Alaska. The vast majority of partner flights will most likely be purchased elsewhere, when the earnings become much closer to other programs (although still based on distance flown, which is nice).
Alaska Airlines credit cards
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $1132 1st Yr Value EstimateCompanion ticket for $99+taxes and fees valued at $150 Click to learn about first year value estimates 75K miles + Companion Fare Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 75k miles + Companion Fare ($99 fare + taxes) after $3K spend in 90 days. An employee ID is required for the full offer, which can be found here$95 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: Alaska miles are quite valuable so this offer is better than it appears Earning rate: 3X Alaska Airlines ✦ 2x gas, EV charging, local transit, rideshare, cable, and select streaming services purchases ✦ 1X elsewhere Card Info: Visa Signature issued by BOA. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: $121 companion pass every year after $6K spend. Noteworthy perks: ✦ Free first checked bag for you and up to six other passengers on your reservation on both Hawaiian and Alaska flights ✦ Priority Boarding ✦ 10% bonus on earned miles with eligible BOA account ✦ During 2025, earn 1 EQM/$3 spend, up to a maximum of 30K EQMs. |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $1116 1st Yr Value EstimateCompanion ticket for $99+taxes and fees valued at $150 Click to learn about first year value estimates 75K miles + Companion Fare Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 75K miles + Companion Fare ($99 fare + taxes) after $4K spend in 3 months $95 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 70K after $4K in 3 months [Expired 4/23] FM Mini Review: Alaska miles are quite valuable so this offer is better than it appears Earning rate: 3X Alaska Airlines ✦ 2x gas, EV charging, shipping and local transit ✦ 1X elsewhere Card Info: Visa issued by BOA. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: $121 companion pass every year after $6K spend. Noteworthy perks: ✦ Free first checked bag for you and up to six other passengers on your reservation on both Hawaiian and Alaska flights ✦ 10% bonus on earned miles with eligible BOA business account ✦ During 2025, earn 1 EQM/$3 spend, up to a maximum of 30K EQMs. |
There are two credit cards that earn redeemable Alaska miles. The earning rates and category bonuses on both of these cards won’t be particularly inviting for most folks. The consumer card gets 3x on Alaska purchases, 2x on gas, transit, streaming and cable as bonus categories. It’s 1x everywhere else. The business card is exactly the same, except it replaces cable/streaming with 2x on shipping. Both cards get an additional 10% bonus on all earned miles when the cardholder holds a qualifying Bank of America checking account.
You’ll also earn 1 elite-qualifying mile (EQM) for every $3 you spend across all of your Alaska credit cards, with a limit of 30,000 EQMs (i.e. $90,000 of spend). Maxing out that spend opportunity would get you MVP status (earned at 20,000 EQMs) and would put you 3/4 of the way to MVP Gold status.
Note that Bank of America (who issues the Alaska credit cards) occasionally sends out targeted spending offers which provide opportunities to earn additional points per dollar spent, oftentimes in specific categories.
Alaska Companion Fare
Alaska has long offered a companion fare with of both its credit cards. The companion fare allows a companion to travel for $99+taxes. It’s valid on any economy fare class and the companion earns both elite and redeemable miles and receives elite benefits (like the fully-paid traveler).
Officially, the fare is only good for one-way or roundtrip travel, but Alaska is very flexible on both definitions, as it allows up to three layovers of longer than a few hours. Thus, in practice, you can book four individual legs and three stopovers on one companion fare, provided they are wrapped around the semblance of a roundtrip flight. There’s a lot of hidden value here. (play around with it, or talk to us about it at an FM to Go sometime)
These companion fares used to be no-brainers, as they were automatically awarded at each cardholder anniversary. Recently though, Alaska added a spending requirement of $6K annually for new cardholders to receive one on their anniversary. This spending requirement has come and gone a couple of times and still hasn’t been applied to legacy cardholders. However, my assumption is that it will eventually be here to stay…and it does affect the value proposition of the cards, depending on how much you can optimize the companion fare (and how much of an issue $6K in yearly spend is).
HawaiianMiles credit cards (ending 2025)
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $935 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 70K Miles Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 70K miles after $1k spend within first 90 days. Use code 000150 for this offer$99 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 70K miles after one purchase within first 90 days Earning rate: 3X Hawaiian Airlines ✦ 2x gas, dining, and grocery stores ✦ 1x everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Two free checked bags on Alaska and Hawaiian when flight is booked through Hawaiian Airlines or Alaska ✦ One time 50% off companion ticket ✦ $100 off a companion ticket for roundtrip coach travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines at each account anniversary |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
 ⓘ $587 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 50k Miles Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 50k miles after spending $4,000 within the first 90 days$99 Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: Expired 9/11/22: 80K + $99 statement credit after $2K spend in first 90 days Earning rate: 3X Hawaiian Airlines ✦ 2x gas, dining, and office supply stores ✦ 1x everywhere else Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Earn up to 40,000 annual bonus miles — 20k miles with $50-$99k annual spend or 40k miles with $100k or more annual spend; Noteworthy perks: One-time 50% off a companion discount on roundtrip coach travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines |
HawaiianMiles currently has two credit cards that are issued by Barclays. These cards will go away sometime in 2025, but in the meantime are a viable way to earn more Alaska miles, since HawaiianMiles can be converted at a 1:1 basis.
Transferring from other programs to Alaska Mileage Plan
One of Alaska’s weaknesses as a program is the lack of transfer partners. You can’t move points from any of the major transferable currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Citi ThankYou rewards to Mileage Plan. The only options are Bilt Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.
Bilt points transfer to Mileage Plan at a 1:1 ratio and can be a great option for those who spend a lot of money on rent and/or have reason to use the Bilt credit card heavily. For the rest of us, the lack of earning ability with Bilt limits the appeal significantly.
The only other loyalty program that allows transfers to Mileage Plan is Marriott Bonvoy. Alaska is one of Marriott’s many airline transfer partners and allows Marriott members to transfer Bonvoy Points to Alaska Mileage Plan at a rate of 3:1 (3 Bonvoy points = 1 Alaska mile). If you transfer in chunks of 60,000 Bonvoy points, you get a bonus of 5,000 Alaska miles, effectively creating a transfer ratio of 2.4:1.
Is this a good deal? Not really. Our most recent Reasonable Redemption Values pegs Alaska miles at 1.3 cents each, while we have Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.8 cents each. These numbers represent our estimation of the average value that you can expect to recieve from each of these programs without having to cherry-pick awards. Based on these valuations, even in 60,000 point chunks, you’d be giving up ~1.9 cents of value in Bonvoy points to get 1.3 cents of value in Alaska miles. That’s obviously not a great return and probably only makes sense if you’ve got a bevy of Bonvoy points and need Alaska miles for a high-value redemption.
Indirectly transferring from Membership Rewards to Alaska Mileage Plan (ending soon)
There is currently another, very temporary, option to move transferable points to Mileage Plan, courtesy of the Alaska/Hawaiian merger. Hawaiian is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, so it’s possible to move Amex points to Hawaiian on a 1:1 basis, then convert those HawaiianMiles to Alaska.
We expect this ability to end any day now, so get on it if you want to do it.
Non-flight options for earning points
Alaska has a number of non-airline vehicles for earnings miles such as its shopping portal, its dining program, Lyft and more. For every 3,000 redeemable miles you earn through those partners (cumulatively), you’ll also earn 1,000 EQMs. So, if you earn 1,000 miles from a hotel booking, another 1,000 from a rental car partner and another 1,000 from the Mileage Plan shopping portal, those will add up to 3,000 redeemable miles and you’ll get 1,000 EQMs.
Here’s a quick list of non-air partners:
- Booking Hotels through Alaska. Earn up to 10,000 Alaska miles per night by using Alaska’s hotel portal for booking. Make sure this makes sense for you as often the hotels are more expensive and you most likely won’t earn points or receive elite benefits.
- Hotel-linked programs. Earn varying amounts of Alaska miles per night by booking with Alaska’s hotel partners. Alaska currently partners with Best Western, Coast, Choice, IHG, Marriott, Rocket Miles and Westmark.
- Rental Car Partners. Earn varying amounts of Alaska miles by using your Alaska Mileage Plan number when making a rental car booking. Again, make sure this makes sense for you as sometimes the rentals cars are slightly more expensive to compensate for the miles earned and you may not earn points with the car company as well.
- Mileage Plan Dining. This is the Mileage plan-branded version of Rewards Network Dining. Link your credit card with the program and earn 3x Alaska miles per dollar spent at participating restaurants, bars, and clubs. Note that you can only link your card to one airline dining program at a time (linking with Alaska will de-link that card from other airline dining programs). The miles earned are in addition to any other credit card rewards that you normally receive.
- Mileage Plan Shopping Portal. The Mileage Plan shopping portal allows you to earn miles via purchases at a wide range of retailers. In addition, there are regular bonuses that offer a set amount of miles for reaching a certain dollar amount of purchases when shopping through the portal. These bonuses are in addition to whatever you earn from a specific retailer. Both types of portal earnings count towards the 3K EQM threshold.
- Mileage Plan card-linked offers. This is the “in-store” version of the shopping portal.
How to Use Alaska Miles
Alaska Mileage Plan miles can be used to book awards on both Alaska and Hawaiian, as well as its collection of oneworld and extra-alliance partners. Previous to joining oneworld, each partner had a specific award chart and there were numerous sweet spots to be had. Alaska now has “unified” award charts for partner awards that are distance-based another, separate chart for flights on Alaska and Hawaiian “metal” (see below).
Alaska prices awards based on the total distance flown, including connections, as opposed to using point-to-point pricing. In some cases, this will cause an award with separate legs to move to another distance band when compared to a non-stop, thus making it more expensive.
Alaska is a terrific program for booking flights that are within Alaska, especially given the free stopover. There are some pretty remote places it flies to within the state and those flights can be hundreds of dollars, often making award prices a bargain. Some of the most valuable Alaska redemptions that I’ve ever made have been these intra-state Alaska flights. It can be amazing the value you can get for 5,000-7,500 miles (or for free after a stopover to/from Anchorage or Fairbanks)
One difficulty of using Alaska miles for partner awards is that, currently, you can only book most flights with Alaska and one partner on a single one-way award (for instance, you can’t have Condor and British Airways on the same one-way award). This is a legacy holdover from Alaska’s history of having individual charts with each program.
However, Alaska has now added the ability to book multi-partner awards with American, British Airways and Finnair and is supposed to add that capability to even more partners later this year.
Alaska Mileage Plan Award Charts
Alaska / Hawaiian Flights
Mileage Plan now applies the same pricing bands to flights on both Alaska and Hawaiian. Alaska will be launching its own flights to Japan and Korea later in 2025 and it remains to be seen whether there will be separate prices for those or if they will be the same as the partner award charts listed below.
Americas (partners)
This chart is used for flights wholly within the Americas including Central, North, and South America, and Caribbean Islands, except when all segments are flown by Alaska Airlines. 
Europe, Middle East, Africa (partners)
This chart is used for all flights within Europe, Middle East, and Africa and it includes all flights between the United States, Europe, Middle East, and Africa as well.
Asia Pacific (partners)
This chart includes travel from US to Asia Pacific, within Asia Pacific and between Asia Pacific–Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Stopovers on award flights
One of Alaska’s biggest benefits when booking awards is that it allows a free stopover on a one-way flight, or two stopovers on a round-trip ticket. This can be used in several ways. First, you can stop in two destinations on one international trip. For instance, it’s possible to stop in Dublin when using Aer Lingus to fly to Europe, Doha when using Qatar Airways and so on. If you don’t need an extra international stop, you can use the stopover policy for a free domestic ticket, ie, go from Doha to LAX on Qatar, then book a one-way from LAX-New York (or anywhere else Alaska flies) afterwards.
Finally, it’s possible to effectively do an around the world trip with three stops by using two one-way tickets with stopovers. In this instance, you could book Condor to the Maldives from North America, but have a stopover in Frankfurt along the way and see a bit of Europe. Then, you could go from the Maldives to Doha on Qatar, do another stopover, and then go back to the US.
Alaska Airlines sweet spots
There are still some international sweet spots available when spending Alaska miles, even thought they changed somewhat when Alaska’s new unified award chart went into effect. Here’s a few:
- Domestic US flights starting from 4,500 miles each way: Alaska is now usually the best way to book domestic AA economy flights that are under 2,000 miles and is one of the cheapest ways among any program to book short haul domestic flights because of its 4,500-mile band for flights under 700 miles.
- South America in business from the US starting at 35K:This is an often-available redemption that I love. Northern South America is 35,000 miles each way, while flights to Chile and Brazil are 50K.
- Europe in business from the North/East Coast from 45K: The US East Coast to Western Europe in business is 45K while flights from the Midwest are 55K each way.
- Middle East and Africa in business from US from 55K: The cheapest way to get to Africa is Royal Air Maroc to Morocco from the East Coast, which can be had for 55K. Qatar and Royal Jordanian are both 70K non-stop to the Middle East.
- Aer Lingus between Dublin and Seattle for 55K: The nonstop route from Seattle to Dublin is ~4500 miles, just below the cutoff for the 70K pricing band. This makes it one of the cheaper ways to get from the West Coast to Europe in a lie-flat seat.
- New Zealand in business class to/from the US for 75K: Flights from the US West Coast to New Zealand fall just inside the 7,000-mile distance band, making them 10,000 miles cheaper than business class awards to Australia.
- Intra-Alaska flights: Alaska is a terrific program for booking flights that are within Alaska, especially given the opportunity for a free stopover. There are some pretty remote places it flies to within the state and those flights can be hundreds of dollars, often making award prices a bargain.
Alaska Airlines award booking tips
- Use free stopovers as much as possible, even for a later domestic trip.
- Officially, stopovers are not available on award redemptions within international regions (e.g. intra-Asia or Intra-Europe). In practice, this is sometimes “fudgable.”
- Sometimes, the limiting factor in seeing partner availability is that there is no saver domestic connecting space on the relevant Alaska flight, especially when booking far out. It’s usually better to search from the international gateway you want (ie, LAX-Doha for Qatar). You can then add a positioning flight, or just a better positioning flight, later.
- Alaska will show a mixed cabin business/first award, even if the only leg that’s in first is a domestic flight. Be careful to verify that the leg you want to be in a premium cabin is actually available. This issue makes the mobile site and app sub-optimal for award bookings as you can’t see which legs are in first/business until you get past the search screen.
- Use the award calendar to easily find saver space around the time that you’re looking for.
- Alaska can strangely have better saver availability on some airlines than the airlines’ alliance partners or even their own program members can see (notably Singapore and Aer Lingus).
Award change & cancellation fees
There is no fee to change or cancel an Alaska Mileage Plan award. There is a non-refundable partner award fee of $12.50 per person each way. When cancelling a flight, this fee is not refunded. However, when changing a flight, even to another partner, it is not collected again.
Alaska Unlocked
Alaska has a program called “Mileage Plan Unlocked.” This gives members an opportunity to book activities and experiences using their Alaska Airlines miles. In addition, some Mileage Plan Milestones can be redeemed for discounted experiences. Some redemptions can be decent deal; we’ve seen examples where miles can be redeemed for up to 1.5 cents per point.
Alaska Air Mileage Plan Elite Status
How do you earn Alaska elite status?
Most airlines offer extra benefits to their most valuable customers. This is usually handled via elite status. If you fly (or spend) enough with an airline, you can become an “elite”member. Like most airlines, Alaska has multiple elite tiers and the best perks are offered to the highest tiers.
Alaska is one of the easier airlines to qualify with, primarily because it still allows you to earn elite status based on either a minimum number of flight segments or by how much distance you have actually flown. Unlike most US airlines, there’s no required minimum yearly spend with the airline to achieve elite status. Elite-qualifying miles (EQMs) are earned on paid flights only and do not include bonuses for elite status. On the other hand, class of service bonuses are elite-qualifying.
You earn 1 EQM for every $3 you spend across all of your Alaska credit cards, with a limit of 30,000 EQMs (i.e. $90,000 of spend). Alaska Airlines also has a number of non-airline partners through its shopping portal, its dining program, Lyft, etc. For every 3,000 redeemable miles you earn through those partners, you’ll earn 1,000 EQMs.
Alaska Airlines elite status requirements
Below are the earning requirements for each Alaska elite tier:
- MVP: 20,000 miles or 30 total eligible segments
- MVP Gold: 40,000 miles or 60 total eligible segments
- MVP Gold 75K: 75,000 miles or 90 total eligible segments
- MVP Gold 100K: 100,000 miles or 120 total eligible segments
Alaska Airlines elite status benefits and Milestone Rewards
Below is a summary of the key perks available to Alaska members. The full suite of Alaska elite benefits can be found here.
| MVP | MVP Gold | MVP Gold 75K | MVP Gold 100K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elite Bonus Miles | 25% | 50% | 100% | 150% |
| OneWorld Elite Status | Ruby | Sapphire | Emerald | Emerald |
| Premium Class Upgrades at Booking | full-fare economy only | Most economy fares | All fares but saver | All fares but saver |
| Complimentary First and Premium Class upgrades | 48 hours pre-departure | 72 hours pre-departure | 120 hours pre-departure | 120 hours pre-departure |
| Priority Check-In & Boarding | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Preferred Seating | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Free Checked Bags | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Complimentary Same-day flight changes | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Complimentary Companion Upgrades | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Complimentary Standby on Full Flights | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Complimentary Premium Beverage in Main Cabin | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Complimentary Meal in Main Cabin | N | N | N | Y |
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-
- 50,000 redeemable miles
- 75,000 miles off of an "Extras" redemption
- Alaska Lounge+ Membership
- Gifting MVP Gold Status
- Free Wi-Fi on all flights
- Four upgrade certificates
-
The earning requirements for elite status aren’t changing in 2025, but Alaska has added Milestone Rewards that can be earned along the way to elite status…and that can also be earned after you attain top-tier MVP Gold 100K. Here’s what’s on offer:
- 10,000 EQMS (choose one of the following benefits)
- 750 bonus miles
- Pre-order a complimentary meal for your flight
- One (1) complimentary Wi-Fi pass
- Try MVP status for a trip
- Earn double miles with non-air partners
- Upgrade your next Avis rental
- 30,000 EQMS (choose one of the following benefits)
- 2,500 bonus miles
- $25 off a future Alaska flight
- Four (4) Wi-Fi passes
- Try MVP Gold status for a trip
- $100 off an Alaska Lounge membership
- 55,000 EQMS (choose two of the following benefits)
- 5,000 bonus miles
- 10,000 miles off an Unlocked redemption
- Gift MVP for a trip
- One (1) complimentary Lounge day pass
- Two (2) upgrade certificates
- 85,000 EQMS (choose two of the following benefits)
- 15,000 bonus miles
- 25,000 miles off an Unlocked redemption
- Two (2) complimentary Lounge day passes
- Two (2) upgrade certificates
- Gift MVP Gold status for a trip
- Nominate someone for MVP status
- 10,000 elite-qualifying miles rolled over
- 150,000 EQMS (choose two of the following benefits)
- 15,000 bonus miles
- 25,000 off an Unlocked redemption
- Two (2) complimentary Lounge passes
- Two (2) upgrade certificates
- 10,000 elite-qualifying miles rolled over
- 200,000 EQMS (choose two of the following benefits)
- 15,000 bonus miles
- 25,000 off an Unlocked redemption
- Two (2) complimentary Lounge passes
- Two (2) upgrade certificates
- 10,000 elite-qualifying miles rolled over
- 250,000 EQMS (choose two of the following benefits)
- 15,000 bonus miles
- 25,000 off an Unlocked redemption
- Two (2) complimentary Lounge passes
- Two (2) upgrade certificates
- 10,000 elite-qualifying miles rolled over
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Has anyone figured out the details of the 10K milestone award choice of double miles at non-air partners? Does this include everyday shopping partners like Lairhwiates and Harry & David? Rocket Miles? This could be a really good choice if the benefit is for the rest of the calendar year and really covers everything. If it’s just for car rentals, it would be fairly useless for most people
Any idea when the multi-partner bookings will go live?
We don’t, unfortunately. Originally, it was supposed to be the end of last year, now I’ve heard “by the mid-2025 thrown around.
Just want to thank you for posting this awesome guide.
FYI I’m booking an award with 1 HA segment and 1 AS and can’t find a $12.50 fee. So I assume I’m refunded everything if I cancel, and HA is already not treated as a partner. Thanks AS!
Yep! HA awards, like Alaska, don’t have the partner booking fee.
Just booked a domestic AA flight with Alaska miles. I’ve been using the “Finnair trick” by managing my booking on Finnair’s site and changing my booking’s loyalty program from Alaska to AA (thus getting free bags with my AA credit card).
However, lately my Alaska/AA reservations don’t seem to be recognized by Finnair anymore. Anybody know any other ways to get the loyalty program changed? I suppose I can call in, but that can be hit or miss.
You can create a second traveler profile for yourself that’s identical to your current one, but without loyalty program. Use that when you’re booking AA flights and you should be able to go back in and add your AA info later.
Thanks, Tim! Just tried it, worked like a charm.
I have an upcoming paid round-trip booked and flown entirely on Alaska Airlines. I’d like to credit the miles earned on this trip to one of Alaska’s partner airlines (I need to top off my account on that partner airline). Can I credit the miles I’ll earn on the Alaska flights to my frequent flyer account at the partner airline? If so, how? Thanks.
If you already booked it and your AS number is attached, you can call Alaska and have them change it or try accessing it through a partner like Finnair and see if you can change it there (although that hasn’t been working for a lot of folks lately).
What are your thoughts about the possibility of a last AMEX bonus tranfer to Hawaiian? I wanna move my miles there but feeling fomo
I think it’s about as good as a snowball’s chance in the tropics. 🙂
Greg felt differently at one point, so I could be wrong!
Theoretically, there’s also a good opportunity to earn elite qualifying miles by paying rent through Bilt with the Alaska credit card. One of the new perks available at 10K EQM is double miles earning on non-airline partners. If this all works the way the terms suggest, you’d earn 6X miles and 2X EQM on rent payments for a 3% fee. Maybe even 1X and 0.33 EQM on the credit card spend, too.
I booked LATAM ticket JFK-SCL-IPC and back using Alaska miles. We went to Chile in Dec and came back in Jan. According to the new rule, should I see elite-qualifying mileage on the flight back since the flight happened in 2025? or maybe not since it was booked in 2024?
It says “flown” and not booked, so I would assume that the portion flown in 2025 will post in the Spring when they start to add the EQM from partner awards. If not, I think you’d have a case to argue for it.
Seems the non-stop SEA-CDG on Air Tahiti Nui is no longer on the schedule. OMAAT says it was cancelled.
You’re right, as of last week. What a bummer!
I just redeemed 75k for YVR-ICN-HKGwith Korean air in business. Doesn’t seem that it was charged significantly more. It still follows their new award chart. Are you sure the roundtrip Korean air still a thing to save points?
FWIW, I checked my own notes on Alaska, and at some point, I had written the Korea roundtrip thing would be fixed in March 2024.
I believe you can no longer use Alaska miles for El Al flights.
Yep, that’s correct. Thanks for catching that, it should have been edited out.
I wish I could have asked this on last night’s AMA, but….
Tim – What’s up with AA phantom award space on Alaska? I’m new to Alaska (c/o Hawaiian CCs), and a big reason I decided to acquire Alaska miles was the great AA award availability I was finding on searches from my home airport. Now I go to book, and I don’t find out until the bitter end that this is “phantom” space – ” ” because sometimes this space also shows available on partners like BA (so it’s not really phantom). From FT, I’ve read that this is a general Alaska IT issue, might also affect booking revenue tickets with other partners.
Any sense how widespread the issue is? Any good approach to booking (call to see if phone agent sees the space before booking online?)?
Same problem here. I’m trying to book a very simple partner flight on American to Cancún. The Alaska site shows abundant availability, but all i can get is; “We’re sorry, we aren’t able to confirm space on these partner flights. Please try again and choose different flights, dates or cities.” I tried several. I also went to American and booked the flights without any problem just to see if I could. That was yesterday. Today it still shows the same availability – 56 different combinations I could pick from – but I get the same error messages after going through the whole process of trying to complete a booking. I tried calling but the automated system estimated my hold time at two hours, so that’s not something you want to do often.
This seems to be a major issue post merger. I am really surprised @Tim did not put a warning about this in the guide. Guess its not really a “Complete Guide”
Thanks for the update on this guide I’m still undecided about whether or not to switch my main loyalty program from AAdvantage to MileagePlan
For years, I’ve wanted to book this route with a free stopover, but never can. Fiji Airways services both routes…
San Francisco to Nadi
(stopover)
Nadi to Singapore
I can never get the route to work online. I can get each leg, but not combined for a full 1 way ticket with stopover.
Thoughts?
[…] use of stopovers. One of Alaska’s biggest benefits when booking awards is that it allows a free stopover on a one-way flight, or two stopovers on a round-trip ticket, making it a standout feature in the airline industry. […]