In 2022, Alaska Airlines announced a partnership with the rideshare service Lyft. This partnership allows Mileage Plan members to earn miles on all Lyft rides within the United States and Canada. Today, the companies announced a permanent increase in earning rates: you’ll now earn 2x Alaska miles on Standard, Priority, and XL rides or 3x when using Extra Comfort, Black, Black SUV, and rides to the airport.
These Alaska miles can be stacked with Chase’s Lyft partnership, meaning that Mileage Plan members can earn 2x Alaska miles AND up to 5x Ultimate Rewards (UR). There’s no cap on how many UR or Alaska Miles you can earn annually.
The Deal
- Alaska Mileage plan members can now earn up to 3x miles/dollar on Lyft rides in the US and Canada:
- Earn 2 miles per $1 spent on everyday Lyft rides, including Standard, Priority Pickup, and XL.
- Earn 3 miles per $1 spent on airport rides and elevated Lyft rides, including Extra Comfort, Black, Black SUV, and airport rides.
- This can be stacked with a qualifying Chase card to earn an additional 5x Ultimate Rewards per dollar
Chase Cards that earn bonuses with Lyft
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Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve for Business: 5x total points on Lyft Rides and $10/month in Lyft ride credit.
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Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred: 5x total points on Lyft Rides
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Chase Ink Cash and Ink Business Unlimited: 5% (5x) total cash back on Lyft rides
How to link Alaska and Lyft accounts
- Visit alaskalyft.com
- Follow prompts to sign in to your Alaska account, then use the phone number associated with your Lyft account. Lyft will send you a verification code and then ask for your email. The whole process takes 30 seconds.
- After registering, open the Lyft app and go to the “Rewards” menu on the sidebar tab
- Scroll down to “Travel Rewards.” If you didn’t have a partner previously selected, you’ll see Alaska Mileage Plan already there. Otherwise, select it.
Terms and Conditions
- You must link your Mileage Plan and Lyft accounts in order to earn Alaska miles
- Mileage plan earnings are only valid for rides within the United States and Canada
- There is no cap on how many miles you can earn
- Only the base fare will earn miles. Taxes, fees, tolls, and tips will not.
- Bike and scooter rides are not eligible for earning miles.
Quick Thoughts
Lyft also has partnerships with Hilton Honors and Bilt Rewards. Hilton offers 3x Hilton per dollar (2x on shared rides) while Bilt offers 2x. Given that Alaska is a Bilt transfer partner, it may make more sense for folks who don’t take Lyft to the airport or book Black or Extra Comfort rides to choose Bilt points and then transfer them to Alaska if needed.
That said, there is a 2,000-point transfer limit for base-level Bilt Blue members (like me). If you aren’t earning additional Bilt points through other means, it might behoove you to go ahead and select Alaska as your Lyft rewards program anyway, since you won’t have to build up a 2,000-point balance before being able to use them.
Bilt also gives you an additional 3x points when you pay for Lyft rides with your Bilt Mastercard, but given the wide variety of Chase cards that earn 5x Ultimate Rewards, that’s probably a non-starter for most. Either way, the fact that Alaska miles or Bilt Points can all be stacked along with the existing Chase partnership makes Lyft a very rewarding rideshare partner, indeed.
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@Tim, got a Lyft referral?