Alaska Airlines announced today a slew of changes to how its Mileage Plan loyalty program will run from January 1, 2025. Big changes like this often make us apprehensive as usually these types of changes come in the form of a reduction in benefits dressed up as enhancements, but in this case the changes are positive overall and will make earning elite status even easier.
You can read the full announcement here, but here’s a summary of the changes.
Earning Elite Status
The biggest news for most people will be the ways in which you’ll be able to earn elite status from January 1, 2025:
- Award flights – For every mile you fly booked with Mileage Plan miles, you’ll earn 1 elite qualifying mile (EQM). Note that these aren’t miles that can be redeemed for future award flights – they’re miles that count towards elite status qualification. What’s particularly notable about this method of earning EQMs is that you’ll earn them even when flying on partner airlines, not just on Alaska and Hawaiian metal.
- Credit card spend – You’ll earn 1 EQM for every $3 you spend, 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.
- Partner spending – Alaska Airlines has a number of non-airline partners such as 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. One thing to note – the Alaska shopping portal sometimes runs promos like “spend $1,000 & earn 2,500 bonus miles”; we don’t know yet if those bonus miles will count towards EQM earnings or if it’s only base spend through the portal.
- Rollover EQMs – Mileage Plan is introducing milestone rewards, one of which is the option to choose 10,000 rollover EQMs for the next elite qualifying year.
Mileage Plan Milestones
You currently earn status with Mileage Plan when earning the following number of EQMs:
- MVP = 20,000 EQMs
- MVP Gold = 40,000 EQMs
- MVP Gold 75K = 75,000 EQMs
- MVP Gold 100k = 100,000 EQMs
Those earning requirements aren’t changing, but milestone rewards are being added along the way – and beyond.
- 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 Extras 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 Extras 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 Extras 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 Extras 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 Extras redemption
- Two (2) complimentary Lounge passes
- Two (2) upgrade certificates
- 10,000 elite-qualifying miles rolled over
Incentive For Booking Partner Flights Through Alaska Website/App
Alaska Airlines is also looking to encourage you to book paid flights with partner airlines with them, rather than directly with the partner airline and simply crediting the flight(s) to Mileage Plan.
To encourage this, they’re offering 100% earnings in economy, although Saver and Basic Economy are excluded from that. Flights in premium cabins will earn more – 150% for premium economy, 250% for business class and 350% for international first class.
Upgrade Eligibility
There will be a few changes for how upgrades will work on flights, with perhaps the most significant change being related to people traveling with someone who has MVP status.
Million Milers will get the highest priority in their status tier, then priority will be calculated based on how many EQMs a member has earned.
For MVP members traveling with a companion, the companion will be eligible for a complimentary, space-available upgrade too – even those who only have the lowest MVP status.
Changes Coming Later In 2025
In addition to the changes listed above, Alaska Airlines will be making further changes later in 2025.
- Multi-carrier award flights – You can currently book award flights that include Alaska Airlines and another partner airline, but you can’t book awards that include two partners. They’ll soon be adding the ability to book more than one partner airline on award tickets, starting with award redemptions between the US and Europe, before expanding that worldwide throughout 2025.
- Extras – This will be an opportunity to redeem miles for events and experiences, although we don’t know what kind of value this redemption option will provide right now. Some milestone rewards have the option to select miles towards Extras experiences.
Global Getaways Continuing
At the start of 2024, Mileage Plan launched Global Getaways – a quarterly promotion offering discounts on award flights. We’re still waiting on Q4 deals, but it sounds like that feature will continue in 2025.
Negative Changes
While these upcoming changes are positive overall, there are a few changes that could affect some Mileage Plan members negatively.
- Automatic benefits removed – When earning elite status in the past, there were certain benefits that were provided automatically. That’ll no longer be the case from January 1, 2025, although some of these will be milestone rewards that can be chosen (albeit at higher EQM earning levels in some cases). Here’s what’s going away:
- MVP Gold – will no longer earn four upgrade certificates automatically
- MVP Gold 75K – will no longer earn four Alaska lounge day passes automatically, nor 50,000 bonus miles
- Earning rates reduced on Alaska flights with status – Those with Alaska status currently earn bonus miles on paid flights. That’ll continue in 2025, but at a reduced rate for all levels with the exception of MVP Gold 100k
- MVP
- 2024 – 50% bonus
- 2025 – 25% bonus
- MVP Gold
- 2024 – 100% bonus
- 2025 – 50% bonus
- MVP Gold 75k
- 2024 – 125% bonus
- 2025 – 100% bonus
- MVP Gold 100k
- 2024 – 150% bonus
- 2025 – 150% bonus
- MVP
- Earning rates reduced for partner flights – If you book paid flights on partner airlines through the partner airline website (or another option like Amex Travel) and credit the flight to Alaska Airlines, your earnings will be reduced.
- Fewer free checked bags for MVP status – Those with the lowest level of MVP status currently benefit from getting two free checked bags. That’ll continue in 2025, but will be reduced to one free checked bag from January 1, 2026.
Quick Thoughts
As mentioned earlier, these changes are positive overall. The people who might not be as keen on them will be MVP members seeing as they’ll earn fewer bonus miles on paid Alaska flights going forward, plus some benefits like upgrade certificates received automatically will be going away. The fact that it’ll be easier for people to earn status with Mileage Plan might mean that the number of MVP members swells, potentially eroding upgrade opportunities.
Having said that, some of these changes could be positive for MVP members too, along with those with higher status – or none at all. Being able to earn EQMs through activity like award flights, credit card spend, shopping portal spend, etc. could put higher status tiers within reach. For example, putting $90,000 of spend on an Alaska Airlines credit card would earn you 30,000 EQMs, enough for MVP status. Earning 30,000 redeemable miles through the Alaska shopping portal (perhaps via spend at Giftcards.com) would earn you an additional 10,000 EQMs – that’s enough for MVP Gold status, all without stepping foot on a plane.
The introduction of milestone rewards was a popular feature when World of Hyatt added them, along with similar options from American Airlines and IHG. It’s great to see Alaska Airlines adding a similar concept to Mileage Plan, especially for those who won’t earn enough EQMs to reach status levels but will earn 10,000 EQMs in a year, as well as those earning EQMs in excess of MVP Gold 100K status.
Perhaps the best update though will be the ability to earn EQMs via award flights. Many people have been racking up Hawaiian Airlines miles in the last couple of months via credit card welcome offers and transfers from American Express Membership Rewards (both with and without a transfer bonus). Seeing as those miles can be transferred to Alaska Airlines on a 1:1 basis, many of you are now sitting on a giant stash of Mileage Plan miles. Those miles have now potentially become even more valuable as redeeming them will help your journey towards some level of MVP status.
Question
What are your thoughts? Will these changes make you more likely to try to earn status with Alaska Airlines? Or are you one of the people who might lose out with some of the changes? Let us know in the comments below.
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Why is Alaska so interested in issuing tickets for other airlines? They now have to handle changes, cancellations, and schedule changes. And it makes it inconvenient for the customer, who can no longer handle ticket issues with the airline that they’re flying. Alaska is giving us huge incentives to let them do the ticketing. What do they get for this? Are other airlines paying them commissions? Why would they do that? American, for example, wants nothing to do with issuing tickets that are not on American. So what’s going on?
There goes the 200% EQMs and 300% RDMs for J class on Condor and the great BA and AA Mileageplan earnings.
Partners have been the single easiest way for me to earn status and miles with AS and I know I’m not alone.
Will booking partner tickets through Alaska be price competitive? I doubt it.
Will EQMs earned through credit card spend, award flights, partners, etc count towards Million Miler status?
Anyone know if there will still be the 500 EQM minimum on partner flights booked w/ partner (such as w/ AA)? Tried searching in the new terms on AS website, but it wasn’t clear
Looks like elites will be able to buy lounge membership for $350. Also, my wife was aiming for MVP Gold next year so I would get upgraded when traveling with her. Now maybe MVP will be good enough.
Currently, every $10k spent on the AS CC earns 4k EQM. Next year, $10k spend will only earn 3,333 EQM, but at least you won’t have to spend in increments of $10k.
Exactly ….wirh having to spend 10,000/I just put the card in my sock drawer but now with no spend limit I’ll use it …most of my Alaska flights are award flights over seas .so I’m really happy with these changes
Yes, I have used AS miles for Aer Lingus business class DEN-DUB and Condor business class FRA-LAX. It would have been great to earn 10,198 EQMs on the distance of those 2 flights.
I am curious to see if AA or Alaska loyalty program is better now?
Same. That would probably worth some detailed analysis. I might have to create a spreadsheet and calculate what I would have earned with AS instead of AA if the new program had been in place this year.
Great info from Stephen, but isn’t Tim the in-house Alaska expert? I’d be interested in hearing his take on these changes.
I think Stephen is the “duty officer” on Wednesdays (maybe the rest of the team has a round of golf?) so I think getting the initial post out fell to him. I’m sure this topic is going to get a lot of coverage on the blog and the podcast over the next week or two and I’m happy to wait for the deeper-than-other-sources analysis that we’re all used to from Frequent Miler.
I think there is a lot of analysis to be done to determine an optimal strategy for Alaska. I can’t help feeling that there will be some creative way to get to oneWorld Emerald using paid and award mileage runs on oneWorld airlines. For instance — what’s the longest Qatar flight marketed as international first class, and what does it cost?
My immediate thought was Rocketmiles. Alaska has some great earning rates on that platform. You could get MVP Gold with just a few stays, if I am reading the scheme correctly.
Of course, like AA, I expect that to be a one or two year path to status before they alter the earning rates.
Or less, if they’re learned from experience.
If someone actually flies Alaska and just needs to top off, it’s a welcome change. But, if someone isn’t and is going for tier status via other means, it’s a mighty hill to climb.
Some opt for AA tier status via its shopping portal. It would not be quite so easy as Alaska shopping portal multiples tend to be lower.
As for credit card spending, divide by 3 and impose a cap. AA is way easier.
Both AA’s shopping portal and hotel portal have scaled back earning very substantially since the inception of the loyalty points program (when they were very generous). And, while Alaska is awarding fewer EQMs than AA gives LPs, they require fewer to earn status. Their top status is 100k, not 200k points and oneWorld emerald is 75k, not 125k.
But the earnings rate is only 1 EQM per 3 RDM with AS, so shopping and hotels may be less lucrative than even the current AA program.
AA also gives the 20% or 30% bonus for 6 months on shopping portal, hotel bookings, and other partner earning methods once you cross a certain LP threshold. Does AS have an equivalent boost?
Yes, at 10,000 EQM you can select “earn double points with non-airline partners” as your reward. Elsewhere I’ve read that the period it will apply to is not yet set but to expect “months, rather than days”.
Ah I missed that one in the article, I think I incorrectly assumed it was bonus miles without EQMs.
If you have any intent to play the status game via partner points earning that seems like the clear best option at the 10K threshold – it will also give way more redeemable value in extra Alaska miles as well.
If you book a Qatar Airways flight on JetBlue can you call Qatar and add your Alaska number for that flight?
And will Alaska count those miles toward status?
Yes you probably can add your Alaska number but no you won’t earn Alaska qualifying miles. You have to redeem Alaska miles to earn qualifying miles on an award flight
Thanks Greg.
So if u book AA flights with AS miles , but add AA number to the reservation for baggage benefits for having an AA credit card , will I still be getting AS EQM, since it was booked thru AS miles- this needs clarification. Check with ur sources
You won’t be able to replace your AS number. AS won’t allow it.
I think it’s AS flights where they won’t let you substitute in another number. If you book a partner flight with AS miles, then you can change the FF number on the partner site.
I dont know if this is a new change but I can confirm it doesnt work. I just tried to change FF# on the AA site (its an AS award reservation on AA metal). AS MP# is greyed out and I cant edit it.
Get in touch with chat in the AA app, they will be able to replace the AS number with the AA # and get the baggage benefits.
I just did it for my recent trip, booked thru AS miles changed the FF # to AA for baggage benefits.
It is possible and widely discussed. My question is whether can we get AS EQM in this situation? Because no other partner would provide EQMs in this case
The second sentence of the article stated:
Award flights – For every mile you fly booked with Mileage Plan miles, you’ll earn 1 elite qualifying mile (EQM).
Is there any analysis or opinion on someone who lives on the West Coast. Better off earning OneWorld Status on Alaska or American?
BA or Finnair 😉
Mind share more detail?
Most people aren’t interested since there’s no easy to do it yet via spending, but maybe BA should work out something with Chase. If you have a lot of paid flying, then BA or Finnair are good options. https://onemileatatime.com/guides/oneworld-lounge-access/
That said if you want easy lounge access via a credit card, Qatar might work, at least for the first year: https://viewfromthewing.com/new-qatar-airways-credit-cards-give-you-instant-oneworld-status-best-way-to-access-american-and-alaska-lounges/
If you’re going to have 4 BA or Iberia sectors, and you do some AS 1st or AA business class over 2,000 mile flights BA silver is a piece of cake. Fly AS 1st to Hawaii, AS 1st or AA Business to the East Coast round trip and you’ve got 560 of the 600 tier points you need for Silver (One World Sapphire). The 4 BA or Iberia sectors get you to 280, make one of those sectors business and you’re there.
It seems as though you get more benefits from either AS MVP gold or AA Platinum on AA or AS flights. I status matched to BA Silver and all it got me was free preferred seating (not their so-called Premium Class) on two flights. I believe I could have bought main cabin tickets eligible for immediate upgrade if I had AS MVP Gold instead.