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About a week ago, there were reports of a great two-tiered welcome offer on the personal Alaska Airlines credit card which was giving up to 65,000 miles and a Companion Fare when spending $8,000 in the first six months.
The downside was that this increased offer was targeted, but in these trying times (Trademark – every TV ad everywhere) Bank of America has decided to spread the joy by making this the public welcome offer.
The Offer & Key Card Details
Click the card details below to go to our dedicated card page for more information and to find a link to apply.
| Card Offer and Details |
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Up to 75K miles + Companion Fare ⓘ Non-Affiliate 70k miles + Companion Fare ($99 fare + taxes) after $3K spend in 90 days + additional 5K if you apply with an Alaska employee's name and id number.$95 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: There are usually better in-flight offers available that require the name and id number of an Alaska employee. 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 ✦ Priority Boarding ✦ 10% bonus on earned miles with eligible BOA account ✦ During 2024, earn 4K EQMs/$10K spend, up to a maximum of 20K EQMs. |
Quick Thoughts
A 65,000 bonus mile welcome offer is the best we’ve ever seen on the personal Alaska Airlines credit card. As mentioned earlier, this is a two-tiered offer as you’ll receive 40,000 bonus miles and the Companion Fare after spending $2,000 in the first three months, then an additional 25,000 bonus miles after an additional $6,000 of spend (for a total of $8,000 spend) in the first six months of opening the card.
Having six months to spend $8,000 should be achievable for many people seeing as that works out to only $1,333 per month on average. The potentially bigger issue here is whether or not you’re eligible for the welcome offer in the first place.
That’s because Bank of America implemented new application rules in the last couple of years which mean you’re only eligible for an Alaska Airlines bonus provided you don’t currently have the card and haven’t had it in the preceding 24 months. I last applied for the card in 2017 and canceled it in the second week of October 2018 which means I’m currently ineligible for this offer.
The offer page states that this is an ‘Exclusive September Offer’, so we’ve marked the offer as expiring October 1. Bank of America will hopefully extend the offer through next month though as it’ll mean I’d then be eligible for the offer. I’d last signed up when there was a 30,000 bonus miles + $100 statement credit welcome offer, so I imagine several of you are in the same boat as me.
Being able to earn more than double that previous signup bonus would therefore be a sweet deal, especially seeing as Mileage Plan miles tend to be more valuable than the miles for other airlines. I don’t have any immediate plans to fly anywhere, but I’ll happily bank 73,000 miles (including the 8,000 miles earned from meeting the minimum spend) for when I’m more comfortable redeeming them.
With Alaska Airlines joining OneWorld next year there might be an upcoming devaluation, but the significantly higher welcome offer would presumably help mitigate some of those effects – if there’s even a devaluation in the first place. While a devaluation might have been more likely back when they announced it in February, that likelihood has hopefully reduced seeing as airlines have been forced to implement more customer-friendly policies such as eliminating change fees.
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[…] in my opinion the recently-expired 65K offer on the personal card was more compelling, the fact that this is a business card means it will not […]
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[…] I was expecting bonuses will start going bigger… Best Ever Offer: Alaska Airlines Increased To 65,000 Miles + Companion Fare After $8,000 Spend In 6 …. Watch the tiered offer and good luck getting approved by Bank of […]
I had an Alaska personal card that I downgraded instead of closing in Dec 2018. That means I can get a new Alaska personal card in Jan 2021, right? I also had an Alaska Biz that I canceled a few months ago, but I think that doesn’t impact my ability to get a personal card, right?
Yes, you should be good getting a new Alaska card in January 2021 and the biz card won’t affect that eligibility provided BoA doesn’t change their rules in the next few months.
For using Alaska miles for Emirates flights. How does that exactly work? Do we need to move the points from Alaska over to Emirates? Or can we book directly thru the Alaskan website? Which is the best strategy? For Emirates, the last I’m aware is that miles expire after 3 years and there is not way to extend. I’m not sure how the Alaskan miles program works, new to it. I should have done some pre-research, all the rules keep changing so fast. Thanks
You can’t move Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles to the frequent flyer programs of other airlines. Instead, you use those miles to book flights on partner airlines – you can search online for award availability.
Is there a limitation for business card? 24 months or so?
I think the business card is 24 months too.
Be aware though that B of A business cards are almost impossible to get approved for now unless you have a well-established business with financial records to prove it. Long gone are the days of sole proprietor hobby businesses.
Do you think an active Alaska Business card would preclude the bonus for a personal card?
No – you can get the personal card even if you already have the business version.
I got this one in the mail before the pandemic, got my bonus in July!
Is there an easy way to see when you closed a credit card? My credit apps don’t seem to show that and beyond my dislike of dealing with banks by phone it seems a bit tasteless to call BOA to ask if I’m eligible to churn the card again. I prefer not to waste a credit pull only to be denied due to the 24 month restriction.
If you have a Credit Karma account, click on the ‘Accounts’ tab at the top, then scroll down and click the link for ‘Show x Closed Accounts’ (you might need to select ‘Equifax’ first).
That’ll show you when your accounts were closed, although it won’t specify which particular card it was, so if you closed more than one BoA card around that time, it might not be too helpful. It will say how long the card was open for though, so that might help narrow things down if you know when you applied for it originally.
Thanks!
Very interesting offer.
I seem to recall that BofA has some additional requirements beyond the “nothing on the last 24 months” one that you describe. Something about the number of cards in general… Also, I think I remember reading that you should have a savings account with them too (or was that for Business cards?)
I don’t think there’s a savings account requirement – I’ve had both business and personal Alaska cards with BoA but never had a checking or savings account with them.
I’ve read on various Reddit forums that BOA has a new 3/12 guideline across all issuers if you don’t have a deposit account with BOA, and a 7/12 guideline if you do have a deposit account with BOA. I’m not vouching for this information, just trying to help answer your question Kitz.