Alaska Airlines has introduced a new version of their signup bonus. They still offer 30,000 miles after $1,000 spend, but now they’ll also waive the $99 companion charge when using your companion ticket within the first year of card membership. In other words, rather than paying $99 plus taxes and fees for your companion, you’ll pay just the taxes and fees.
We found that you can do even better via a dummy booking.
Go to alaskaair.com, and go through all of the steps to book a flight. When you get to the final payment screen, you should see an offer that includes 30,000 miles, a waived $99 companion ticket, and a $100 statement credit. You can sign up through that link without purchasing the ticket.
After clicking the “Apply Now” button, you’ll be taken to a page that shows the full details of the companion fare offer:
Note that they’ll waive the $99 companion fare only in the first year. For each subsequent year of card membership, you’ll have to pay $99 plus taxes and fees for your companion.
