Mileage Plan™ - Alaska Airlines

Program Review

Alaska Airlines is an American airline based in the Seattle metropolitan area of the state of Washington. The company was founded in 1932 as McGee Airways, offering flights from Anchorage, Alaska. Alaska Airlines has flights to more than one hundred destinations in the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Mexico. The airline is a major air carrier and, along with its sister airlines Horizon Air and Virgin America, is part of the Alaska Air Group. The airline has been ranked by J.D. Power and Associates as having the highest customer satisfaction of the traditional airlines for nine consecutive years. The airline operates its largest hub at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, also known as Sea-Tac. It also operated secondary hubs in Los Angeles, Portland, and Anchorage, and focus cities at San Diego and San Jose. Although most of its revenue and traffic comes from locations out of Alaska, the airline does play a major role in air transportation in the state.

Mileage Plan Program

The Mileage Plan program is Alaska Airlines’ way of rewarding its frequent flyers. Those who join this program (it is free to join) will be able to accrue points/miles that can be used to get free award flights as well as cabin upgrades, hotel bookings, and even car rentals. This program makes it easy for those who fly with this airline or one of their partners to earn points, so you won’t have to worry about having a difficult time doing so. Anyone who flies with Alaska Airlines will definitely want to learn as much as possible about what this program has to offer before deciding whether or not to join.

Earning Mileage Plan Points

The members of the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan are able to earn miles designed for special flights provided by Alaska Airlines and other 12 global partners, except such regional partners as PenAir (i.e. the Spirit of Alaska) and Ravn Alaska. With as little as 20,000 miles flown per year, the members can earn the basic MVP elite status. In addition, they are welcome to take advantage of multiple redemption opportunities to obtain the non-elite qualification miles with no setting foot in airplanes. But consider that this strategy makes it impossible to enjoy onboard brilliant customer service of Alaska Airlines.

Other opportunities consist of vising local restaurants, purchasing gifts and flowers, and shopping obviously. These points can be earned as in the air as on the ground (e.g. renting a Hertz car). Moreover, interested persons can get the Mileage Plan points on the high seas by purchasing any item in the cruise ship gift shop using a special Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card. There are a lot of additional ways to acquire bonus miles. They include purchasing an Alaska Airlines Vacations package off their own website or using promotional offers that could be found on the mileage deals site.

Note that mileage transfers can't be done between various airline Frequent Flyer Programs. However, there's a possibility to earn points when traveling on a partner airline and redeem an award flight on one of the carriers.

Redeeming Mileage Points

There are a lot of award options to redeem mileage points regardless of the place you are going to visit and what kind of flight you're considering. The Mileage Plan members can use the acquired miles towards redeeming award flights, upgrading purchased tickets, or even subscribing for a magazine. The last option suits avid magazine readers providing them with a wide range of available magazines: from The Economist to the Wall Street Journal.

The members can book most Alaska Airlines or partner flights award tickets online without spending time at booking through the phone or visiting local travel agencies. Note that you'll have the opportunity to keep all accumulated miles for an extended period of time in case you spend or earn one mile every two years at least. Even the smallest transaction can come out to more than a mile. Keep in mind that Alaska may delete your account and reassign your personal number if you don't get any miles to your account during the first nine months after opening it or if your account isn't active over 24 months. Although, you have the possibility to pay a $75 fee and reinstate the account for one year.

Benefits of Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan Program

You will quickly discover that there are a lot of different benefits associated with Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan rewards program, including that earning points is very easy, at least for those who regularly fly with this airline or their partners. Since Alaska Airlines has so many partner airlines, you shouldn’t experience much difficulty with earning points.  Another great thing about this program is that it allows it is free to join and allows its members to redeem points in so many different ways.

Elite Levels

There are three different Elite levels for the Mileage Plan program, including MVP, MVP Gold, and MVP Gold 75k. The MVP program requires 20,000 Alaska Airlines miles to join, the MVP Gold level requires 40,000 miles, and the MVP Gold level requires a total of 75,000 miles.

Booking Fees & Charges

There are some fees you might encounter as a Mileage Plan member, so it’s important to know what they are. Changing your flight at least 60 days in advance is free, but you have to pay $125 if you change or cancel your flight before this period.

Redeem on Upgrades

There are plenty of different options to receive a first-class upgrade. You can choose between using the acquired miles to upgrade in advance and requesting a paid upgrade at the departure gate or check-in. The last option is available within 24 hours of departure until the departure date checked in at the airport. It's important to do some research before purchasing a nonrefundable ticket as some fares can't be used for upgrades.

The members can obtain one of these benefits using trip mile upgrades. For example, the cost of 0-1250 miles trip is estimated at $50; 1251-2500 miles - $100; 2501-3750 cost about $150, and accordingly, more than 3751 miles cost approximately $200. These paid upgrades are available on Alaska Airlines and they don't permit any stopovers. Tickets booked in the B, G, H, K, L, M, N, Q, R, S, T, V, W, T, and Z classes qualify for the upgrades.