Alaska Airlines is providing new and possibly current Mileage Plan members who join the frequent flyer program before April 30, 2017, 5,000 bonus miles. The Alaska Airlines promotion is extremely generous as Alaska Airlines vies for new customers and West Coast dominance.
New and Current Members Can Earn 5,000 Bonus Miles
The Alaska Airlines promotion of 5,000 miles is extremely easy to earn. All someone has to do is join Alaska Airlines’ frequent flyer program before April 30, 2017 and take one qualifying flight. The qualifying flight cannot be a codeshare flight on a partner, but must be on Alaska Airlines or Virgin America metal and taken before October 1, 2017. Any flight, anywhere that Alaska or Virgin flies qualifies.
The terms and condition of this promotion state that an individual may only receive a bonus one time, even if the hold multiple Mileage Plan accounts. Potentially, a current Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan member could open a second account and credit a flight to the new account. They would then earn the 5,000 bonus miles. Then, after earning the bonus, one could ask Alaska Airlines to merge the two accounts by calling Mileage Plan support at 1-800-654-5669. The only catch, Alaska Airlines does match name and birthdays to current accounts; therefore creating a second account could be problematic.
What to Do with 5,000 Miles
5,000 Alaska Airlines miles is enough miles for a free one-way short-haul trip. After Alaska and Virgin America merged, Alaska Airlines announced cheaper awards for travel within the USA and Canada. Flights up to 700 miles in distance now start at just 5,000 miles!
Flights with stage lengths of less than 700 miles include several high frequency routes along the West Coast. This includes popular but sometimes expensive routes such as San Diego to Sacramento, Seattle to Portland, California’s Bay Area to Seattle, Portland, or Southern California; or Las Vegas to Los Angeles or San Francisco. Even all direct flights from Salt Lake City on the Alaska Airlines network are less than 700 miles!
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan offers the unique option of a stopover on one way awards. Maximize the 5,000 miles bonus and purchase two award tickets for the price of one! For example, Seattle-Portland-San Francisco is legal routing and the distance between Seattle and San Francisco is less than 700 miles. Potentially someone could fly Seattle to Portland, spend up to 10 months in Portland, and then add a segment Portland to San Francisco at a later date all for just 5,000 miles!
Final Thoughts – Earn Now, Spend Whenever
5,000 Alaska Airlines bonus miles are 5,000 very positive reasons to fly Alaska Airlines. The 5,000 mile bonus can be earned for pennies if one plans correctly. Alaska Airlines and Virgin America have several routes with heavy competition that are cheap to travel. Utilize the Alaska Airlines low fare calendar to search ticket cost over the course of an entire month. Routes such as those between Los Angeles and Vegas or Seattle and San Francisco/Los Angeles can be found as low as $55!
After earning the miles, I would say you should continue to fly Alaska. Alaska Mileage Plan is the last remaining program where a mile flown is a mile earned. Also, Alaska Airlines has unique mileage partners such as Emirates, Fiji, Iceland Air, and Condor. They also have alliance bound partners such as Jal, Qantas, KLM, and British Airways. Alaska has award options such as First class flights to Asia for fewer miles than the competition. 5,000 mile can boost your account or take full advantage and burn the miles immediately. The sky is the limit, welcome to Alaska Airlines!
