Alaska Airlines has three great Mileage Plan promotions currently available. These promotions include:
- Purchase miles with bonus miles,
- Fast track to status and
- Upgrades on select American Airlines international routes.
Bonus Miles On Purchased Miles
The current offer is for up to 60% additional bonus miles. This bonus percentage will depend on your account offering.
This offer is tiered and the amount of bonus that you are eligible to receive will depend on how many miles that you purchase on this tiered offer. Your account may be eligible for bonuses of up to 40%, 50% or 60%. In my case, I can earn up to 50% bonus miles on the following tiers:
- Buy 3,000 – 14,000 miles, get a 40% bonus
- Buy 15,000 – 100,000 miles, get a 50% bonus
Here is a sample mileage purchase of 15,000 miles (22,500 miles total) for my mileage account:
If you are short on miles for that award booking, here is an opportunity to get those needed miles. This bonus offer is good for mileage purchases through August 23, 2021. Usually, this purchase using your Alaska Airlines Visa credit card will only earn one mile per dollar spent because you are purchasing from points.com and not Alaska Airlines.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- Transactions must be completed between 6:00 AM PST July 19, 2021 and 11:59 PM PST August 23, 2021 to be eligible for bonus miles.
- Miles are purchased from Points.com Inc. for a cost of $27.50 per 1,000 miles, plus GST/HST for Canadian residents and QST for Quebec residents.
- Miles are non-refundable and do not count toward MVP and MVP/Gold status.
- You may purchase and gift Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles in increments of 1,000 miles up to 60,000 miles, and in increments of 5,000 miles up to a maximum of 100,000 miles per transaction.
- MVP, MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75K Mileage Plan member (Elite Member) accounts have no annual limit on the number of miles which may be purchased or gifted through Points.com. If you are not an Elite Member, your account may only be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles acquired through Points.com in a calendar year, whether purchased by you or gifted to you. Bonus miles do not count toward the maximum total of 150,000 miles.
- Offer is subject to change and all terms and conditions of the Mileage Plan Program apply.
- *Points.com Inc. is collecting Federal Excise Tax on behalf of Alaska Airlines Inc.
- Alaska Airlines Inc. has the obligation to collect Federal Excise Tax and remit the tax to the appropriate government agency.
Fast Track To Status Is Back
This is a great promotion to help up either attain status, renew status or qualify for a higher elite status. This promotion previously ended on June 30, 2021 so it is great that Alaska has brought it back. The Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan currently has four tier levels:
- Basic member,
- MVP,
- MVP Gold and
- MVP Gold 75K.
On the horizon is a new MVP Gold 100K level which should be announced later this year. Here is a link to Alaska Airlines elite levels. For flights taken now through September 30, 2021, you will receive an additional 50% elite qualifying miles on top of the base qualifying miles and any class of service bonus miles.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
50% bonus elite-qualifying mile offer terms: No registration required. All active Mileage Plan members will receive a 50% bonus on elite-qualifying miles earned on flights marketed and operated by Alaska Airlines between June 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021. Mileage for qualifying flights must be credited to the member’s Mileage Plan account. Not valid on free or award travel. This offer is not combinable with any other elite qualifying bonus promotions. The bonus elite-qualifying miles awarded as part of this promotion count toward elite status qualification only, are non-redeemable, and cannot be used toward award travel. All terms and conditions of the Mileage Plan program apply.
Upgrades On select American Airlines International Routes
This looks like a perk that has come with Alaska Airlines joining the oneworld alliance. For a limited time on select international routes, you can score a space-available upgrade.
The offer is for two one-way upgrade certificates on flights booked by September 30, 2021 for travel completing by December 31, 2021. This offer can upgrade most economy fares to business class and most business class fares to first class. Eligible routes for this offer are:
- Los Angeles (LAX) and London (LHR)
- Los Angeles (LAX) and Sydney (SYD)
- Los Angeles (LAX) and Tokyo (HND)
- Seattle (SEA) and Bangalore (BLR)
- Seattle (SEA) and London (LHR)
- Seattle (SEA) and Shanghai (PVG)
HOW TO BOOK YOUR UPGRADES
- Go to American Airlines website and look for elible routings,
- Call American Airlines at (800) 262-7206,
- Provide the agent with your unique access code and your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account number.
Your upgrade will either be immediately confirmed or you will be placed on the upgrade waiting list.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
This limited time opportunity is valid only for Alaska Airlines MVP® Gold 75K members who qualified in 2019 or 2020 for status in 2021.
Each qualified Gold 75K member is eligible to receive 2 one-way upgrades.
Each qualified Gold 75K member must provide their unique American Airlines access code and Mileage Plan number when making the upgrade request.
Upgrades must be requested no later than September 30, 2021, for travel through December 31, 2021.
Upgrades are valid on the following American Airlines operated nonstop flights :
- Los Angeles (LAX) and London (LHR)**
- Los Angeles (LAX) and Sydney (SYD)
- Los Angeles (LAX) and Tokyo (HND)
- Seattle (SEA) and Bangalore (BLR)
- Seattle (SEA) and London (LHR)**
- Seattle (SEA) and Shanghai (PVG)
Upgrades are void if sold or advertised for sale for cash or other considerations. Members may designate another passenger to use their upgrades.
Any tax liability is the responsibility of the user. Upgrades from Economy to Business/First from London Heathrow to the U.S. will be subject to the premium tax charged by Great Britain, which varies based on the ultimate destination.
Each upgrade is valid for a single flight from most Business fares to First and most Economy or Premium Economy fares to Business.
Upgrades are not valid from Basic Economy.
Upgrades are only valid on individual published-fare tickets. Upgrades are not applicable to open tickets, AAdvantage® travel awards; any free ticket; military or other government fares; opaque fares; infant tickets (including INF50 fares) or purchased extra seats.
This upgrade is subject to capacity controls and is limited to a single segment. Reservations are subject to seat availability at the time of upgrade.
If an upgrade isn’t available at the time of request, it will be put on a waitlist. Waitlisted requests will be confirmed if space is available.
Upgrade not confirmed at the time of check in will be automatically added to the airport upgrade standby list.
Once an upgrade is confirmed, the American Airlines App will automatically update the mobile boarding pass
Reservations may be made and tickets purchased from any authorized travel agency or American Airlines. Upgrade requests must be made through the phone number provided in the email sent to qualified Gold 75K member. Upgrade requests cannot be made on aa.com.
Upgrades will be deducted as soon as upgrade seating can be confirmed. It is the responsibility of the member to contact American Airlines if a trip involving the use of an upgrade is canceled and reinstatement of the upgrade is requested.
Any itinerary changes to a confirmed upgrade are subject to seat availability for the new itinerary.
AAdvantage® mileage or Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan™ credit will accrue for the class of service on which your fare is based when you are ticketed, not for the class of service flown. Any voluntary refund of a ticket issued against the upgrade shall be in accordance with applicable fare rules for the fare purchased.
Final Thoughts
With time to still book a summer trip, these offers will either help you get the elite tier that you want, top off your mileage account for that award booking or upgrade your international trip. The Fast Track promotion previously expired on June 30, 2021 so here is one more opportunity to take advantage of this great offer.
