Alaska Airlines Earning and Using Miles

Earning Miles on Alaska Airlines

Alaska offers a minimum of 500 miles for flights flown on Alaska and Horizon. Business class fares earn a 25% bonus, while first class flights offer 50%. And while it does not participate in an airline alliance, it has developed partnerships with many airlines, offering accrual opportunities around the world. Airline partners include American, Air France, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Continental, Delta, Era Aviation, Horizon Air, KLM, LanChile, Northwest, PenAir and Qantas.

Alaska also offers the usual hotel and car rental partners, plus Safeway and a handful of other retail partnerships.

Using Miles on Alaska Airlines

As mentioned above, Alaska’s once-generous award chart has morphed into a 3-tiered monster that many fear will reduce the number of bottom-tier tickets available and force more members to use 40,000-55,000 miles to earn a domestic ticket.

The cash-and-miles award can be beneficial in cases where no low-level reward seats are available. For 15,000 miles, you can get 50% off a coach fare (though you can only get a maximum of $250 off the cost of the flight).

More than any other airline, though, Alaska does offer reward promotions throughout the year, with tickets often available for as few as 15,000 miles. If you are accruing Alaska miles, it’s imperative that you sign up for their email newsletter to ensure you are aware of these bonus opportunities.

Alaska has not introduced a fee to book an award, but they do charge $15 if you book on the phone or at the airport and they’ll charge $25 if you use Alaska’s miles to book on a partner airline. Generously, there is no fee for booking within 21 days of departure. The fee for changing an award ticket is $75.

Learn More About Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Overview
Alaska Airlines Hubs and Routes
Alaska Airlines Earning and Using Miles
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Elite Status
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Elite Status Matching