Alaska Mileage Plan selling miles with up to 50% bonus

From now till 15 March 2021, 3.59 p.m SGT, Alaska Mileage Plan is offering up to a 50% bonus on miles purchases. Each account will be targeted for a different bonus, so you need to login to check what yours is. 

Check your Mileage Plan bonus offer here

Here’s how my bonus was structured:

• Buy  3,000-29,000 miles: 40% bonus (2.11 US cents/mile)
• Buy 30,000-100,000 miles: 50% bonus (1.97 US cents/mile)

Unfortunately, the 7.5% tax on mileage purchases has been brought back (it was temporarily suspended under the CARES act, which lapsed on 1 Jan 2021), which means that miles purchases this year will be slightly more expensive than those last year. 

Mileage Plan members can buy a maximum of 100,000 miles (pre-bonus) per transaction, and a maximum of 150,000 miles (also pre-bonus) per year. MVP, MVP Gold, and MVP Gold 75K members have no such cap. 

However, since Mileage Plan tickets can be redeemed for anyone, there’s nothing stopping a family member from opening another account to buy miles and redeem them on your behalf.

Is it worth buying Alaska Mileage Plan miles?

For the sake of perspective, Alaska Mileage Plan sales have gone up to 60% before, so this isn’t the largest we’ve seen. More importantly, we’re now about three weeks away from Alaska’s entry into the oneworld alliance, which will almost certainly bring with it award chart changes (the airline expects to launch oneworld redemptions by Summer 2021).

While buying miles will help extend the life of your entire balance by a further 24 months, there are cheaper (and more fun) ways of doing so. 

All that said, during “normal” times, here’s the routings I’d recommend with Alaska Mileage Plan. 

For trips to Japan on JAL

It’s no longer the amazing sweet spot that it was before, but in the cold light of day, paying 25,000 miles for a one-way Business Class ticket to Japan is still good value.

Award space tends to be generous, and it’s not uncommon to find dates with 4+ Business Class seats available. 

For trips to the USA on Cathay Pacific

 Alaska Mileage Plan charges just 50,000/70,000 miles for a one-way Business/First Class award between Singapore and the USA on Cathay Pacific. 

Alternatively, you can fly between Singapore and Tokyo for 22,500 miles on Cathay Pacific. Unlike the Japan Airlines option above, however, you’ll have to do a stopover in Hong Kong. 

Note that Cathay Pacific awards cannot be booked on the Mileage Plan site. You’ll have to call up customer service to get it processed. 

For trips elsewhere

Alaska Mileage Plan has a wide variety of partner airlines, some of which may be useful for flying point to point outside of Singapore: 

Other sweet spots you can consider include:

There are no fuel surcharges on Mileage Plan awards, except on British Airways, Hainan Airlines, and Icelandair. 

Singapore Airlines was recently added as a Mileage Plan redemption partner, but as I showed in this analysis, it really doesn’t make sense to buy Mileage Plan miles for Singapore Airlines travel. You’d be much better acquiring KrisFlyer miles for cheap, then redeeming them for flights. 

What card should I use?

Purchases of Alaska Mileage Plan miles are processed by Points.com in USD (i.e they are not seen as travel purchases). Here’s the best cards to maximize the miles earned on your purchase:

	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Apply here	4 mpd	Cap of S$1K per s. month
UOB Visa Signature Apply here	4 mpd	Min S$1K Max S$2K FCY spend per s. month
SCB Visa Infinite Apply here	3 mpd	Min spend S$2K per s. month
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

I personally don’t recommending the DBS Woman’s World Card for Points.com purchases, as many people have reported issues with getting the bonus points credited. 

When it comes to Points.com purchases, some people may run into issues using a Singapore-issued card. I can’t quite explain why this happens, because some don’t encounter any issues, and others never seem to be able to get their transactions through. Your best bet is to use an Alaska Mileage Plan account that is at least 10 days old, and try a different card if your transaction doesn’t go through the first time.

Other important things to note

Due to the current coronavirus outbreak, Alaska Mileage Plan is waiving all change and cancellation fees for award tickets issued up till 31 March 2021, with travel up to 28 February 2022. This replaces the usual US$125 fee. 

Alaska Mileage Plan miles do not expire so long as you credit or redeem at least one mile every 24 months.

Conclusion

I don’t think this is the best time to buy Alaska Mileage Plan miles, given the uncertainity both with travel as a whole, as well as with Alaska’s oneworld entry. It’s not particularly a must-buy price (give me 60%, then we’ll talk) either.

If you plan to buy miles, it’ll be ideal if you redeem (and fly) as soon as possible.