One Week Only: Buy miles at 1.83 cents per mile, with Alaska 50% bonus promotion

by Anshul
2 comments
a plane flying in the sky
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The latest promotion is a flash sale, where members can purchase miles with up to 50% bonus. The current promotion of up to 50% bonus is applicable on minimum purchase of 30K miles, on transactions completed by September 20, 2020. Note that this bonus is separate from the previous 50% bonus promotion in August which unlocks a 60% bonus promotion in October. This promotion does not unlock the 60% bonus promotion in October.

ALASKA MILEAGE PLAN – UP TO 50% BONUS MILES

Link to Promotion

Alaska 50% bonus

 

This promotion is tiered with 40% bonus on purchase of up to 29k miles. Minimum purchase of 30K miles is required for the 50% bonus. The bonus tiers look like this;

  • Buy 3,000 – 29,000 miles, get a 40% bonus
  • Buy 30,000 – 100,000 miles, get a 50% bonus

With a 50% bonus, this promotion yields 1.83 cents per mile – a decent value. Note that Alaska MileagePlan has has 60% bonus promotions in the past, which yield 1.72 cents per mile. The current promotion can be maximized by purchasing 100K miles, for a total of 150,000 Alaska miles;

Alaska 50% bonus

Recall that Alaska airlines will not be joining OneWorld alliance until early 2021, which means a bigger window to leverage the sweet spots in the program. In its current state, Alaska miles are one of the most valuable airlines currency in the market and come with great airline partners and routing sweet spots (including stopover on on-way awards) – couple of examples;

  • Cathay Pacific from North America to Asia (Cathay Pacific Business Class on 777-300ER review 2018), o/w for 30K/35K/50K/70K across all cabins
  • Fiji Airways (no first class) and Qantas from North America to Australia, o/w for 55k in Business or 70K in First Class
  • American Airlines from North America to Europe, o/w for 22.5K/57.5K across Econ and Business

If you plan on purchasing miles, I recommend using them in a short turnaround, because there is a good chance we see some devaluations as the uber generous Alaska MileagePlan joins OneWorld.

Additional Terms and Conditions of the promotion

  • Transactions must be completed between 6:00 AM PST September 14, 2020 and 11:59 PM PST September 20, 2020 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.

  • 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.

  • Offer is subject to change and all terms and conditions of the Mileage Plan Program apply.

 

2 comments

Ghostrider5408 September 14, 2020 - 10:08 pm

Unless you’re planning to use these miles immediately its a bad decision financially. When AS joins OW there will most certainly be an “adjustment” to the mileage redemption charts that coupled with the sure to the scarcity of reward seats other than coach and many of those middle seats. The airlines want you to buy now fly later. If you doubt me just look at the huge leveraged FF program deals being made and have been made with CC companies. What do you think is going to happen there? Cathy Pacific do you think they will still be around and if they are how many seats does one think will be there? All of the airlines long haul schedules will be greatly reduced for along time coming. So if you’re going to get that seat it will be expensive at times maybe cheaper to have purchased one. Like EK, buy your return ticket when your in SA cheap!

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Points Miles and Bling September 15, 2020 - 6:55 am

Agreed – as mentioned in post, best for topping up accounts. In rare cases may be good for purchasing large amounts, as per need. For those buying, the plan should be to book by Dec. I am seeing lots of availability for later in 2021, and despite cheaper (relatively) biz cash fares, its still much cheaper to fly premium products on points. And yes, Cathay will survive, may file for bankruptcy, but will thrive thereafter.

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