Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles are a valuable currency. You can redeem Alaska Airlines miles to fly with over 15 different airlines including Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Finnair, Singapore Airlines, Air Tahiti Nui and Qatar Airways.
Award tickets on many airlines are excellent value, with the number of miles required to redeem for many flights relatively low. There are also no fuel surcharges on award tickets with most partner airlines – instead, you’ll just pay a USD12.50 partner award fee.
Alaska Airlines has been part of the Oneworld alliance since 2021, but it’s not that easy to earn Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles in Australia.
The good news is that you can buy Alaska Airlines miles in bulk, directly from the airline. Plus, Alaska Airlines offers regular promotions on buying miles. Right now, for example, you can earn up to 40% bonus miles thanks to a Flash Sale.
Buying Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
You can buy Alaska Airlines miles on the Alaska Airlines website.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles start at USD29.56 per thousand, excluding any discounts or bonus miles. This price includes the U.S. federal excise tax. The price incrementally becomes slightly cheaper as you buy more miles and there is a purchase limit of 100,000 miles per transaction (excluding bonus miles).
There is an annual purchase limit of 150,000 miles per member (excluding bonus miles). This limit is waived for Mileage Plan members with MVP, MVP Gold or MVP Gold 75k status.
Most recent deal: Up to 40% Bonus Alaska Airlines Miles
The latest promotion on buying Alaska Airlines miles offers up to 40% bonus miles until 21 August 2022 (at 11.59pm PST).
With this deal, you could earn:
- 30% bonus Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles on purchases of 3,000-14,000 miles
- 40% bonus Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles on purchases of 15,000-100,000 miles
Note that the offers are targeted and vary between accounts – your offer may be for a different amount of bonus miles. Some members have even been offered as much as 60% bonus miles with this promotion.
This offer may not be available to new Mileage Plan members. If you’re not already a member, sign up now to avoid missing out on the next promotion!
It would cost USD2,956.25 (including tax) to purchase the maximum 100,000 miles during this promotion. For this price you would receive 140,000 miles (including 40,000 bonus miles).
This promotion is the same as a previous offer than ran during April-May 2022.
Redeeming Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
You can redeem Alaska Airlines miles on around 16 partner airlines, but there is a catch. You can only redeem miles on specific routes as set out in the Mileage Plan award charts, which will be changing in late 2022.
Unfortunately, from late 2022, Alaska Airlines will be introducing dynamic award pricing and many current redemption prices will likely increase. Before buying new miles, keep this in mind if you don’t have an immediate use for your miles!
In the meantime, these are some of the most useful Mileage Plan redemptions for Australians under the current award charts:
- Any Qantas domestic route within Australia costs 20,000 miles one-way in Business or 12,500 miles in Economy
- Cathay Pacific Business class from Australia to Hong Kong costs only 30,000 miles one-way
- Cathay Pacific Business class flights from Hong Kong to Europe cost 42,500 miles one-way
- Singapore Airlines flights within south-east Asia cost 25,000 miles one-way in Business or 35,000 miles one-way in First
- You can fly from Australia to North America with the following airlines: Qantas, American Airlines, Fiji Airways, Cathay Pacific & Korean Air
- Fly from Australia to Fiji with Fiji Airways for 32,500 miles in Business
- You can also redeem Alaska Airlines miles for Finnair flights
Mileage Plan’s extensive list of partners and low redemption costs make this an especially competitive program if you want to fly Business class to North America. Award flights on Qantas and American Airlines are great value, although award availability is very limited. Korean Air award availability from Australia to North America is much better, and redeeming Alaskan miles for Korean Air flights is excellent value if you book a return trip.
Note that Cathay Pacific award availability is limited for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members. Cathay Pacific traditionally releases fewer award seats to Mileage Plan than it does to other Oneworld partner airlines.
With Mileage Plan, there are no fuel or carrier surcharges except when redeeming miles for Hainan Airlines flights.
Most Mileage Plan awards can be booked on the Alaska Airlines website. If you can’t book online, you can call Alaska Airlines on on +1 (800) 252 7522. The Alaska Airlines call centre is open from 5am to midnight, California time. (It is closed during the evening in Australia.)
You can discuss the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
Want to learn more about buying points for cheap premium cabin flights?
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