Buy Alaska Miles with up to a 50 Percent Bonus: Worth It After Emirates Devaluation?

You can Buy Alaska Miles with up to a 50% Bonus, if you're targeted for this offer. Alaska also had an up to 50% bonus for buying miles back in November-December 2015, but the question is whether buying miles makes sense for you in light of the recent Alaska Mileage Plan Devaluation with no advance notice.

The devaluation means that Emirates A380 First Class awards increased, with no notice, by 67% (from 90,000 miles to 150,000 miles) each way between the U.S. and the Middle East, India and Maldives, and doubled (from 100K to 200K miles) each way between the U.S. and Africa, via Dubai. This was a major blow, since many of us have been using Alaska miles almost exclusively for Emirates First Class awards, but I'll mention the other awards that (currently) still are good values, at least until Alaska's next award chart devaluation.

Here are the Alaska Buy Miles offer details:

Buy Alaska miles with an up to 50% bonus through June 13, 2016

Miles are not refundable and do not count towards elite status

7.5% federal excise tax and GST/HST for Canadian residents also applied

Buy Miles with 50% Bonus is Tiered

The buy miles with up to 50% bonus miles offer is tiered, so you'll need to buy a minimum of 40,000 Alaska miles to earn the 50% bonus miles. You can buy up to 60K miles in a single transaction, giving you 90,000 miles for $1650 + tax = $1773, which is equivalent to buying miles at the cost of 1.97 cents per mile. That's not as good as the recent AAdvantage buy miles offer (see Buy AAdvantage Miles with 115000 Bonus Miles: Worth It After Devaluation?), where buying 150K miles got you 115K bonus miles, so an effective cost of 1.8 cents per AAdvantage miles, but keep in mind that Alaska's Award Chart is still better than the post-devaluation AAdvantage Award Chart for awards such as Cathay Pacific First Class to Hong Kong (110,000 AAdvantage miles vs. 70,000 Alaska miles each way).

FAQ

What Are the Best First Class and Business Class Awards Now, Using Alaska Miles?

My current 7 favorite awards using Alaska miles are:

1. Cathay Pacific First Class between the continental U.S. and Asia or Europe and Asia: 70K Alaska miles each way (difficult to get for more than 1 passenger on a given flight)

2. Cathay Pacific Business Class between the continental U.S. and Australia or New Zealand: 60K Alaska miles each way (and you can stop over in Hong Kong for free, even on a one way award)

3.Cathay Pacific First Class to Hong Kong and Business Class to Australia or New Zealand: 80K Alaska miles each way (free stopover in Hong Kong)

4. Cathay Pacific Business Class between Europe and Asia: 42,500 Alaska miles each way

5. Qantas A380 First Class between Australia or New Zealand and the continental U.S.: 70K Alaska miles each way (almost impossible to get)

6. Qantas Business Class between Australia or New Zealand and the continental U.S.: 55K Alaska miles each way (difficult to get)

7. Fiji Airways Business Class between New Zealand or Fiji and the continental U.S.: 55K Alaska miles each way (note that there is very little business class award availability, so the New Zealand to Fiji to the continental U.S. all in business class is almost impossible to get)

What Are My Chances of Getting 2 or 3 Cathay Pacific First Class Awards on the Same Flight?

Slim to none, unless you're booking just a few days before departure. Yes, it can be possible to find 2-3 Cathay Pacific First Class awards last minute, a day or two before departure (see screenshot below), but the most likely scenario is one first class award seat and the other seats in business class.

Cathay Pacific First Class is just 6 seats, so there are few seats to begin with, and remember that Cathay Pacific's own Asia Miles members are able to book their awards almost a month before award availability is released to Alaska Airlines and AAdvantage members. And Cathay does of course hold some seats back as they want to be able to sell them for cold hard cash.

Can You Redeem Alaska Miles for Award Travel That Doesn't Touch the U.S.?

Yes, but your origin region and destination regions must appear in the Alaska Mileage Plan award charts. For example, award travel from Europe to Asia is available on Cathay Pacific only. Alaska doesn't publish an award chart for Europe to Australia or New Zealand, so that award isn't possible, even though Qantas and Emirates fly from Europe to Australia via Dubai.

Can I Earn Airline or Travel Category Bonuses When Buying Alaska Miles with a 40% Bonus?

No, since these transactions are processed by Points.com, and not by Alaska Airlines. For that reason you should aim to use a credit card where you're working to meet high minimum spend for the signup bonus.

What are the Fees to Change or Cancel an Alaska Mileage Plan Award?

An attractive feature of Alaska Mileage Plan is that changes and cancellations done online are free if over 60 days before departure; also see Best Frequent Flyer Programs for Award Changes. If within the 60 days, any change or cancellation incurs a $125 change/cancellation fee. But note that the $25 partner booking fee is non-refundable, as is the $15 call center fee if you make a booking by phone.

Do you plan to buy Alaska miles with a 50% bonus?

Redeeming 800K Miles and Points: Why We Don't Save Our Miles

Alaska Airlines First Class to Hawaii

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