Alaska Airlines and Its Mileage Plan: What You Need To Know About This Frequent Flyer Program

Alaska Airlines is a major carrier in Alaska and is the 5th largest airline in the United States. Currently headquartered in Seattle, the airline operates an extensive domestic network, primarily flying destinations in the West Coast of the U.S., as well as Canada, Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica.

Currently, Alaska Airlines and its regional partners serve 120 countries across the globe.
Aside from being recognized for its exceptional customer service, Alaska Airlines is known for its loyalty program.

Frequent Flyer Program

The Alaska Mileage Plan is one of the most popular frequent flyer programs in the U.S. The plan rewards loyal customers with various perks and special privileges for flying with the airlines or any of its partners. 
Regardless of the travel class, a member can earn 1 Mileage Plan mile per mile flown. Customers will receive bonus miles if they book a first-class ticket or a more expensive economy seat.
Aside from those perks, Alaska Airlines provides other opportunities for accumulating Mileage Plan miles. Members can earn miles for hotel stays, car rentals, purchases made with the airline’s co-branded credit cards, and transferring points from other loyalty programs.
Mileage Plan members can also use their earned miles to book flights, upgrade flight seats to business or first class, purchase vacation packages, or even donate miles to charity.
To boost Mileage Plan earnings, members need to earn Alaska’s “MVP” elite status. Currently, there are four tiers of elite status available, which are:

• MVP
• MVP Gold
• MVP Gold 75K
• MVP Gold 100K

The required minimum number of eligible segments and miles a member needs to achieve varies per tier. Alaska Airlines MVP elite perks and benefits also differ from one another. The higher the status tier, the more perks members can enjoy.

Moreover, elite status members receive additional benefits when flying on any Oneworld Alliance member airline or any of their global partners, such as extra baggage allowance, access to Oneworld Alaska lounges, priority on waitlists, and many more. 

“Connecting Seattle to The World”

Oneworld Alliance is one of the world’s largest airline alliances, comprising several member airlines that collectively serve more than 900 destinations in 170 countries with hundreds of airport lounges.

Travelers enrolled in a frequent flyer program with a Oneworld member airline may enjoy benefits such as airport lounge access, priority check-in and boarding, and other Oneworld Priority benefits, depending on the status tier.
In 2021, Alaska Airlines joined the Oneworld Alliance, making it possible for frequent flyers to earn Mileage Plan miles on all of Alaska’s partner carriers, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, and Qatar Airways.

Currently, Oneworld Alliance has 13 member airlines and a Oneworld Connect partner, Fiji Airways, which provides select alliance perks to frequent flyers who fly with any member airline. Additionally, Oman Air is set to join the alliance in 2024.
Moreover, Alaska also has a diverse range of partners outside the alliance, such as:

• Aer Lingus
• Condor
• EL AL Israel Airlines
• Hainan Airlines
• Icelandair
• Korean Air
• LATAM Airlines
• Ravn Alaska
• Singapore Airlines

If you fly with an Alaska Airlines partner, the number of miles you earn will depend on the fare class and distance of the flight. The earning rate may differ depending on the partner airline.

Although Alaska’s loyalty program and partnership with the Oneworld Alliance seem advantageous, members still need to pay a fee for specific awards, like the mileage award bookings operated by partner airlines.

Partner Award Booking Fees

In frequent flyer programs, a partner award is a redemption option offered to members to use their earned miles or points to book flights on partner airlines that are part of the same airline alliance or have a code-share agreement.

A partner award ticket is a mileage ticket that a traveler books with one airline to fly on another airline.
However, some frequent flyer programs charge fees for booking partner awards. This can vary in amount and may apply to certain types of awards or booking channels. Unfortunately, the Alaska Mileage Plan is not an exception.

For starters, Alaska Airlines allows you to cancel your flight reservation made with miles without additional fees, and your miles will be re-deposited into your account. You will also receive a refund of any taxes included in the ticket.
However, you will have to pay a booking fee of USD 12.50 each way per award. So, a round-trip ticket would incur a fee of USD 25. The fee applies to all partner award tickets.

In addition, you need to pay USD 15 to book an award over the phone. Both fees for the partner award booking and phone booking are nonrefundable.

Despite the little hiccups you may encounter when booking partner award tickets, there are certain situations where you won’t need to spend a penny at all. If your flight changes and needs to be rebooked, you will not be required to pay an additional fee. 

Additionally, you can request a refund of the partner booking fee through Alaska’s customer service if the airline cancels or changes your flight and you cannot travel on that particular date, 
Overall, the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is considered as one of the most valuable loyalty programs among frequent flyers. With the program offering a wide range of exciting perks and rewards, it’s certainly a compelling pick for frequent travelers.