Buy Alaska Miles with a 50% Bonus

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is a popular loyalty program known for its great deals on redemptions with a number of airlines and frequent mileage sales.

With the current flash sale on Alaska miles, you can earn up to 50% bonus miles on your purchase, which can be a worthy endeavour in certain circumstances.

This time, the sale runs until 11:59pm Pacific Time on March 16, 2025, so be sure to capitalize on the offer before then if you’re interested.

Buy Alaska Miles with a 50% Bonus

Normally, Alaska Airlines sells miles for 2.75 cents per mile (USD), plus a 7.5% tax recovery fee, for a total of 2.96 cents per mile (USD). Luckily, Alaska Airlines frequently offers discounts on purchasing miles, so it doesn’t ever really make sense to buy them outside of sales.

This time around, you can get up to a 50% bonus on purchased miles. You might have a different offer, so be sure to log in to your Mileage Plan account to see the exact breakdown of your bonus, as not all members are given the best-available offer.

The current best-available offer is structured as follows:

• Buy 3,000–9,000 miles, get a 30% bonus
• Buy 10,000–19,000 miles, get a 40% bonus
• Buy 20,000+ miles, get a 50% bonus

With a 50% bonus, you could buy 150,000 Alaska miles for $2,956.25 (USD) including tax, which works out to a cost of 1.97 cents per mile (USD).

At our current valuation of 1.8 cents per mile (USD), the sale price is slightly above our target value, but it could represent a great deal if you have a specific use in mind.

Looking back at previous offers, Alaska Airlines tends to offer bonuses of 35–60%, and we’ve seen rare offers as high as 70%. This offer is lower than the best-ever bonus, but with the right use in mind, it can still make sense.

How many Alaska miles can you buy?

Unless you have elite status with Alaska Airlines, each Mileage Plan member is limited to receiving 150,000 miles per calendar year from mileage purchases (excluding bonuses), whether buying for yourself or being gifted from someone else.

There’s also a limit of 100,000 miles purchased per transaction (excluding bonuses). If you split your purchase up into multiple transactions, you could buy up to 225,000 miles including the 50% bonus, assuming you haven’t already bought or been gifted Alaska miles this year.

Which credit card should you use to buy Alaska miles?

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan sells miles through Points.com. This means that since you aren’t buying miles directly from Alaska Airlines, you won’t earn any category bonus for using an Alaska Airlines co-branded credit card.

Furthermore, the purchase won’t code as travel for a category accelerator on other travel credit cards. Therefore, you should consider using any card with a high baseline earn rate, or one where you’re working towards meeting the minimum spend requirement to unlock a welcome bonus.

The purchase will be charged in US dollars, so to avoid extra costs, you should use a US credit card.

If you use a card with a Canadian billing address, you’ll be charged GST/HST on top of the Tax Recovery Fee, since Points.com is registered in Canada. Even if you have a Canadian card with no foreign transaction fees, use it only as a last resort, since the extra cost eats into the value you can get from your miles.

When Does It Make Sense to Buy Alaska Miles?

As is the case with any sale on points or miles, it can be a good way to top up your account to make a redemption, or to score a deal on travel in premium cabins (as opposed to paying for it outright with cash). 

If you’ve found a good opportunity to redeem your Alaska miles at a value you like, but your account is just shy of the amount you need, you may find this sale as a good way to bring your redemption across the finish line.

In fact, as long as you’re redeeming above the cost of 1.97 cents per mile (USD) of buying with this promotion, you’ll come out ahead.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan offers access to some excellent partner airlines, including Japan Airlines, Starlux Airlines, and many more.

If you can find award space availability with one of the airlines, this sale could unlock travel in premium cabins at a steep discount.

For example, a one-way flight between US hubs on the West Coast and Taipei with Starlux Airlines costs 75,000 Alaska miles, plus a modest amount of taxes and fees.

Buying 75,000 miles during this promotion works out to $1,478 (USD), which is a great deal compared to the cash price for the same flights. 

While you’ll have to contend with award availability (as you do with any loyalty program), there are many other best-use cases for Alaska miles. 

Other Ways to Earn Alaska Miles

If you don’t have an immediate need for buying Alaska miles, you can consider other ways to acquire them at a lower cost.

US Credit Cards by Bank of America

If you have a social security number or ITIN, you’re eligible to apply for Bank of America’s Alaska Airlines co-branded cards.

The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature currently has a welcome bonus of 70,000 miles after spending $3,000 (USD) in the first three months.

Meanwhile, the Alaska Airlines Visa Business offer is at 70,000 miles upon spending $4,000 (USD) in the first three months.

Both cards have frequent credits equivalent to a first-year fee rebate and occasional elevated points offers. Otherwise, at an annual fee of $95 or $70, the cost of acquiring points is 0.10–0.14 cents per mile for the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature and the Alaska Airlines Visa Business, respectively.

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy points can be transferred to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan at a rate of 3:1, with a 5,000-mile bonus when transferred in chunks of 60,000 Bonvoy points.

At our present valuation of 0.6 cents per point, we’d value 60,000 Bonvoy points at $360 (USD). When transferred to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, this is equivalent to buying 25,000 miles at 1.44 cents per mile.

This is still lower than our valuation of  Alaska miles at 1.8 cents per mile, and cheaper than the promotional cost to buy miles outright. Depending on your Bonvoy balance and hotel redemption goals, you’ll have to weigh whether this is a better choice than paying cash for Alaska miles.

Plus, there’s a 30% transfer bonus from Canadian Membership Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy, which further sweetens the deal.

Bilt Rewards

Last year, Bilt Rewards added Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan as a 1:1 transfer partner, making it the only transferable points currency to have such an arrangement.

If you have access to Bilt Rewards, you can consider transferring points to Mileage Plan to top up your account.

American Express US Membership Rewards via HawaiianMiles

In 2024, Alaska Airlines acquired Hawaiian Airlines, and 1:1 transfers between the two loyalty programs are now live.

HawaiianMiles is a 1:1 transfer partner of American Express US Membership Rewards, which means you can transfer your Membership Rewards points to HawaiianMiles, and then move them to your Mileage Plan account.

Therefore, while you can’t directly transfer American Express US Membership Rewards to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, you can get them there with an extra stop in your HawaiianMiles account.

Mileage Plan Shopping

You can also turn to the Mileage Plan Shopping portal for bonuses on online purchases at many popular worldwide retailers ranging from technology to sportswear companies. High bonuses can often be found around big shopping days like Black Friday or Boxing Day.

Miles usually arrive in your account within two weeks, although many stores have restrictions for purchases outside of the US.

As you weigh whether this promotion is a good opportunity for you to meet your travel goals, here’s a snapshot of Alaska Mileage Plan’s previous offers on mileage sales, covering all promotions during the past year:

Conclusion

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan’s current 50% bonus promotion on buying miles is a good opportunity to push your balance over the hump for a dream trip, or to book premium flights at a discount compared to the cash rate.

This time, you can earn a 50% bonus when you purchase at least 20,000 miles. If you have a specific redemption in mind, this could be a good way to score an aspirational flight at a fraction of the price.

The offer runs until March 16, 2025, so be sure to have a look at what’s available and then make your purchase if you stand to benefit.