Earn 5,000 Miles flying Alaska International Partners

Earn 5,000 Miles flying Alaska International Partners

From March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020, passengers flying an Alaska Airlines partner airline internationally and crediting the flight to their Alaska Mileage Plan account will receive a minimum of 5,000 Redeemable Miles per flight on trips to or from North America.  Round trip flights would earn a minimum of 10,000 Redeemable Miles.

This offer is good on 15 partner airlines:

  • Aer Lingus
  • British Airways
  • Cathay Pacific
  • Condor
  • EL AL Israel Airlines
  • Emirates
  • Fiji Airways
  • Finnair
  • Hainan Airlines
  • Icelandair
  • Japan Airlines
  • Korean Air
  • LATAM Airlines
  • Qantas
  • Singapore Airlines

Of course this promotion does not include American Airlines as the partnership is effectively ending on March 1.

This is only good on flights departing or arriving in North America AND departing or arriving from a non North American location.

  • Flying discounted O class (earns 25% miles flown) on Cathay Pacific from LAX-HKG (North America to Asia) would earn this bonus for a total of 5,000 Redeemable Miles.
  • Flying on Cathay Pacific from JFK-YVR (within North America) would not earn this bonus.
  • Neither would HKG-PEK (within Asia).

It is important to note that this isn’t a “bonus” 5,000 miles per flight, but instead it is a “topping up” of miles so that you get at least 5,000 miles.  Flying LAX-SYD in a fare class that earns 100% miles flown would earn you 7,487 miles.  So no bonus for that flight.

The bonus miles earned are Redeemable Miles, NOT Elite Qualifying Miles.

It is not clear on how Elite Bonuses factor in to the promotion.  Since MVP Golds, for example, already earn 100% bonus on flights, this would limit the number of routes where this promotion applies.  My guess is that the bonus applies to pre-elite bonus mileage.  UPDATE: I have confirmed that any MVP bonus miles are added on AFTER the 5,000 miles.

While not explicit, I am confident that flights on partners booked using miles would not earn this bonus (as you don’t earn miles on redemption tickets).

Example – LAX-SYD Qantas S Fare Class as an MVP Gold

If you are an MVP Gold flying LAX-SYD in S Fare Class (earns 50% miles flown), you would earn:

3,743 (50% of 7,487 miles flown)
+ 1,257 (to “top off” to the 5,000 minimum)
+ 3,743 (MVP Gold elite bonus)
= 8,743 Redeemable Miles Earned

If you are flying round trip, you would earn 17,486 Redeemable Miles, or 2,514 more miles than without the promotion.

This promotion seems targeted towards those flying in discounted Economy fares and offers the most bang for your buck on the lowest Economy tickets.  While I don’t think it will encourage anyone to plan a mileage run, it at least makes discounted fares a bit more valuable when crediting to Alaska Airlines.  Overall this is not a game changer that will influence my travel.

Will this promotion earn you any extra miles?

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