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Regular readers will be well aware that we can’t stop praising Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, even though it can seem quite obscure and distant for a UK-based reader. But if you are interested in long-haul award flights in First Class, or even Business Class on such airlines as Cathay Pacific, JAL, Korean, British Airways etc. then Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is for you.

Most of the time we recommend buying Alaska miles during a promotion, such as the one currently running – click here – but sometimes we highlight the ridiculous number of miles you can earn on paid long-haul flights in First or Business. Conversions of Marriott Bonvoy points – perhaps from your American Express Gold card – are also a viable option.

But this new promotion from Mileage Plan will work out quite well for those of you who pay to fly in Economy class. The promotion is quite simple. Fly on an Alaska Airlines partner airline between North America and non-North America – North America being defined as United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean – and you will earn a minimum of 5,000 miles.

To be clear, this isn’t a bonus of 5,000 miles. You will simply earn a variable bonus that tops up your earnings for that flight to 5,000. Oddly enough, this means that cheapest Economy fares are the ones that will receive the highest “bonus”.

You will be able to take advantage of this promotion for flights between 1 March and 31 December, 2020.

Show Me an Example…

If you fly on British Airways between London and Boston on the lowest possible fare – classes Q, O, G – you would normally earn 814 Alaska miles. For what it’s worth, you could also earn 814 Avios. You’d earn the same number of miles getting back home, for a measly 1,628 miles / Avios in total, for a return trip to the USA.

However, if you fly between 1 March and 31 December, 2020, you will earn 5,000 Alaska miles.  Plus another 5,000 miles for the return flight back to London! 10,000 miles in total…

Remind Me Which Airlines Partner With Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan?

List of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Global Partners

List of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Global Partners
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 Airline

Here is the landing page for this promotion if you want to check it out for yourself. It is short on details, which mostly likely means that there is no tiny print intended to scam you out of your bonus miles.

You MUST travel to/from North America though, so don’t blame me if you try to credit a London Gatwick to Amsterdam flight and don’t receive 5,000 miles…

Some Numbers…

Since we regularly promote those opportunities to buy miles from Alaska Airlines, it’s pretty easy to figure out the value of 10,000 miles –>  £160.  You won’t find it particularly hard to find low season fares on British Airways in the range of £250-300 for flights to the East Coast of North America.

If you wanted to show off to your friends and family, you could fly 4 times to New York for the weekend on really cheap fares… and earn nearly enough Alaska miles for a one-way award flight in Business Class to Hong Kong!

The Bottom Line

I am already a strong believer in the value of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, but this promotion just makes me say “wow”. I’ll certainly pay more attention to those BA fare sales, now that I can earn 10,000 Alaska miles for a fun weekend in the US…