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Between now and 31st October 2020, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is offering a targeted bonus on miles purchases. Different accounts may see different bonuses, so you’ll have to log in to your Mileage Plan account to discover your own personal bonus…

My account received a 60% bonus offer, structured in this manner:

• Buy 3,000 – 39,000 miles, get a 50% bonus
• Buy 40,000 – 100,000 miles, get a 60% bonus

 

If you buy 40,000 miles with a 60% bonus, you’ll receive 64,000 miles. This would cost you $1,100 (£850). That works out at about 1.33p per Alaska Mile, which is the lowest price my account has ever been targeted with.

If you bought miles earlier in the year, you may even be able to access a higher 70% bonus, which is incredible. That would work out at a cost of about 1.25p per mile!

But I Don’t Want to Fly to Alaska!

That’s not the idea – most of us are members of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan in order to spend those miles on partner rewards.

The best deal for Europeans is still Cathay Pacific Business Class. For 42,500 miles each way, you can fly to/from Hong Kong (but you cannot connect onwards in Asia without paying for a separate reward).

First Class will cost you 70,000 miles each way, which is also the price for one-ways in First Class between North America and Asia on Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.

And if you are a travel hacker at heart, you can manage to take great advantage of Alaska’s policy to allow stopovers on one-way rewards. Regular readers will know that InsideFlyer UK has highlighted many of the better sweetspots over the years…

Bottom line

Of course, it may not be quite the time to be buying miles. It may still be awhile yet before travel returns to “normal”. But it’s worth logging in to your Alaska account and seeing what bonus you’ve been targeted for.

Terms

• Transactions must be completed between 6:00 AM PST October 5, 2020 and 11:59 PM PST October 31, 2020 to be eligible for bonus miles.
• This is an exclusive, non-transferable offer for the intended recipient only and may not be forwarded.
• Miles are purchased from Points.com Inc. for a cost of $27.50 per 1,000 miles, plus GST/HST for Canadian residents.
• Miles are non-refundable and do not count toward MVP and MVP/Gold status.
• You may purchase and gift Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles in increments of 1,000 miles up to 60,000 miles, and in increments of 5,000 miles up to a maximum of 100,000 miles per transaction.
• MVP, MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75K Mileage Plan member (Elite Member) accounts have no annual limit on the number of miles which may be purchased or gifted through Points.com. If you are not an Elite Member, your account may only be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles acquired through Points.com in a calendar year, whether purchased by you or gifted to you.
• Offer is subject to change and all terms and conditions of the Mileage Plan Program apply.