Huge news coming from MBNA (TD) today in that MBNA Rewards Points will soon have a conversion option to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan! As reported by 1s22s22p4 on RFD details are out now for those who still hold the now defunct MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard as to what will happen to their card. The notice alerts cardholders that their Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard will be converted to a MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard as of September 1, 2023. A separate notice alerts Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus Mastercards will be converted to MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus Mastercards.
UPDATE June 21, 2023: MBNA Rewards to Alaska Airlines conversion will be open to ALL cardholders pending final agreement
More importantly, also contained in the landing page of the conversion from Alaska to MBNA Rewards World Elite is the following:
Within the next year, you’ll also be able to redeem MBNA Rewards Points for Alaska Airlines Miles on a one-to-one basis (1 MBNA Rewards Point = 1 Alaska Airlines Mile), with the ability to earn up to 5 MBNA Rewards Points per dollar spent on eligible purchases‡. That could add up to a lot of Alaska Airlines Miles with this new redemption option!
This is huge news! MBNA will continue a partnership with Alaska Airlines in a conversion partner manner. That will make the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard move over to the Hybrid Credit Card category as it will have book your own travel options (via MBNA Rewards) and this option to convert points to miles. Firstly though we are trying to find out if this conversion option will only be available to those who had the Alaska card and move over to the MBNA Rewards World Elite or if this will be available to any and all holders of the card! Reading the announcement page leads me to believe it will be the latter but we have reached out to our contact at MBNA to confirm.
Based on all available information there are no other changes coming to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard other than this new conversion option to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. That means with the card’s earn rates of up to 5.5 points per dollar (5 points + 10% birthday bonus) and the published 1:1 conversion ratio to Mileage Plan, you have a card here that will earn up 5.5 Mileage Plan miles per dollar! That’s absolutely amazing! Despite recent changes to many award flight options, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan still remains as one of the best frequent flyer programs out there thanks to being a oneworld airline and decent redemption rates for airlines like JAL, Cathay Pacific, Korean Air and others.
Recommended reading: Guide to picking a Points Earning Machine
Wrapping it up
We’ll have further coverage of this news once we receive confirmation from MBNA if this new conversion option will be open to all cardholders. If it is, this card which already ranks as the 8th best card overall in Canada will move further up the ranks! Remember we even recently posted how it is one of the best cards to use at Loblaw grocery stores. We have long thought this card doesn’t get the attention it should and you can bet it will now if this news comes to fruition that the conversion option will be open to all cardholders.