The Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan buy miles bonus is back and this time we see them offering the higher 60% bonus. The bonus is tiered in that if you buy 3,000 to 19,000 miles you’ll get a 40% bonus, 20,000 to 39,000 you’ll get a 50% bonus and the 60% kicks in at the 40,000 mile level.
At 60% you’ll be buying Mileage Plan miles for as little as 1.85 US cents each. With the program making it relatively easy to redeem at over 2 cents per mile for premium class award flights this can be a really good deal.
The up to 60% bonus
Receive up to 60% Bonus Mileage Plan Miles when you buy or gift miles. Valid until Feb 28, 23 Click here to buy Alaska Airlines Miles
Buy 3,000-19,000 miles, get 40% more.
Buy 20,000-39,000 miles, get 50% more.
Buy 40,000-100,000 miles, get 60% more.
Does it make sense to buy Mileage Plan miles?
Yes in many cases it does! Those cases tend to be for premium cabin redemptions (business or first class) on Alaska’s partner airlines like JAL, Korean and Cathay Pacific. For example, here is a round trip business class flight between Vancouver and Seoul on Korean Air this November:
You can redeem 105,000 Mileage Plan miles + US$86.64 for these flights. If you had to buy all 105,000 miles it would cost you US$1951.12 as you could buy 65,000 miles for $1921.56 US to end up with 104,000 miles. You would then need to buy an additional 1,000 for $29.56:
Convert that to C$, add in the GST/HST on the miles purchase and then the fees on the redemption and you are looking at spending between C$2,800 – C$3,100 (price is dependent on which province you are in for GST/HST and what US$-C$ conversion rate you get). That’s a big purchase and a lot of money but when you compare it to the actual cost of the flight – it provides over $800 savings over the current price:
Definitely not for everyone but something to consider if you are in the market for this type of opportunity!