At the beginning of the month, Alaska Airlines launched a promotion to receive elite qualifying miles (EQM) for paying with your Alaska Airlines Visa credit card. In case you missed it, here are the details.
The Promotion
Alaska Airlines is awarding 2,000 elite qualifying miles for every $10,000 spent on Alaska Airlines credit cards. On the surface, this doesn’t seem like much of a deal, especially compared to previous “swipe to elite status” promotions. Before Covid, Alaska Airlines never credited elite qualifying miles for credit card spend. During Covid, the airline launched two “swipe to elite status” promotions that were very lucrative. That was another day when airlines were hurting to fill their aircraft with paying passengers. This promotion runs from May 1 through November 30, 2023.
Is This A Good Deal
At first glance, the promotion doesn’t appear to pay off well. However, Alaska Airlines really doesn’t need to run any promotion at all since their aircraft are flying full with length standby lists at the gate. This promotion is aimed at those customers who may find themselves a little short of status qualification at the end of the year. For these people, this promotion can be a lifesaver. What Alaska Airlines fails to mention in the promo details is that there is no cap on this offer. I called customer care and I asked the agent that question. She said there is no cap so you can cycle through this program as many times as you want until the end of the promotion on November 30, 2023. Unlike previous promotions, if you have multiple Alaska Airlines Visa credit cards, the purchases made on those cards will pool for this bonus. Refer to the terms and conditions below.
You Must Register For This Promotion
To take part in this promotion, you must first register here. Even though the program ends on November 30th, your deadline to register is June 30, 2023. The promotion will allow your purchases prior to registration to count. If you register on May 31, your credit card purchases from May 1, 2023 will count. If you wait until the deadline of June 30 to register, your credit card purchases from June 1 will count.
Trust But Verify
Usually, Alaska Airlines will send you an email confirmation when you register for a promotion. Neither my wife nor I received any kind of acknowledgment from Alaska Airlines that we were registered. The webpage did tell me that I was registered after clicking on submit. I called Alaska Airlines customer care to verify that we were indeed registered, we were.
Terms and Conditions
What would a good promotion be without the usual page of terms and conditions? Please understand that these elite qualifying miles are exactly that. You will not be able to spend these miles for an award ticket. These elite qualifying miles are only to help you qualify for elite status if you are a little short. Here are the rest of the terms and conditions:
Improvements To The Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card
The earning rates and benefits of the Alaska Airlines Visa credit card improved with changes that went into effect earlier this year. You can read about those improvements here.
Final Thoughts
This promotion isn’t the best credit card spending offer but it will help the people it was designed to help, those that are close to an elite level at the end of the year. Remember that these miles are for elite qualifying only and they are not redeemable for award tickets. Alaska did make an improvement by allowing customers to pool credit card spending across multiple Alaska Airlines Visa credit cards. There is no cap on this offer so keep on spending. We’re getting a new roof on our house new week – “cha-ching”!
