Alaska Miles as Cheap as 1.97 Cents

MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.

Alaska Airlines’ newest miles sale offers miles as cheap as 1.97 cents each, which means Emirates First Class from the United States to Dubai for around $1,800 (or anywhere else in the world for around $2,000) or Cathay Pacific First and Business Class from the United States to Hong Kong and Johannesburg for around $1,400.

Until December 23, 2015, Alaska is offering an instant mystery bonus on miles purchases of 35% to 50% more miles. Sign in here to see the bonus you are offered.

I got the 50% bonus.

The sale is structured as a bonus on the normal number of miles you’d receive. The bonus is tiered, so the biggest 35-50% bonus comes from purchasing 40,000+ miles at the normal price of about 2.96 cents each after tax.

To buy 60,000 miles (40,000 + 20,000 bonus) during this sale costs me $1,182.50, which is 1.97 cents per mile. That’s tied for the cheapest I’ve seen Alaska miles.

If you got the 40% bonus, the cheapest you can buy miles is 2.11 cents. If you got the 35% bonus, you can buy miles for 2.19 cents.

I don’t think Alaska miles are even worth 1.97 cents each, but they are worth close to that, and if you have a specific redemption in mind, it isn’t hard to get more than 1.97-2.19 cents of value per mile.

• What are the best redemptions for Alaska miles?
• Does this miles purchase count as airfare or travel spending for category bonuses?
• How many miles can you buy during the promotion?

Airlines on which You Can Redeem Alaska Miles

Here are the Alaska partners on which you can redeem. (Alaska Airlines will let us redeem miles on Hainan Airlines starting in “early 2016,” and unfortunately AeroMexico redemptions are unavailable until further notice.)

Four Favorite Redemptions

Here are my four favorite redemptions with Alaska miles:

1. Emirates A380 First Class

Emirates First Class on an A380 costs 100,000 miles one way for two flights to Africa, Asia, or Europe.

Emirates First Class

Here is my review of Emirates First Class on the A380 from September 2015.

2. Cathay Pacific First Class

Cathay Pacific First Class costs 70,000 miles one way from the United States to Johannesburg with a free stopover in Hong Kong.

Here is my review of Cathay Pacific First Class.

3. Fiji Airways Business Class

You can fly from the United States to Fiji to New Zealand or Australia for only 55,000 Alaska miles one way in Business Class with a free stopover in Fiji.

4. AeroMexico Business Class

You can fly from the United States to Southern South America like Brazil or Argentina in AeroMexico Business Class for 45,000 Alaska miles one way. Try to get at least one segment on AeroMexico’s Dreamliner.

I flew two great flights in AeroMexico Business Class in October. Trip reports coming soon.

Alaska Airlines Award Routing Rules

Alaska Airlines is extremely generous allowing a stopover on one way awards, anywhere you’d like en route.

Here are the basics for redemptions of Alaska miles.

Logistics of Buying Alaska Miles

Unlike many miles sales when you are capped at how many miles you can buy, with Alaska miles sales, you can generally make several maximum purchases to get all the miles you need.

Remember that Alaska Airlines miles sales are handled through points.com, so they are not considered airfare or travel purchases for the purposes of earning a category bonus on your credit card.