Are the Alaska Cards Still Churnable?

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

*Note Bank of America’s new rule concerning amount of cards they will approve you for in a two, three, and 12 month period before attempting to open various Alaska cards*

The last couple days I’ve been wading through this entire Flyertalk thread–>Alaska Airlines card offers, Personal & Business, now 30k, as well as months back into the 2016 and prior version of the same (discontinued) thread, to get a sense of the state of churning Alaska cards. What I learned is that while there are still people churning the Alaska Airlines credit cards, it is with much less frequency than before and they’re following stricter rules than what used to stand.

Below I will go over the new best practices regarding management of the Alaska cards that will apply to most people. Of course, your situation could be different–you might get lucky–and perhaps get away with things others haven’t. But the following points are based on the majority of data points contributed by people like us on Flyertalk.

Brief Background

Bank of America issues two credit cards co-branded with Alaska Airlines, the:

• Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card
• Alaska Airlines Visa Business Card

Both come with 30k bonuses of Alaska miles. For years, people have been churning these two cards as an easy way of garnering lots of Alaska miles.

“Churnable”? Is that a made up word?

Why yes it is! In the world of miles and points, a churnable credit card is one you can get the same sign-up bonus from over and over.

New Best Practices When Applying For Alaska Cards

The first two best practices were outlined recently by Flyertalker sdsearch as a summary of practical advice taken from Alaska Airlines card offers, Personal & Business, now 30k. After reading that thread myself as well as back into 2016’s, I agree with sdsearch.

A. If you have a personal Alaska card already open, you will likely be denied for a second one.

This means you need to close your existing account before applying for another one. How much time is necessary between those two actions, I’m not sure, but it’s pretty clear from the majority of data points that Bank of America’s system will automatically deny you for a personal card if you have another personal card open.

This might also be the case with the business version of the card, but there are less data points about the business card so it’s hard to draw solid conclusions.

B. After you open an Alaska card, meet the minimum spending requirement, and all the bonus points/reward benefits post, lower the credit limit as much as possible. 

Considering point A, you will need to cancel your existing Alaska card (or downgrade to non-Alaska card) before applying for another. If you have a high credit limit on your Alaska card when canceling it, that credit will be “locked up” for a year or more, meaning you won’t have access to it for credit limits on future cards. To understand this you need to first understand that the amount of credit Bank of America will extend to you as a customer is a finite resource as the bank wants to limit their exposure.

But if you call Bank of America and request to lower your credit line, the subsequent “freed up” credit becomes available within some months (not sure exactly how long, but not as long as when you cancel a card without lowering the limit first).

That’s why reducing the credit limit as much and as quickly as possible after getting the card, rather then only when you’re about to cancel it, is a wise idea. It frees up your available credit more quickly and therefore you can apply for another card sooner.

Call the number on the back of your card for help reducing credit lines.

C. Do not apply for another card any less than 90 days after your prior application or it will very likely be denied.

We used to lightly warn that waiting 90 days between applications was wise, but now it seems you will almost certainly be denied for another Alaska card if you apply less than 90 days after your previous application, according to Million Mile Secrets.

D. Keep the amount of active Bank of America cards you have to no more than four. 

Doctor of Credit reported account closures at the end of January of people with more than four credit cards open. There are even more data points in the comments than what’s initially listed in the post.

Calling the Reconsideration Line

A quick aside–you should always consider calling the reconsideration line if your credit card application comes back as status pending. Many times they will just ask you the same questions that were on the original application and then approve you. Or if it’s more complicated than that, you’ll at least learn something from the call about how to better handle things if there’s a next time.

• Reconsider Phone # for the personal card: 1-800-354-0401
• Reconsider Phone # for the business card: 866-695-6598

The Dreaded Alaska Airlines Visa Platinum Switch-Up

There is another Alaska Airlines co-branded personal credit card aside from the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature called the Alaska Airlines Visa Platinum. Sometimes when applying for the signature card, Bank of America will (for whatever reason) approve you for the Platinum card instead which has a lower credit line and only a meager 5k bonus. Obviously not an ideal situation.

In case this happens to you, take Flyertalker Brugge’s advice as quoted below. But first, a glossary of terms as there is quite a bit of shorthand…

• Plat = Alaska Airlines Visa Platinum
• Sig = Alaska Airlines Visa Signature
• HP = Hard Pull, as in a hard credit inquiry
• CB = Credit Bureau
• Recon = Reconsideration phone line
• AS = Alaska Airlines

There is a lengthy and painstaking way to get your Plat card replaced with a Sig card, and get the full 25K [Sarah Page: now 30k] bonus. Not “upgraded”, once a card is issued, it can’t be upgraded, they have to open a new app for you from their side. If you look back thru the thread, I’ve given the full details on this. Be aware it will take at least 2 months to get the new card, and will involve another HP. So maybe just reapply, hope that due to the recent app it will go to pending, and Recon may very well approve you for a Sig. Then cancel the recent inferior card, it’s not worth the AF.

The way to get a Sig card, if you are instantly approved for a lessor card, is to just reapply the same day. Most likely that app will go to pending, or be denied as a mistaken “duplicate app”. Then you can call Recon, and get them to reopen the app, give you a Sig for your second app, and cancel the first one. All apps on the same day get combined, so your second, or third if necessary, will only register as one HP with the CB.

Don’t keep the lessor cards open, as lately AS is closing the accounts of people who get multiple AS cards the same day. Make sure they are canceled as soon as the Sig card is approved.

Also make sure you apply during weekday business hours, as B/A Recon is closed evenings and weekends, and if you have to call them a day later, you will end up with another HP.

Current Best Offers for the Alaska Cards

Applying through this link will get you the following offer on the Alaska Airline Visa Signature card:

• 30,000 Alaska miles for spending $1,000 on the card within three months of opening it
• $100 statement credit (also in return for meeting the minimum spending requirement)
• One Companion Fare with $0 base fare and only taxes; following the first year, ever year on your card anniversary you’ll get another Companion Fare for $99 + taxes
• Free checked bag on Alaska and Virgin America flights for you and up to six other passengers on the same reservation
• 3 Alaska miles for every dollar spent on Alaska Airlines or Virgin America purchases
• $75 annual fee (not waived the first year)

The Alaska Airlines Business Visa card hasn’t changed its offer for a while now.

• 30,000 Alaska miles for spending $1,000 on the card within three months of opening it
• Free checked bag on Alaska and Virgin America flights for you and up to six other passengers on the same reservation
• Companion Fare with $99 base fare + taxes, and following the first year, ever year on your card anniversary you’ll get another Bottom Line
• 3 Alaska miles for every dollar spent on Alaska Airlines or Virgin America purchases
• $75 annual fee (not waived the first year)

Neither has foreign transaction fees.

Bottom Line

It appears the Alaska Airlines credit cards issued by Bank of America are still churnable, albeit with much stricter guidelines for approval. The biggest takeway, I think, is that the majority of people are only getting away with having one personal Alaska Visa Signature card open at one time.

Please note this post is based off of others’ experiences and that I’m not a financial planner. Do your own due diligence before engaging in practices like churning yourself.

If you have applied for an Alaska Airlines credit card recently, please share your experience(s) in the comments for all of us to learn from.