Buy Alaska Miles with 40% Bonus to Book One of My Favorite Five Redemptions

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Until March 31, 2016, you can buy 56,000 or more Alaska Airlines miles for 2.11 cents each.

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

To buy 56,000 miles (40,000 + 16,000 bonus) during this sale costs $1,182.50, which is 2.11 cents per mile. This is not the best sale we’ve seen. Last year, we saw Alaska miles on sale for 1.97 cents each, but 2.11 cents each is the normal sale price.

I don’t think Alaska miles are worth 2.11 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 2.11 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. (Except AeroMexico is “unavailable until further notice” and Hainan “will be available for booking in early 2016.”)

Five Favorite Redemptions

Here are my five 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. This is my favorite First Class in the world.

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.

Here is my review of AeroMexico Business Class on the Dreamliner.

AeroMexico awards have been unavailable since October 2015. Hopefully they come back soon.

5. Icelandair with Stopover

You can fly from the United States to Europe with a stopover in Iceland for as long as you’d like for 27,500 Alaska miles in economy and 55,000 miles in Business Class.

There are not many good options to Iceland with miles, and this is the best even though there are small fuel surcharges on the award.

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.