In late 2022, Alaska Airlines and Lyft launched a partnership, allowing Mileage Plan members to earn miles for Lyft rides. Lyft has a few rewards partners, and you can only take advantage of one partnership at a time. That’s why it’s worth noting that this partnership has just been nicely improved, and Alaska may once again be the best partner to link with Lyft.
In this post:
Earn 2-3x Alaska miles per dollar spent with Lyft
It’s now possible to earn the following number of Alaska Mileage Plan miles for Lyft rides (previously, most types of rides earned 1x miles):
- Earn 3x Mileage Plan miles on airport rides and elevated Lyft rides, including Extra Comfort, Black, and Black SUV
- Earn 2x Mileage Plan miles on everyday Lyft rides, including Standard, Priority Pickup, and XL rides
This is only valid for rides within the United States and Canada, and there’s no cap on how many miles you can earn with this partnership. Miles should post within 24 hours of an eligible ride, and you only need to link your accounts once. Only the base fare is eligible to earn miles, and not taxes, fees, tolls, and tips.
Personally, I value Alaska miles at 1.5 cents each, so to me this is the equivalent of a 4.5% return when earning 3x miles, and a 3% return when earning 2x miles.
How to register for the Alaska & Lyft partnership
In order to participate in this partnership, you need to visit alaskalyft.com, and link your accounts. This should be an easy process, and requires signing into your Mileage Plan account and then signing into your Lyft account.
You’ll also want to make sure that Alaska Airlines is selected as your preferred Lyft partner. You can do this by:
- Opening the Lyft app and going to the “Rewards” menu
- From there you’ll want to scroll down to the “Travel Rewards” section, and then tap the “Select a Partner” button
- There you’ll want to make sure Alaska Mileage Plan is selected
Is this the best Lyft travel partnership?
Lyft only lets you earn miles or points with one travel partner at a time, so how does the improved Alaska partnership compare to other partnerships? Lyft also has partnerships with Bilt Rewards and Hilton Honors, so members can alternatively earn bonus rewards as follows:
- Bilt and Lyft have a partnership, offering 2x Bilt Rewards points per dollar spent on US Lyft rides, with no limit
- Hilton and Lyft have a partnership, offering 3x Hilton Honors points per dollar spent on US Lyft rides, on up to $10,000 of spending per year
Up until now, I’ve been using the Bilt partnership, since I’d rather earn 2x Bilt points than 1x Alaska miles or 3x Hilton points. However, with Alaska now offering 2-3x Alaska miles (and many of my Lyft rides being airport ones), I think it’s time to switch back to the Alaska partnership.
Take advantage of the Chase & Lyft partnership
Chase and Lyft have a partnership, whereby several cards offer bonus points on Lyft spending. Through September 30, 2027, the following Chase credit cards are offering bonus points on Lyft rides:
- The Chase Sapphire Reserve® (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- Sapphire Reserve for BusinessSM (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
- The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (review) offers 5x points on Lyft rides
To take advantage of this, just add your eligible Chase card to your Lyft profile, and use it to pay for rides. There’s no limit on how many bonus points you can earn, and this can be stacked with earning Alaska miles, Bilt points, or Hilton points.
Bottom line
Alaska Airlines and Lyft have improved their partnership. It’s now possible to earn 3x Alaska miles on premium and airport Lyft rides, and 2x Alaska miles on all other Lyft rides. If you’re anything like me in terms of how you value your rewards currencies, this once again makes Alaska Lyft’s most lucrative partner, assuming you do a fair number of airport or premium rides.
What do you make of the Alaska & Lyft partnership?
Good deal. Thanks for this. Will use it this week.
I currently send the points to Bilt, which I end up transferring to Alaska half the time anyway.
The extra point is worth it, especially considering how it covers basically all rides. Taking anything less than extra-comfort in Miami is risking your life with a horrific driver/leaving the car wreaking of weed or cigarettes.
You're completely right there.... I've said for years I really don't want my legacy to be that I died on the Palmetto in the back seat of a Nissan Sentra driven by someone screaming in Creole and driving 40mph down the middle lane. Yes, I had that Uber once.
They should partner with AA