Questions and Answers

One of the bonuses of obtaining elite status on Alaska is earning elite bonus miles (50% bonus mvp, 100% bonus gold & 125% bonus gold 75K). I was wondering if elites earn these bonus miles when traveling on Alaska partners and crediting the flight to their Alaska account? For example F class on BA earns 100% base miles, 200% class of service miles and 200% additional bonus for Alaska account holders crediting to their Alaska accounts. Would I get an additional 50% bonus for my Alaska MVP status on top of these?

Ordinarily, I would think not. However, a footnote on the Alaska elite bonus earning page has me wondering. It says “Elite bonuses are applied to base mileage earned only. Elite bonus flight miles do not count toward future elite status qualification. Travel on our regional partners PenAir and Ravn does not earn elite bonus miles.” Why specifically mention pnly PenAir and Ravin if elite bonus miles were not meant to apply to any of Alaska’s other partners? When I tried to ask an Alaska MVP customer service representative, he didn’t seem to be able to understand the question. Anyone out there have an answer? It may help me decide who to fly with for my spring vacation next year. As always, your help is greatly appreciated.

Have you checked wheretocredit.com? That’s one of the first places I go to check for things like this.

Hey [USER=3327]@Steve from LA[/USER], like with many things Alaska, the answer is “it depends”.

Each partner has different earnings rates and rules, and those are listed on the sub-page for each partner on alaskaair.com. So for British Airways, the rule is:

[I]”Base miles earned and class of service bonuses on British Airways count toward Mileage Plan elite status.”[/I]

A one-way from LAX to LHR is roughly 5,450 miles, so you’d earn:
[INDENT]Base miles: 5,450 (100% of flown miles)
Class of service bonus: 10,900 (200% class of service bonus)[/INDENT]

Those ~16,350 miles would also count towards mileage plan elite status.

Separately from that, you’d earn:
[INDENT]Additional BA bonus: 10,900 (200% bonus)
Any applicable MileagePlan Elite bonus miles: 2,725 – 6,812 (50% for MVP, 100% for MVP Gold, 125% for MVP Gold 75k)
[/INDENT]
These are redeemable miles only, which is still awesome!

Thanks MidSouth Skier that looks like a handy site.

Big thanks Tiffany. You answered the question that left the Alaska rep dumbfounded. I was hoping it worked that way. So basically there is an extra 300% bonus that doesn’t count towards status on BA first class flights if you are an MVP Gold. I’ll take it!

Alaska changed their policy on earning status and miles with paid partner flights a few years ago. I think it was around the time they ended their partnership with Delta.

It used to be the miles didn’t qualify for status, but now they do and a transatlantic flight is a great way to rack up a ton of Alaska miles.

Unfortunately redeeming Alaska miles on partner airlines is still hugely limited since they only can book saver level awards on partners.