Link: Apply now for the Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card
The Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card is a fantastic airline credit card. The card recently underwent a full refresh, and on top of that is offering an amazing limited time welcome bonus, making it the ideal time to apply for the card. That’s especially true when you consider how valuable Alaska Mileage Plan miles are.
In this post, I wanted to provide a detailed review of Alaska’s personal credit card, issued by Bank of America. If you don’t yet have the card, this is the time to apply.
In this post:
Alaska Airlines Visa Card welcome bonus
The Alaska Airlines Credit Card is offering the following limited time bonus to new cardmembers after spending $3,000 within the first 90 days:
- Earn 70,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles
- Earn an Alaska Airlines companion fare from $122 ($99 fare, plus taxes and fees starting at just $23)
Personally, I value Alaska miles at 1.7 cents each, meaning that the 70,000 bonus miles are worth $1,190 to me. That makes this one of the very best credit card bonuses out there. There are some amazing uses of Alaska Mileage Plan miles, and the miles are more than enough for a one-way first or business class ticket on a long haul itinerary in many markets.
Furthermore, that doesn’t account for the companion fare that you get as part of the welcome bonus, which can save you hundreds of dollars.
Alaska Airlines Visa Card eligibility requirements
The Alaska Airlines Credit Card is issued by Bank of America, so there are some general restrictions to be aware of:
- Bank of America will typically only approve you for two cards in a two month period, three cards in a 12 month period, and four cards in a 24 month period (this typically doesn’t include business cards)
- Per the terms, “this card will not be available to you if you currently have or have had the card in the preceding 24 month period”
- Eligibility for this card is unrelated to whether you have the business version of the card, so you can apply for both
Alaska Airlines Visa Card annual fee
The Alaska Airlines Credit Card has a reasonable $95 annual fee. At right under $100, that’s in line with the annual fees you’ll find on many co-branded airline credit cards. You can add authorized users to the card at no extra cost (and there’s a reason you may want to do so, as I’ll cover below).
Alaska Airlines Visa Card rewards structure
The Alaska Airlines Credit Card offers the following return on spending:
- 3x Mileage Plan miles for Alaska Airlines purchases
- 2x Mileage Plan miles on gas, local transit (including ride share), cable, and select streaming services
- 1x Mileage Plan miles for all other purchases
The card also has no foreign transaction fees, making it ideal for purchases abroad. The rewards structure was recently revamped, with some great new bonus categories. While this isn’t going to be the most lucrative card for all purchases, the reality is that Alaska Mileage Plan miles are otherwise hard to earn, as no major transferable points currency partners with Alaska Airlines.
Therefore if you want to earn Alaska Airlines miles for your credit card spending, this is a good option. Furthermore, as I’ll cover below, there’s an incentive to spend $6,000 per anniversary year on the card.
The card also offers a relationship bonus. If you have an eligible consumer Bank of America checking or savings account, you’ll receive a bonus equal to 10% of the miles you earn on each dollar spent. This is a way to earn even more rewards.
Alaska Airlines Visa Card companion fare
In addition to the companion fare offered as part of the welcome bonus, the Alaska Airlines Credit Card offers an annual companion fare when you spend $6,000 per anniversary year on the card. There didn’t used to be a spending requirement to earn this, so that is a negative change, but many will still find it to be worthwhile to spend $6,000 annually on the card to earn this.
The Alaska Airlines companion certificate is the single most valuable airline credit card companion ticket, in my opinion. You’ll pay $99 plus taxes and fees (which start at $23), so you’re looking at paying $122+ for your companion.
What makes this companion fare so exceptional is that it’s valid on all Alaska Airlines economy fares, you can use it for one-ways or roundtrips, the companion even earns miles and is eligible for upgrades, etc. You can also use it anywhere Alaska Airlines flies, from Hawaii, to Costa Rica, to Mexico.
See this post for everything you need to know about the Alaska Airlines companion fare. Even as someone who doesn’t fly Alaska Airlines that often, this is something I’ve consistently gotten good value from.
Alaska Airlines Visa Card first free checked bag
The Alaska Airlines Credit Card offers a free checked bag for you and up to six guests on the same reservation. In order to be eligible for this perk, you need to charge the cost of the ticket to your card. Another great thing is that authorized users on the card can also receive this benefit, as long as their ticket is purchased with the card.
This is a great benefit that could save you a lot of money — Alaska ordinarily charges $30 per checked bag, so that’s a savings of $60 per person roundtrip, if checking bags. If you fly Alaska fairly often but don’t have elite status, that alone could quickly more than justify the annual fee.
That free checked bag benefit for authorized users makes this a great card for families. You could add family members as authorized users, and then they could receive a free checked bag even when not traveling with you.
Alaska Airlines Visa Card priority boarding benefit
The Alaska Airlines Credit Card offers priority boarding for you and up to six guests on the same reservation. In order to be eligible for this perk, you need to charge the cost of the ticket to your card. Another great thing is that authorized users on the card can also receive this benefit, as long as their ticket is purchased with the card.
This is a valuable benefit that help you ensure that there’s space in the overhead bin for your bags. It’s also an awesome authorized user perk, so that you can share this benefit with family members.
Alaska Airlines Visa Card 20% inflight savings
The Alaska Airlines Credit Card offers 20% back on Alaska Airlines inflight purchases when paying with your card.
This applies for the purchase of food, beverages, and Wi-Fi onboard Alaska flights, and the statement credit should post to your account within seven days. There’s no limit to how often you can take advantage of this.
It’s worth specifically pointing out that while a few credit cards offer savings on inflight purchases, they almost always exclude Wi-Fi. So being able to get a discount even on Wi-Fi purchases is awesome.
Alaska Airlines Visa Card lounge discount benefit
If you’re looking to get an Alaska Lounge membership, the Alaska Airlines Credit Card offers $100 off an Alaska Lounge+ annual membership when you pay for the purchase with your card. An Alaska Lounge+ membership ordinarily costs $500-600 annually, and offers access to all Alaska Lounges, plus nearly 100 partner lounges around the world (including American Admirals Clubs).
Being able to get this lounge discount could prove to be a good value.
Looking for a business credit card?
If you’re eligible for business credit cards, I’d consider picking up the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card:
- The card has a welcome bonus of 70,000 Mileage Plan miles plus an Alaska Airlines companion fare from $122 as part of the welcome bonus after you meet the spend requirement of $4,000 within 90 days
- There are many reasons to get this card, from the first checked bag free, to the savings on flight purchases, to the ability to earn an annual companion fare
- Anecdotally the card is quite easy to be approved for, and you’re even eligible for the bonus if you’ve had the card before
- You could pick up both cards, take advantage of both welcome bonuses, and could also earn two companion certificates annually
Read a full review of the Alaska Airlines Business Card.
Bottom line
The Alaska Airlines Credit Card is one of the most valuable and underrated airline credit cards out there, in my opinion. This is a card that many people don’t have, and between the phenomenal limited-time welcome bonus and all the perks, now is the ideal time to apply.
If you want to learn more about or apply for the Alaska Airlines Credit Card, follow this link.
*RECONSIDER* - If you're considering this card because of the shopping points, I would not use this card. There have been so many transactions that I have carefully tracked that should have earned me over 10,000 points and I have never redeemed them. There is no direct way to get those points redeemed and I am always told a claim has been filed.... I NEVER see the points. Not worth the headache.
Sorry change "Chase" to "B of A" everywhere. Late here.
I have called Alaska and they promised to get back on a couple of things that aren't clear.
Do tickets purchased before the requirement to pay with the Chase card were announced still qualify for a free bag?
What about tickets purchased using funds from the Alaska wallet? What if the funds in the wallet came from the refund of a ticket that was purchased using the Chase card?
What if payment was not entirely,...
I have called Alaska and they promised to get back on a couple of things that aren't clear.
Do tickets purchased before the requirement to pay with the Chase card were announced still qualify for a free bag?
What about tickets purchased using funds from the Alaska wallet? What if the funds in the wallet came from the refund of a ticket that was purchased using the Chase card?
What if payment was not entirely, but only partially made using the Chase card?
What about the award tickets where only taxes and fees were paid using the Chase card?
We'll see if hear back and if so what the response is. I'm especially interested as to whether Alaska will make it that tickets purchased prior to the new rule don't qualify for free bags since I purchased a number of tickets using wallet funds for my college age kids each of whom has and paid the annual fee for their Chase credit card specifically because of this benefit.
Is BoA as picky in approving the Alaska credit cards as it is their own brand? The last time I applied for one of their credit cards I was denied because I do not have any other banking relationship with them.
Has anyone confirmed that simply paying the taxes on a ticket with the AS card qualifies for free bags and priority boarding, because paying for the actual fare with points would not constitute using the card for those benefits?
BoA representative confirms existing cardholders are grandfathered and will not have to spend the $6k to earn a companion.
Looks like the $6k requirement is def gonna be for new cardholders only and existing cardholders are grandfathered in. This is the relevant language I see:
"Including Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) on Alaska flights booked at alaskaair.com. Annual spend requirement may be required."
The "may be required" portion of the language indicates that some will have to spend, some won't.
Between my wife and I,...
Looks like the $6k requirement is def gonna be for new cardholders only and existing cardholders are grandfathered in. This is the relevant language I see:
"Including Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) on Alaska flights booked at alaskaair.com. Annual spend requirement may be required."
The "may be required" portion of the language indicates that some will have to spend, some won't.
Between my wife and I, we have 4 Alaska credit cards and enjoy the 4 companion passes per year. No way would we ever spend $24K across the 4 cards to get the companion passes, so looks like these are forever keepers now!
I got an email directly to me from Alaska listing the new card features and mine says I will get the Companion Pass every year and there is no spend requirement
Looks like the $6k requirement is def gonna be for new cardholders only and existing cardholders are grandfathered in. This is the relevant language I see:
"Including Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) on Alaska flights booked at alaskaair.com. Annual spend requirement may be required."
The "may be required" portion of the language indicates that some will have to spend, some won't.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/credit-card/companion-fare-benefits
Looks like the $6k requirement is def gonna be for new cardholders only and existing cardholders are grandfathered in. This is the relevant language I see:
"Including Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) on Alaska flights booked at alaskaair.com. Annual spend requirement may be required."
The "may be required" portion of the language indicates that some will have to spend, some won't.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/credit-card/companion-fare-benefits
Oh man...I thought the $6,000 in purchases to get the companion pass was just a rumor. Looks like I might have to cancel this one. Good run while it lasted.
Ben,
I don’t see the terms limiting bonus earning eligibility to 2 years. I’m copied and pasting the exact wording under “new account bonus miles and companion fare offer”. So May be this card is consider a new product so oriole who had earned the new account bonus within the last 2 years may be eligible to earn another bonus ?
New Account Bonus Miles and Companion Fare Offer. This one-time promotion is limited to...
Ben,
I don’t see the terms limiting bonus earning eligibility to 2 years. I’m copied and pasting the exact wording under “new account bonus miles and companion fare offer”. So May be this card is consider a new product so oriole who had earned the new account bonus within the last 2 years may be eligible to earn another bonus ?
New Account Bonus Miles and Companion Fare Offer. This one-time promotion is limited to customers opening a new account in response to this offer and will not apply to requests to convert existing accounts. Existing accounts are not eligible. Visa® cardholders who make any combination of purchase transactions totaling at least $3,000 (exclusive of any fees, including the annual fee, returns and adjustments) that post to the account within 90 days of the account open date will qualify for 70,000 bonus miles and a round-trip coach Companion Fare code on Alaska Airlines from $122 (USD) ($99 base fare plus taxes and fees, from $23 depending on your Alaska Airlines flight itinerary) when traveling with another passenger on a paid published coach airfare on the same itinerary, booked at the same time on alaskaair.com. Primary fare and Companion Fare must be purchased with your Alaska Airlines credit card. Limit 1 bonus miles and Companion Fare offer per new account. Cash Advances and Balance Transfers are not considered purchases and do not apply for purposes of this offer. Your account must be open with active charging privileges in order to receive this offer. Other advertised promotional bonus miles and Companion Fare offers can vary from this promotion and may not be substituted. The bonus miles and Companion Fare code will be credited to the primary cardholder's Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan™ account approximately within the first 2 billing cycles after qualifying. See Annual Companion Fare Benefit section for additional details. The value of this reward may constitute taxable income to you. You may be issued an Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 (or other appropriate form) that reflects the value of such reward. Please consult your tax advisor, as neither we, nor our affiliates, provide tax advice. You can view your Companion Fare terms and conditions by logging into your Mileage Plan account.
I have a question about the 24 month cooling off period, I called BoA today about this as I closed this same card in Nov '21, but they said I will get the bonus and just to read the T&C carefully. The offer should be as advertised. I went through the fine print online, but didn't come across any mention of the 24 months.
Can someone please paste the link here that mentions specifically the 24 month rule?
So how's Bank of America regarding matching offers? I of course was just approved for this card with the lesser offer literally a couple days ago. I have a gift for bad timing. lol
The second Alaska Airlines credit card touting post in a few hours?
Their referral rates must be excellent!
@ Never In Doubt -- The card was formally relaunched today, with all new benefits, a new annual fee, and a new welcome bonus. As I'm sure you can appreciate, it's important that content on the blog is accurate (especially about credit cards), hence the two posts today. I had to update the review post anyway to reflect the new benefits of the card.