The best airline program in the U.S.

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Good morning, y’all.

I’ve been having an amazing year with Alaska’s new loyalty program. And since the last time I told you about it, some of the new features have been launched.

So today, I want to tell you about why this program is so amazing, and why I think it’s the best program in the country for frequent and non-frequent flyers alike:

• ⭐️ New milestone rewards

• 🥂 Elite status perks

• ✈️ How to earn miles and EQMs

• 🌎 Alaska redemption sweet spots

• ✅ Overview and summary

⭐️ Alaska’s new milestone rewards

As I said, I’ve been engaging heavily with Alaska’s program this year.

However, one of my favorite aspects of its new program is the Milestone Rewards, which were announced last year and are now fully live on Alaska’s website.

Basically, you’ll be rewarded with nice little gifts for racking up Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) with Alaska (more on that later).

These rewards start at just 10,000 EQMs and include things like lounge passes, upgrade certificates, and my personal favorite — miles. 😎

So far, I’ve already selected my milestone rewards for the 10k, 30k, 55k, and 85k tiers.

The best part is that for the tiers that allow two choices (55k, 85k, 150k, 200k, and 250k), you can choose the same option twice. 👀

That means that if you choose Alaska miles for every milestone, you can rack up as many as 183,250 miles every year just from this method!

But the other nice part about racking up tons of EQMs is, of course, earning elite status.

🥂 Elite status perks

And that has been insanely valuable for me this year… I’ve been Alaska Gold 75k since early January and will hit 100k soon.

Both of these tiers come with Oneworld Emerald status, which has given me amazing perks when traveling around the world.

For example, I’ve enjoyed some amazing lounges like Qatar’s business-class lounge in Doha and my personal favorite — Cathay Pacific’s first-class “The Pier” lounge in Hong Kong, all when flying in economy.

But I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the benefits when flying on American Airlines.

If you have Alaska elite status, you not only get access to AA Admirals Clubs when flying on AA, but even complimentary first-class upgrades on AA. 😮

And in the four times I’ve flown with AA since earning Alaska status, I’ve been upgraded every single time. 

It’s freaking awesome.

Finally, you can link your Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines accounts to get some reciprocal benefits.

I personally did this a couple of months ago and got some first-class upgrade certificates from Hawaiian, which will allow me to check out Hawaiian’s epic business-class suites later this year:

Okay, so this is all well and good, but this all requires earning EQMs in the first place…

✈️ How to rack up EQMs with Alaska

Something that makes Alaska stand out from the pack is the numerous ways that you can earn EQMs and, therefore, elite status.

In fact, you never have to spend a single cent on flights and never have to spend a minute on an Alaska flight.

That’s because you can rack up EQMs by flying on partner airlines and even booking award flights. 👇

That’s right, folks — when you redeem Alaska miles for flights on any partner airline (or Alaska itself), you’ll earn one EQM per mile flown.

Next month, I’ll be flying this route on Qatar Airways from Luanda, Angola (LAD) to Islamabad, Pakistan (ISB), which I booked for 30,000 Alaska miles:

In addition to saving a ton of money on flights, I’ll also earn 4,890 EQMs, which will put me over the threshold to earn Alaska Gold 100k status… which comes with a status gift of 50,000 more Alaska miles. 😏

The value is just… crazy.

Alaska also gives you more EQMs for booking flights directly through its site. For example, last month, I booked a flight from Malta (MLA) to Toronto (YYZ) via Dublin (DUB) for just $210. 👇

This is already a ridiculously good deal. But because I booked it through Alaska’s site, I also earned the following:

• 4,853 EQMs

• 9,706 Alaska miles (because of my 100% elite bonus)

And speaking of great redemptions…

🌏 Alaska has some of the best mileage sweet spots out there

All of these perks, benefits, status, etc., are amazing… but to be honest, it wouldn’t mean much if the currency you earn wasn’t valuable.

Thankfully, Alaska miles, in my humble opinion, are the most valuable miles out there right now. And I’ll tell you why.

For starters, you can use Alaska miles to fly around the U.S. on American Airlines for as few as 4,500 miles.

I’ve personally done this twice this year with flights between New York (LGA) and Toronto (YYZ):

I’m also planning a trip around Oceania in a few months and have found Alaska miles to be CRUCIAL to that trip.

For example, you can fly regional flights in Oceania for just 7,500 miles in economy or 15,000 miles in business class, which is exactly what I booked from Auckland, New Zealand (AKL) to Nadi, Fiji (NAN) in Fiji Airways’ lie-flat business class. 👇

Y’all know me - I LOVE it when my points and miles get me to unique corners of the world, so the fact that Alaska has so many partners AND solid redemption rates really appeals to me.

✅ Overview

Okay, I know this has been a lot to follow, but let me summarize why I love this program so much:

• ✅ Ability to earn status without spending money or flying on Alaska

• ✅ Milestone rewards that are… rewarding

• ✅ Ability to earn EQMs from partners and credit card spend

• ✅ Amazing benefits on Alaska, American, Qatar, Cathay, and other airlines

• ✅ Great list of partner airlines (both Oneworld and non-alliance)

• ✅ Some of the best redemption rates out there

• ✅ Free stopovers on award flights

What more can you ask for?

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This was a proper doozy of a newsletter… But I hope you enjoyed this breakdown of all things Alaska, and I’ll see you next time!

Cheers,

52°22'35.4"N 52°15'17.4"W

Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within this post.