Alaska Airlines announced major changes to its Mileage Plan loyalty program. The changes (Alaska calls them enhancements), which will go into effect in January 2025, include new milestones beyond existing status tiers and includes new ways to earn miles. These come after the airline officially merged with Hawaiian Airlines. But, as always, the devil is in the details. We’ll go through the changes to the program in depth below.
Alaska Adds Milestones and Perks Between Status Tiers
On the surface, the most notable change is the addition of milestones between existing status tiers. Currently, Alaska has four published status tiers; MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K. Beginning in 2025, the carrier will add milestones before, between, and beyond each of the published tiers.
As you can see from the graphic above, Mileage Plan members will hit the first milestone halfway to MVP status. This will give members a taste of the airline’s elite perks early and hopefully keep them engaged in the program. The 10K milestone will offer a choice of one of the following options:
- 750 bonus miles
- The ability to pre-order a complimentary meal for your flight
- One complimentary Wi-Fi pass
- MVP status for a trip
- Earn double miles with non-air partners
- Upgrade your next Avis rental
While these aren’t any major perks, it is a nice recognition for passengers climbing to the MVP tier.
As expected, the more points you earn, the better the perks get. The top-tier milestone, earned at 250K points will allow members to choose from two of the following perks:
- 15,000 bonus miles
- 25,000 off an Extras* redemption
- Two complimentary Lounge passes
- Two upgrade certificates
- 10,000 elite-qualifying miles rolled over
*For reference, Alaska will be launching an experiences marketplace in 2025 where passengers can redeem miles for exclusive experiences and event tickets.
The full list of milestone perks can be found here.
Overall, this is a great change for Alaska frequent flyers as it rewards them early and more often. It also gives them incentive to continue earning with the carrier well past the MVP Gold 100K threshold.
More Ways to Earn Mileage Plus Miles
Alaska is also making changes to how Mileage Plan members earn miles. Starting in 2025, a few big changes will go into place. Some of these are fairly standard among loyalty programs while there is one that will blow you away.
Earn Status via Credit Card Spend
As we’ve seen with many other airlines, Alaska is looking to incentivize loyalty members to spend on its cobranded credit cards. Starting January 1, 2025, members will earn one elite-qualifying mile for every $3 spent on purchases, up to 30,000 elite-qualifying miles.
This isn’t exactly a game changing development as one would need to spend $90,000 on a cobranded Alaska credit card in order to hit the 30,000 mile limit, good enough for MVP status and the additional 30K milestone.
Mileage Plan Partner Earnings
Also not unique to Alaska, Mileage Plan members can earn 1,000 elite-qualifying miles for every 3,000 redeemable miles earned via the airline’s partners. There are some limitations to earning, things like Bilt transfers aren’t included, but the airline’s dining and shopping portals along with Lyft rides all qualify.
All Award Flights Count Towards Elite Status
In what may be the most exciting development for points and miles enthusiasts, Alaska will now count all award flights towards elite status. This is for travel on Alaska and all of its partners. Mileage Plan members will receive one elite-qualifying mile for each mile flown on award bookings. This applies to all of the airlines partners, making the earnings universal whether you’re flying Qatar or Porter.
Passengers traveling in a premium cabin will earn 250% of the distance flown on all Business Class fares with all of the airline’s partners.
This is a major, positive change for those folks with a large stash of Alaska miles, especially when redeeming for long-haul Business Class on partner carriers. You can find out more about earning and redeeming Alaska Mileage Plan miles here.
Downside of the Changes
While most of the items outlined above sound great to travelers, an overhaul on this scale doesn’t come without a cost. The greatest impact will be to Mileage Plan members trying to credit partner flights to the program.
Starting on January 1, 2025, Alaska will dramatically reduce the miles earned across all cabins when tickets are booked via a partner airline’s website. This shouldn’t be all that surprising as Alaska has invested heavily in allowing passengers to book partner travel via its website. This is something worth considering when planning out your elite status strategy for 2025
One interesting item of note that has been flagged by other travel blogs and individuals on social media is the fact that Alaska agreed to some conditions as part of the Hawaiian merger. One of these was the fact that the carrier could not devalue miles. While minor in the grand scheme of things, it will be interesting to see if the Department of Transportation (DOT) has any input on the matter.
Summary
Alaska Airlines is making major changes to its Mileage Plus loyalty program. For the most part, these changes should be net positives for members of the program and Alaska frequent flyers. While some of the changes are standard across the industry, the ability to earn miles on award flights based on the distance flown could be a major perk for many people. On the other hand, there is a change coming to earnings when crediting flights from partner airlines that some may not like.
Ultimately, I believe that the changes are a net positive and helps the carrier continue to set itself apart with its loyalty program.
