Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are offering a unique status challenge for Mileage Plan members. While this promotion will only be useful for a niche group, it could represent a pretty good deal should it fit into your travel plans.
Complete A Roundtrip Flight Between the United States and Sydney or Auckland to Earn MVP Status
Earning the status through this challenge is quite simple, as long as you’re willing to fly halfway around the world. All you have to do is book and complete a roundtrip flight between the continental United States (excluding Hawaii) by December 31, 2025 and you’ll earn Alaska MVP (OneWorld Ruby) status through the end of 2026.
This offer is valid on travel throughout 2025 and the status will be awarded shortly after completing the flights. Potentially, you can earn MVP status for 20 months as part of this promotion. As always, there’s some fine print associated with this offer, though it seems to be fairly reasonable.
Alaska, via its sister airline Hawaiian, serves Sydney 5x weekly from its hub in Honolulu and Auckland 3x weekly. All flights are operated by Hawaiian Airlines on Airbus A330 aircraft. Flights between the continental U.S. and Honolulu can be on Alaska or Hawaiian aircraft.
This Unique Status Challenge Won’t be for Everyone
Unless you’re located in an Alaska Airlines hub or one of the cities served by Hawaiian Airlines directly, this status challenge probably isn’t for you. Being Austin based I have easy, one stop options to Sydney and Auckland thanks to American Airlines’ partnership with Qantas and United’s partnership with Air New Zealand.
Now, with Hawaiian eliminating nonstop service between Austin and Honolulu, I’d be looking at minimum two-stop routing. Everything else being equal, OneWorld Ruby status isn’t enough to entice me to book with Alaska over other carriers.
However, if you’re already planning travel from the west coast to Oceania, it may be worth giving this a look. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Alaska offer some niche status challenge opportunities but it’s certainly a generous one with minimal work required.
Summary
Alaska Airlines is offering a unique status challenge for travelers headed to Auckland and Sydney. By booking and completing one round-trip flight between the continental United States and Oceania in 2025, members will earn Mileage Plan MVP status through the end of 2026.
