Even if you never plan to set foot on an Alaska Airlines plane, savvy travelers would be wise to earn the Seattle-based airline’s miles. No matter where you want to go, Alaska Mileage Plan miles are among the most valuable in the entire world of points and miles.
For years, earning a meaningful amount of them has been hard: You could earn them flying with Alaska, by using their credit card, and … that was it. The airline’s recent merger with Hawaiian Airlines has opened several new avenues to earn a ton of Alaska miles quickly. But a few of these opportunities won’t last for long – you’ll need to strike while the iron is hot.
Here’s everything you need to know about taking advantage of this points and miles-earning sweet spot while you still can.
Transfer Amex Membership Rewards Points (For a Limited Time)
There’s one big reason why Alaska miles have been much harder to earn: Unlike most other major U.S. airlines, they didn’t partner with any of the major bank programs like American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Capital One miles, or even Citi ThankYou points. They still don’t.
… at least not directly. But the airline’s merger with Hawaiian has opened a backdoor way to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian, and then over to Alaska. If you’ve got points from cards like the *amex gold* or *amex platinum*, you’re set. This is a golden opportunity, and arguably the best way to get ultra-valuable Alaska miles easily … but it won’t last much longer.
Since Hawaiian Airlines is a 1:1 transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards (meaning 1,000 Amex points gets you 1,000 Hawaiian miles), you can temporarily transfer Amex points to Hawaiian. Once those miles are in your Hawaiian account, you can instantly turn them into Alaska Mileage Plan miles by linking your accounts and transferring miles between the two programs.
One thing to note: Since Hawaiian is a U.S. airline, you’ll be on the hook to pay a small fee – $0.06 cents per point, capped at $99. For example, transferring 45,000 points from Amex to Hawaiian would incur a fee of $27 (or 5,400 points). That’s a small price to pay for turning Amex points into valuable Alaska miles.
Read More: Now Live: Transfer Points Between Alaska & Hawaiian!
Here’s the kicker: At some point in mid-2025, Hawaiian and Alaska plan to form a single loyalty program. When this happens, the HawaiianMiles program will be discontinued. And that means the option to transfer Amex points to Hawiiaan (and then Alaska) will almost certainly disappear.
While we don’t know exactly when the loyalty programs merge, we know it will happen in the next few months. So if you’ve got Amex points and want to turn them into Alaska miles, you’ve got a short window to make it happen. Just know, as good of an opportunity as this is, it rarely makes sense to speculatively transfer points without a specific use in mind.
That said, this could be an exception.
Earn Points on the Hawaiian Cards (for a Limited Time)
With Alaska and Hawaiian planning to form a single loyalty program by midyear, the Hawaiian Airlines co-branded credit cards aren’t long for this world. But for the time being, you can open one (or both) of the airline’s co-branded credit cards and earn up to 120,000 additional miles.
It starts with the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard®, which comes with a 70,000-mile bonus for spending $2,000 in the first 90 days. The card has an $99 annual fee, which isn’t waived for the first year. That, again, is a small price to pay for 70,000 Hawaiian Alaska Miles.
You can even get the same 70,000-mile bonus offer with a spending requirement of just $1,000 in the first 90 days by using this link. However, you’ll need a valid six-digit promotional code (like the one pictured below) to take advantage.
Are you eligible to open a small business card? You can also get the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Business Mastercard®, which comes with a 50,000-mile bonus after spending $4,000 and paying the $99 annual fee within the first 90 days of card membership.
Related reading: You Might Be Eligible for Business Credit Cards & Not Know It
Hawaiian Credit Cards Unlock Points Pooling for Alaska Miles
Combining airline miles with another traveler might seem like a good strategy … but in practice, it’s rarely worth it. Most airlines, including Alaska, charge hefty fees to transfer miles from one traveler to another.
Yet Alaska and Hawaiian’s merger has created a workaround to pool miles without paying any extra fee.
Hawaiian gives you the option to “Share Miles,” allowing any HawaiianMiles member to give miles to a Hawaiian Airlines co-branded credit and debit cardholders at no cost. Once you’ve done that, you can then move into your Alaska account.
If you tried to combine miles between accounts with Alaska directly, you’d be on the hook for a $25 service fee plus a charge of $10 per 1,000 miles transferred. Do the math, and using Hawaiian Airlines to move your miles around can pay dividends – in a hurry!
To use Hawaiian’s Share Miles functionality free of charge, you’ll need the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® or a Bankoh Hawaiian Airlines® Visa® Debit Card. Without one of those, you’ll be subject to nearly identical fees to what Alaska charges and moving miles around likely won’t be worth the cost.
But if you’re in two-player mode, getting the Hawaiian cards, potentially an Alaska card, and pooling all of the miles into one account will make them much easier to use when it comes time to redeem for a free trip. But this likely won’t be an option once these Hawaiian cards are off the market.
Read More: A Sneaky Way to Pool Your Alaska Miles … For Free!
Earn Points on the Alaska Cards
In addition to the Hawaiian cards, Alaska issues a few co-branded credit cards – plus, a new premium credit card coming later this year. However, unlike the Hawaiian cards, this opportunity to earn Alaska miles isn’t going to disappear anytime soon.
With the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® Card, you can currently earn 70,000 bonus Alaska miles and Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare
(paying a $99 fare plus taxes and fees, from $23) after spending $3,000 or more within the first 90 days. The card has a $95 annual fee.
Alaska also offers the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Card, which allows you to earn another 70,000 miles after spending $4,000 in the first 90 days of card membership. The card has a low annual fee of $70 for the company and $25 per card.
If you’re keeping score at home, that means you could get the Hawaiian and Alaska personal cards, meet the spending requirements, and pay the annual fees, and you’ll have more than 140,000 miles to redeem with Alaska.
Read More: How to Quickly Earn 140K Alaska Miles (& Why You Should)
Transfer From Bilt Rewards
Last but not least, Alaska Airlines is now a transfer partner of Bilt Rewards. That means if you’ve got points from the *Bilt Mastercard*, or from making your rent payment with Bilt, you can send those to Alaska at a ratio of 1:1 – meaning 1 Bilt point equals 1 Alaska mile.
Like the Alaska cards, this opportunity to earn Alaska miles isn’t going away anytime soon. But it’s a good one to keep in mind to keep adding toy our stash of ultra-valuable Alaska miles.
Read More: A Master Guide to Bilt’s Transfer Partners
What Can You Do with Alaska Miles?
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles are some of the most valuable on the planet thanks to low award rates booking partner airlines like Japan Airlines, Aer Lingus, and more. Whether you want to fly within the U.S., abroad to Europe, or even book lie-flat seats to far-flung destinations in Asia and beyond.
This is just the start – check out our full list of the best Alaska Mileage Plan sweet spots!
Business Class to Europe from 45K
Perhaps the best example is using Alaska miles to book lie-flat, business class seats to Europe.
You can fly in a lie-flat, business class seats on Aer Lingus to Ireland and other destinations in Europe for just 45,000 Alaska miles + $19 in taxes and fees one-way.
Plus, you can stop in Dublin for a taste of Guinness straight from the source on your way to another European destination. Sometimes, adding a connection can even result in paying fewer miles for your trip.
Aer Lingus flies from several North American gateways, including Boston (BOS), Los Angeles (LAX), Las Vegas (LAS), Minneapolis (MSP), Miami (MIA), Newark (EWR), New York City (JFK), Orlando (MCO), Philadelphia (PHL), Seattle (SEA), San Francisco (SFO), Toronto (YYZ), and Washington D.C.-Dulles (IAD).
Read next: 5 Things I Loved Flying Aer Lingus Business Class (& 2 I Didn’t)
But Aer Lingus isn’t the only option for getting to Europe in style. If you ask us, Condor business class is criminally underrated and one of our favorite ways to get to Europe – especially without paying the huge surcharges you’d face flying other carriers like British Airways.
From East Coast cities like Boston (BOS) and New York City (JFK) as well as Toronto (YYZ), it’ll cost you just 55,000 miles to get to Frankfurt (FRA) in a lie-flat seat. Even longer flights from Miami (MIA) cost the same amount.
That’s right: Just 55,000 Alaska miles one-way for a brand new Condor business class seat across the pond. And unlike many other airlines on the list of Alaska Mileage Plan sweet spots, finding the award availability to book Condor business class is typically quite easy.
Starlux Business Class for 75K
Using Alaska miles to book a business class flight with the new, Taiwan-based Starlux Airlines is one of the best deals to get from the West Coast to Taipei (TPE) and other destinations in Asia. A one-way, business class flight from San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), Los Angeles (LAX), or Ontario (ONT) to Taipei on Starlux is still just 75,000 miles each way.
Finding the award availability needed to actually book can be hit-or-miss, but his is an unbelievable deal to get to Asia in business class. Considering these flights typically cost $3,000 (or more) one-way, 75,000 Alaska miles is bargain by comparison.
Short-Haul U.S. Flights from 4.5K Miles
Alaska previously had an award chart for flights within North America (typically on either Alaska Airlines itself or American Airlines). Now, it’s been rebranded as the “Americas” – including North America as well as both Central America and South America.
The longer the flight, the more miles it may cost you. That’s not a major change from how Alaska previously priced these awards. But the amount you’ll pay for those flights has changed.
Other than lumping in flights to, from, or within Central and South America into this same pricing rubric, the big change is that the shortest flights now cost fewer miles: as low as 4,500 miles in economy and 9,000 in first class for flights under 700 miles in distance. Under the old system, those same flights used to cost at least 5,000 miles and 17,500 miles, respectively.
Here’s a look at a short flight from Phoenix (PHX) to Las Vegas (LAS) as an example.
When these short flights are looking expensive, being able to turn to your Alaska miles to book for less is always a great workaround.
Read next: How to Find & Book the Best Alaska Airlines Miles Deals
Bottom Line
Alaska Airlines miles are absolutely worth earning and there’s never been a better time to earn a ton of them (in a hurry) than now. But the days of this current sweet spot are numbered.
Featured image courtesy of Alaska Airlines
