Alaska Airlines overhauls Mileage Plan with milestone perks, new elite-earning options and upgrade updates

1 month ago 13

Alaska Airlines is planning a major overhaul to its Mileage Plan program for 2025.

Next year, Alaska will follow in the footsteps of many other U.S. carriers, allowing its members more ways to earn elite status even when they're not flying. It's also tweaking its upgrade policies and adding milestone perks that members will be able to select before, and between, reaching elite status tiers.

In an ode to hotel loyalty programs, the carrier is adding ways for Mileage Plan members to make progress toward status even during award travel. And, it will soon make it possible for customers to book itineraries featuring multiple partner carriers.

The just-announced charges will show up well before Alaska merges its loyalty program with that of Hawaiian Airlines, which the Seattle-based carrier officially acquired last month.

Altogether, there are plenty of changes Mileage Plan members will likely be happy about. What's more, there's no major devaluation to report here: Alaska is sticking with its award chart, something most U.S. airlines have long since ditched in favor of dynamic award pricing.

At the same time, customers should also expect plenty more changes to Alaska's loyalty program over the next year.

First wave in a series of changes

Alaska executives see this wave of loyalty program tweaks as the first in a series of changes expected over the coming months.

Alaska is ultimately planning one combined loyalty program that'll serve both it and Hawaiian Airlines, even as the two carriers remain separate customer-facing brands following last month's merger — albeit with a single parent company operating behind the scenes.

Expect additional announcements about what that Alaska-Hawaiian frequent flyer program will look like over the next six to nine months, said Brett Catlin, Alaska vice president of loyalty, alliances and sales.

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"There will be new, more innovative features," Catlin explained in an interview with TPG this week. "We're excited to share what that is in a few months."

In the meantime, though, Alaska decided to set in motion changes to its existing Mileage Plan program — changes that have been in the works, Catlin noted, for around two years.

"We haven't changed the program up much in 10 years," Catlin said, explaining Alaska's thinking. "We've offered great rewards, but they've also been pretty static in terms of what we offered."

Here's what to know about the changes you'll see to Mileage Plan in just a matter of months.

New ways to earn elite status

For starters, Alaska is making some adjustments to how members can earn elite status.

These aren't seismic changes: the carrier will still use Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs) as its tracking tool, and those miles will still be based on the actual distance of a flight.

Alaska isn't raising the qualification benchmarks for elite status, either.

As a reminder, those are:

MVP: 20,000 EQMs
MVP Gold: 40,000 EQMs
MVP Gold 75K: 75,000 EQMs
MVP Gold 100K: 100,000 EQMs

Here's where the changes come in. Next year, Alaska plans to introduce more avenues to earn status — without even stepping on a plane.

Expanding card spend EQMs

Starting on Jan. 1, 2025, cardholders with the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card will earn 1 EQM for every $3 spent, up to a total of 30,000 EQMs each year on qualified purchases.

The new EQM earning rate will also apply to the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card, a spokesperson for the carrier tells TPG.

That's a higher earning rate than the 4,000 EQMs cardholders can currently accrue for every $10,000 spent. And, EQM earnings on card spending is currently capped at a lower 20,000 EQMs annually.

Going forward, $60,000 charged to your Alaska card in a year would get you to 20,000 EQMs. That alone would get you to MVP status, and halfway to the MVP Gold tier.

Earning EQMs on award flights

Alaska will take a page out of hotel loyalty programs' playbook and start allowing passengers to earn EQMs on award flights.

Starting on Jan. 1, you'll earn the same number of EQMs on a Mileage Plan redemption that you would on a paid ticket.

The move is reminiscent of how major hotel loyalty programs allow guests to earn elite-qualifying nights even on award stays.

"Right now, guests are having to trade off, 'Do I get a revenue ticket or do I use my miles, particularly when they're thinking about status,'" Catlin said. "We don't want them to feel like by using their miles, they're missing out on something else."

Suffice to say, you won't earn standard Alaska miles on mileage redemptions, but you will accrue the EQMs. And, like on paid tickets, the number of EQMs will be based on the flight distance.

Partner award flights booked through Alaska, using Mileage Plan miles, will also be eligible to earn EQMs, including bonus EQMs for premium cabin tickets.

Those EQMs are expected to start posting to Mileage Plan accounts by spring 2025.

EQMs on non-air partners

Starting in 2025, Mileage Plan members will earn 1,000 EQMs for every 3,000 miles earned with Alaska's non-air partners, from Lyft to the airline's shopping portal and dining programs.

In contrast to steps that some airlines — such as Delta — have taken in recent years to thin out their elite ranks, Alaska executives said their analysis suggests these changes, overall, will likely lead to more MVP elite members. Whether that leads to more crowded upgrade queues or airport lounges is worth watching, but at a minimum, more casual Alaska flyers are likely to find value in these changes.

New milestone rewards

Alaska is following in the footsteps of several U.S. airline and hotel competitors by adding a list of loyalty perks customers can choose from upon hitting certain milestones — before reaching elite status, and in between elite status tiers.

Starting in 2025, Alaska will offer Mileage Plan members a chance to pick from a menu of perks when they hit milestones for EQMs.

Here are the options members will see:

10,000 EQMs

Pick one of the following:

750 bonus miles
Pre-order a complimentary meal for your flight
One complimentary Wi-Fi pass
Try MVP status for a trip
Earn double miles with non-air partners
Upgrade your next Avis car rental

30,000 EQMs

Pick one of the following:

2,500 bonus miles
$25 off a future Alaska flight
Four Wi-Fi passes
Try MVP Gold status for a trip
$100 off an Alaska Lounge membership

55,000 EQMs

Pick two of the following:

5,000 bonus miles
10,000 miles off a redemption from Extras, Alaska's future platform for travel experiences (think sporting events, concerts, activities and the like)
Gift MVP status for a trip
One complimentary Alaska Lounge day pass
Two upgrade certificates

85,000 EQMs

Pick two of the following:

15,000 bonus miles
25,000 miles off an Extras redemption
Two complimentary Alaska Lounge day passes
Two upgrade certificates
Gift MVP Gold status for a trip
Nominate someone for MVP status
Roll over 10,000 EQMs to the next year, helping you get a head start on elite status for the following year

New 100K choice benefits

As part of the updated perks menu, Alaska is also updating its 100K choice benefits for MVP Gold 100K status members.

These members will be able to pick one of the following options upon qualifying for top-tier status:

50,000 bonus miles
75,000 miles off an Extras redemption
Alaska Lounge+ membership
Complimentary Wi-Fi on every flight
Four upgrade certificates
Nominate someone for MVP Gold status

150K, 200K and 250K milestones:

Pick two of these perks:

15,000 bonus miles
25,000 miles off an Extras redemption
Two complimentary Alaska Lounge day passes
Two upgrade certificates
Roll over 10,000 EQMs to the following year

We'll be sure to share more about key terms and conditions for these perks as we learn them.

We should also note that Mileage Plan members will not earn EQMs in conjunction with bonus miles. So, if you were to select the 2,500 bonus miles upon hitting 30,000 EQMs, that wouldn't offer you an additional boost toward elite status.

This milestone perks setup is similar to what several U.S. airlines have begun to offer in recent years, including JetBlue's TrueBlue program, which allows members to select from a "Perks You Pick" menu after hitting as few as 10 of its Mosaic elite status tiles.

It's also reminiscent of how World of Hyatt members can earn perks like two lounge access certificates (or other alternative perks) after reaching the 20-night milestone in a year.

The idea here is to give loyalty members a taste of "elite" benefits (or higher-tier benefits) before actually reaching the required threshold.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Alaska is making no apologies here.

"We took a step back and said, 'Let's look at what our competitors have done. Let's borrow the best, so to speak,'" Catlin acknowledged.

Multi-carrier itineraries

In recent years, Alaska has been rapidly growing the number of seats aboard partner flights sold through its own booking channels.

But Alaska's systems haven't yet allowed customers to piece together multi-carrier itineraries.

For instance, if you were an Alaska loyalist and wanted to travel from Seattle to Doha, it might be helpful to be able to visit Alaskaair.com and book an itinerary that starts with a leg on Alaska from Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), with a seamless connection to Qatar for the long-haul portion of the trip.

Sometime this winter, Alaska's systems will finally make this possible.

Alaska will start offering multi-carrier itineraries within the next few months, Catlin said, beginning with Europe and then rolling out to other global destinations.

This should open up a wide range of booking opportunities for customers looking to stretch their Mileage Plan miles on a long-haul international trip.

Upgrade updates

As part of the changes unveiled Wednesday, Alaska is also tweaking a few of its upgrade policies.

Confirming upgrades

Alaska will begin alerting customers with an upgrade certificate when there's a confirmable upgrade available on their flight. Catlin said technical limitations have made the process, as it stands today, a bit of a hassle for customers.

More changes to this process are expected in the future as technology allows.

Companion upgrades expand to more elite members

MVP members' traveling companions flying on the same reservation will soon be available for complimentary space-available upgrades.

Until now, this benefit has been reserved for MVP Gold elites and above.

New upgrade prioritization

As for the upgrade waitlist, Alaska is making some tweaks starting in later 2025.

Within each elite tier, Alaska will prioritize million mile members for upgrades.

Beyond those members, the carrier will prioritize passengers based on how many EQMs they've earned.

So, a million miler MVP Gold 75K member would take priority over a MVP Gold 75K member who's not a million miler — but the latter passenger would be prioritized over an MVP million miler.

American Airlines AAdvantage elite status members flying on Alaska will continue to be prioritized based on fare class, and then by the date and time of booking, an Alaska spokesperson said.

Alaska does not offer reciprocal upgrade benefits to elite status members of other Oneworld Alliance partner airlines, beyond American.

What these changes mean for Mileage Plan members.

Generally speaking, these changes should be fairly well received by Mileage Plan members.

Alaska is adding more ways to earn elite status, and not making major subtractions to its perks — or significantly tightening its policies — as part of this revamp.

Most notably, Alaska plans to proceed, as of now, with its award chart that sets fixed domestic and short-haul redemptions on Alaska-operated flights, and its set of partner award charts just revamped in early 2024.

That's to say, the carrier did not make a major mileage devaluation or shift to dynamic award pricing with today's announcement, as many other U.S. airlines have.

At the same time, expect the program to evolve quite a bit over the next year as the company designs a loyalty program encompassing Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines; the carrier made clear, this set of changes was just the beginning.

Still, the changes unveiled this week, Catlin noted, should ultimately prove to be the foundation of that future loyalty program.

"This is very much a blueprint," he said. "The building blocks that we rolled out today, this will continue, in large part. The single loyalty program when we combine the Hawaiian Miles program, the Mileage Plan program, will build on this."

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Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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