Alaska Airlines Miles are among the most valuable, and it’s not easy to earn them outside the USA or in India. However, there are opportunities to earn Alaska Airlines Miles. You can earn Alaska Airlines miles in India or outside the USA in a few ways.
Why would you want to earn Alaska Airlines miles?
Alaska Airlines has a distance-based fixed award chart, and there are sweet spots that are hard to ignore. It has decent award availability, good airline partners, low surcharges, and free cancellations. There are several routes to use Alaska Airlines miles.
Here are some of the reasons why Alaska Airlines Miles are good:
- Travel from India (Mumbai, Ahmedabad) to Qatar in Qatar Airways Business Class for 15K Miles
- Specific Routes:
- In Intra Asia in Malaysia Airlines, Cathay, StarLux Business Class for as low as 15K Miles.
- USA-EUR for 45K to 55k Miles in Business Class
- One of the lowest fuel surcharges is charged.
- Free Stopover (Excluding within Asia)
- Free Cancellation
- Good Availability
Earn when you fly Alaska & Hawaiian Airlines.
Alaska Airlines is among the few airlines still offering miles based on distance travelled, coupled with bonus miles when you travel in premium cabins. However, Alaska Airlines has a fairly limited International Presence, so earning miles when flying Alaska will be limited for most of us.
After the merger of Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines, you can also earn Alaska Miles on Hawaiian Airlines. You can check the latest earnings rate here.
Earn when Flying OneWorld Alliance & Non-Alliance Airlines
Earning Alaska Miles on Partner flights is a bit different than with other airlines. To earn more miles, you will need to book partner flights on Alaska Airlines’ website. And that is not necessarily the cheapest option.
You can find out how many miles you earn for each airline partner. If you have missing miles, you can request them here.
Shop via the Alaska Shopping Portal
One good way to get Alaska Miles outside the USA is to use the Alaska Shopping Portal. There are multiple promotions now and then. Also, sometimes, extra miles are given for spending over a threshold.
I have used this shopping portal a few times and earned miles. There are several partners with which you can earn miles via a shopping portal, including Hotel stays.
Earn on Hotel Stays
Alaska Airlines also partners with big hotel chains such as Marriott, IHG & Hyatt. However, this may not be the best way to earn Alaska Miles. It also runs a Hotel booking platform.
Best Western Hotels and Resorts
For stays at Best Western Hotels and Resorts, you can earn 250 Alaska Miles.
Coast Hotels
Earn 500 miles per qualifying stay.
Choice Hotels
Like Best Western Hotels and Resorts, you will earn 250 Alaska Miles.
Marriott
You can earn up to 2 Alaska Miles for every $ spent at Marriott. However, it is not recommended that you do that.
IHG
IHG also allows you to earn up to 2 Alaska Miles for every $ spent at IHG, and for some stays, you may earn a flat 500 miles. Again, this is not a great way to earn miles.
Alaska Vacations Platform
Booking hotels via the Alaska Vacations website earns Alaska Miles. However, booking directly is always recommended, and there may be some good promotions. You earn a standard 1 Mile per $ spent, and there is no limit on how many miles you can earn.
Transfer Hotel Loyalty Points
As I said earlier, earning Alaska miles on hotel stays isn’t great because earning and transferring hotel points is a better option.
Transfer Marriott Bonvoy Points
Marriott has a standard 3:1 ratio for transferring points to airlines. You also get a 5K bonus on transferring 60K Marriott points to Alaska Airlines. So, if you earn 10 Marriott points on every $ at Marriott, you can get 3 Alaska miles against the direct earning of 2 Alaska Miles.
One of the best ways to earn Marriott Points in India is with Amex. Plus, a bonus transfer offer sometimes gives you more Marriott points and options to explore.
Transfer IHG Points
IHG has a 5:1 transfer ratio for Alaska Airlines. As there are multiple ways to earn IHG points, you can rack up those points and transfer them. However, the minimum transfer is 10K points. You can also buy IHG points for cheap, as low as INR 0.43 or 0.5 cents. However, this is a bit more expensive than buying Alaska Miles directly.
Transfer Choice Points
You can also transfer Choice Points to an Alaska Mileage Account. However, it is not recommended. You will get 1000 Alaska Miles for every 5000 Miles if you do. One of the easiest ways to earn Choice Points is to buy them cheaply.
Buy Alaska Miles
If you can’t earn enough Alaska Miles, it makes a lot of sense to buy them. Usually, you get an offer to get 60% Bonus Miles on purchases, which reduces the cost. You will see this promotion quite often.
Check the latest promotion here.
Buy Hawaiian Miles
Last year, Alaska Airlines purchased Hawaiian Airlines. Initially, there was some arbitrage opportunity to buy Alaska Miles for cheap. Now, that is gone. However, you can still buy Hawaiian Miles and deposit them into your Alaska Mileage Account.
Check the latest Promotion here.
Earn Alaska Miles on Lyft
If you are in the USA and take a ride with Lyft, you can earn Alaska Miles. You earn 1 Alaska Mile for every $ Spent. However, you need to link your account.
Book a Car Rental
You can earn Alaska miles when booking a car rental with Avis, Budget, or Hertz. The earning varies across partners, and the maximum earning is limited to 1250 miles per rental.
Alaska Airlines Car Rental Partners:
- Alamo
- Avis
- Hertz
- Budget
- Dollar
- National
- Thrifty
Book a Cruise
Do you travel on a Cruise? Alaska Airlines lets you earn Alaska miles when booking a cruise with them. Standard earning is 1 Alaska mile per $.
You can check out or book the cruise here. You can also start your journey from several ports outside the USA.
Other Earning Opportunities
- GetYourGuide: Earn 4 Alaska Miles for every $ Spent.
When do Alaska Miles expire?
Usually, Alaska miles don’t expire if there is an activity in the last 24 months.
Bottomline
There are many ways to earn Alaska miles in India and outside the USA. You do not necessarily have to be in the US to rack up Alaska miles, and you don’t need a certain number of Alaska Miles to book an award flight. I recently used it to book an Award Flight and will cover it next month.
