Recently, Alaska Airlines announced some exciting changes and additions following their acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, including the announcement of making Seattle their Global Gateway with new long-haul international flights launching, starting with Tokyo and Seoul. Alaska Airlines has also additionally announced plans for their credit card portfolio, which I will cover here.

1. Reminder: Alaska’s current credit card portfolio
2. Alaska Airlines announces a new ‘premium’ credit card
3. Pre-register today and get 500 Alaska MileagePlan miles for free
4. Hawaiian Airlines’ line of credit cards will be discontinued
5. Summary

Reminder: Alaska’s current credit card portfolio

Many of you may already know that Alaska Airlines has a (small) credit card portfolio, which includes one personal and one business credit card, co-branded with Bank of America. I have the personal credit card, and it’s thanks to this credit card that I was able to fly business class to Japan last month. That is to say, I got the credit card chiefly for the welcome bonus. However, it offers a variety of nice perks that can really help offset the annual fee:

• The credit card has a $95 annual fee.
• Welcome bonus, typically sat least 50,000 points if you spend $3000 within the first 90 days after account opening.
• 3 points per dollar spent on Alaska Airlines, 2 miles per dollar spent on on eligible gas, EV charging station, cable, streaming services and local transit, and 1 mile per dollar spent on everything else.
• You receive one companion fare pass just or having the card every card anniversary. This card allows you to buy a ticket for a companion at a flat fare of $99, plus applicable taxes and fees. This can amount to significant savings depending on the route that you use the pass on.
• You get to take one checked bag, free of charge.
• You receive early boarding.
• Earn elite qualifying miles towards status on qualifying purchases.

So overall, that is a solid set of perks that should be a no-brainer if you fly Alaska Airlines with any frequency. If this sounds interesting to you, apply here using my referral link!

But, here’s the truth: Alaska has a fantastic network from west coast airports, but not nearly so good from east coast airports. For example, from New York City you can fly Alaska essentially only to west coast cities, whereas from the west coast you can fly Alaska to a multitude of smaller and mid-size towns throughout the USA. Indeed, my husband and I both got this card while we lived in San Francisco. Living in SF, we flew Alaska anywhere by default.

Alaska Airlines announces a new ‘premium’ credit card

In addition to the personal and business credit cards, Alaska has announced a new ‘premium’ credit card. This was an overdue development, with which they catch up to many of their competitors. Delta, American and United all have extensive credit card portfolios that include entry, mid-level, premium and business credit cards. The more ‘premium’ the card, the higher the annual fee and the better the perks. This will also be the case of Alaska’s newly announced premium credit card. Here is how Alaska describes their new card:

Our new premium credit card will be sleek and mighty, built for the global traveler who maximizes every accrual and redemption opportunity.

Take note of the notion ‘global traveler’, which highlights that this card is being positioned specifically fore those flying internationally, and so this announcement’s timing of course coincides with the moment that Alaska announced Seattle as their Global Gateway and the start of long-haul international flights next year. As such, its perks will align with the needs of global travelers. I don’t think this means that the card will be useless for those flying almost entirely domestically, but the full extent of the perks may then not be utilized.

The details we have so far include:

• An annual fee of $395.
• It is assumed there will be some kind of welcome bonus, though it’s not clear how this may compare to that of the personal card. If this is structured like with other carriers, one can assume the points reward will be higher, but a higher spend will need to be completed as well.
• A new global companion award certificate. The current personal Alaska card already has a companion pass, but this new premium card extends this idea for award tickets on global routings, which is mighty exciting! How this exactly works out is not entirely clear, but it seems there will be a cap on value, that can be topped up with miles. It also seems this is irrespective of cabin. So, if you were to book a one-way award ticket on Japan Airlines business class, you should then be able to book a companion for a much lower cost.
• 3x points per dollar spent on dining purchases and eligible foreign transactions, which is also interesting, since no card that I know off gives you points on purchases, just for being in a foreign currency. We still have to find out what these exact ‘eligible’ purchases are, however.
• Waived award ticket fees. This most likely refers to the $12.50 partner award booking fee, not to any fuel surcharges.
• The card will provide lounge passes and WiFi vouchers.
• The card will offer a mechanism to spend your way to Alaska elite status.
• It will include an ‘innovative travel disruption program’, though the details of this are not clear to me. it sounds like a kind of travel insurance.
• Waivers on fees for same-day confirmed flights, for example, when you make a change to your itinerary.

So that’s a great set of perks that can really help offset that $395 annual fee, depending in large part on how useful or valuable that companion certificate is going to be: don’t forget that acquiring Alaska Airlines is not so easy, given that they only partner with Bilt as a transfer partner (and Marriot, but not at a good value). Otherwise you can only acquire Alaska miles by outright buying them or spending on the Alaska credit cards. So, a companion certificate that brings down the miles cost of award redemptions is certainly very welcome and can really help you gain access to such award flights.

Pre-register today and get 500 Alaska MileagePlan miles for free

So this is a no-brainer: if you pre-register to get the card before December 31st, you will be given 500 MileagePlan miles, just for the pre-registration. If you then later on, when the card becomes available, also apply and get approved within 14 days of receving an invite to apply, you will also receive an additional 5000 miles in addition to any other welcome bonus you may have been able to get at that time.

To be clear, to get the 500 miles, you don’t actually need to get the card – this is just for the act of pre-registering your interest. Once pre-registered, you will receive an email to notify you of the card’s availability and an invite to apply. To get the extra 5000 miles, you will need to apply and be approved within 14 days of receiving the invite to apply.

Pre-register here

Hawaiian Airlines’ line of credit cards will be discontinued

With these announcements, the bad news is that Hawaiian’s line of credit cards, issued by Barclays, will be discontinued. These cards are, as always, primarily useful if you fly Hawaiian a lot, which likely is only the case if you were to live on one of the Hawaiian islands. Regardless, my husband and I both got these cards for the welcome bonus, and it allowed us to get back-and-forth economy flights between Hawaii and San Francisco.

Unfortunately you’re only eligible for the welcome bonus on these cards once in a lifetime, but if you haven’t had these cards yet, I would recommend applying. It is an easy way to acquire Alaska miles, since you can transfer Hawaiian miles to Alaska at a 1:1 ratio.

Summary

Alaska has announced a premium credit card, with a lineup of exciting perks. Though the annual fee is steep at face value, the companion award certificate has the potential of entirely offsetting that fee by reducing the miles cost of award redemptions on some aspirational Alaska partners, including Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific and other excellent Asian carriers.

While we will have to wait and see how good the perks really turn out to be, the very least you can do right now is pre-register so you get 500 miles essentially for free. This will also grant you extra 5000 miles in the event that you do apply and get approved for the card.

Are you interested in the current personal Alaska card with the $95 annual fee? Apply here using my referral link!