Alaska Airlines Credit Card Review

© BriYYZ (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Flickr

Benefits

• Introductory bonus offer: New cardholders get bonus miles after they hit the minimum spending requirement within the first 90 days. Just 25,000 miles are enough for a round-trip Alaska Airlines flight in the continental U.S., Canada, or Alaska.

• Annual companion fare: One of the bigger perks of this card is the companion fare, which can cost you as little as $121 ($99 base fare plus fees as low as $22). To get this perk, you need to make at least $1,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of account opening.

  Every year, Alaska Airlines Visa Signature cardholders in good standing will receive a Companion Fare Code within the first 2 billing cycles after the Anniversary date each year. This code must be redeemed within 12 months of the date of issue.

  If you are a frequent Alaska Airlines passenger and you plan to take someone with you at least once a year, this benefit makes owning this card worth it.

• Free checked bag: Up to 6 passengers traveling on the same reservation as the primary cardholder may check one bag free on qualifying reservations. Qualifying reservations include flights on Alaska. This includes flights marketed by Alaska Airlines and operated by Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air, SkyWest or PenAir (codeshare flights operated by other carriers are not eligible).

• No foreign transaction fees

• No expiration and no limit on miles earned as long as you keep the card active: The reward structure is pretty standard — you get 1 mile for every dollar you spend on purchases but you’ll earn 3 miles per dollar on qualifying purchases spent directly on Alaska Airlines. As long as you keep the card active, the miles you earn won’t expire, and there’s no limit to the number of miles you can earn in any given period of time.

• Redeem miles on Alaska Airlines or partners: Cardholders can redeem their miles for flights with Alaska Airlines or their partners. Partners includes carriers like American Airlines, Delta, and British Airways, among others.

Drawbacks

• Annual fee: It will cost you $75 per year to maintain your cardholder status.

• Reward structure: The opportunities to earn more than 1 mile per dollar spent are very limited. Other cards offer more chances to double or triple the miles you earn on spending, even outside the brand.

How It Compares

It’s unlikely that you’ll want this card if you’re not a regular user of Alaska Airlines. Even if you do use it often enough, you’d be a savvy credit cardholder if you take the time to consider other cards to see if this one is the right one for you. Here are a few to consider.

• Delta / Delta Credit Cards from American Express, a CreditDonkey partner: Gold Delta SkyMiles offers, for a limited time, 60,000 bonus miles if you spend $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your new account. In addition, you can earn a $50 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase within your first 3 months. This card earns airline miles: 2 miles for every dollar spent on eligible purchases made directly with Delta. Earn 1 mile for every eligible dollar spent on purchases. There is a $95 annual fee ($0 introductory annual fee for the first year) (See Rates & Fees).

  If you fly Delta, here's what you should know: you can check your first bag free on Delta flights with this card - that is a savings of up to $240 per round trip for a family of 4. Plus, you can enjoy Main Cabin 1 Priority Boarding. Terms apply.

• American Airlines: Citi AAdvantage offers up to 50,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles: you earn 40,000 miles after you spend $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your account and another 10,000 bonus miles after you make a total of $6,000 in purchases within the first 12 months of account opening. Plus, you earn a $100 AA Flight Discount after you spend $20,000 or more in purchases during your cardmembership year and renew your card.

  This card earns 2 miles for every $1 spent at gas stations, restaurants, and on eligible American Airlines purchases. This card lets you enjoy preferred boarding on American Airline domestic flights. You also get the first checked bag free on domestic AA itineraries for you (and up to 4 companions traveling with you on the same reservation). There is a $99 annual fee (waived for the first 12 months).

• Southwest Airlines: Southwest Credit Card lets you earn 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. This card earns 6,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary. You earn 2 points per dollar spent on Southwest purchases and Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases. 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases. There is no foreign transaction fee. There is a $99 annual fee.

• Hawaiian Airlines: The Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard's annual fee is higher than the Alaska Airlines card at $89, but the Hawaiian Airlines Card comes with some interesting perks. For starters, purchases at select partner merchants will earn you up to 10x miles per dollar spent. There’s also the ShareMiles program, which enables cardholders to receive miles from friends and family. Each year cardholders enjoy a $100 companion discount and a maximum of a $100 statement credit toward inflight purchases, and you’ll earn a bonus 5,000 miles in every year that you spend $10,000 or more with your card. If you’ll be using your next travel card outside the country, you’ll also want to know that this one has a 0% foreign transaction fee.

Interest rates, rewards, benefits and fees from published web sites as of 4/13/2015.

Who It’s Best For

© Frank Kovalchek (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr

The major selling point of the Alaska Airlines card is the bonus miles and companion fare, which if used each year will help justify the card’s annual fee. Outside of that annual perk, there’s not much that separates this card from the other travel rewards credit cards — some of which have more generous rewards structures — unless you’re a frequent Alaska Airlines flier and will often be able to take advantage of the triple miles you’ll earn on Alaska Airlines purchases. In that case, you’ll be flying high with this card.