Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit card review: Full details

Alaska Airlines Visa credit card overview

I Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card is one of the best cards for earning Alaska miles. Even if you don’t live on the West Coast, Alaska Airlines miles are valuable as you can use them to book flights on Oneworld partner airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qantas and American Airlines. You’ll also get a free checked bag and boarding priority when you use the card to pay for your flight. Card Rating*: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

*Card rating is based on the opinion of TPG editors and is not influenced by the card issuer.

You are entering personal information Alaska Airlines Visa credit card as well as Alaska Airlines Visa® business card are your primary options for easily earning the most Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.

Alaska miles can be difficult to earn given that they only work with two award currencies – just Marriott Bonvoy and Bilt Rewards. So, if you are loyal to the airline and want priority boarding and checked baggage allowances, or you have a good reason to accumulate Alaska miles to travel on Alaska Airlines or its partners, this card is worth considering.

With the approval of the merger between Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines, there will be even more opportunities to earn and spend when you fly to the Hawaiian Islands and beyond.

Also, Alaska Airlines has announced a revamp of its Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan for 2025, which will offer more ways to earn status when you don’t fly — including rewards for spending money on its credit card.

The recommended score for this product is 670 or higher, and it has an annual fee of $95.

So, let’s see if a personal card is right for you.

Alaska Airlines Visa pros and cons

Alaska Airlines Visa welcome gift

New applicants for Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card can earn 60,000 bonus miles and matching Alaska fares ($99 fare plus taxes and fees starting at $23) after spending $3,000 or more in purchases in the first 90 days from account opening.

TPG’s October 2024 estimate puts Alaska miles at 1.45 cents each, making 60,000 miles a solid $870. You’ll also get a boarding ticket with you, which is a solid benefit that can be used to save a second passenger more.

This is one of the best offers the Alaska Airlines Visa has ever had, so I recommend you apply now if this card is on your radar and you know you can use that friend certificate.

Alaska Airlines Visa Benefits

This card offers several benefits that make it a great choice if you frequently fly Alaska Airlines.

For a $95 annual fee, this card offers elite-like benefits without special Alaska Airlines MVP status. Cardholders get one piece of checked luggage free for themselves and up to six other passengers on the same reservation when paying with the card, saving $35 per person on checked bags.

You’ll also enjoy Alaska-related discounts, including 20% ​​back on Alaska Airlines flight purchases.

Also, as of Jan. 1, 2025, cardholders will be able to earn 1 EQM to qualify for special status for every $3 spent on the card, up to a total of 30,000 EQMs each year on qualifying purchases.

This means that $60,000 spent on an Alaska Airlines Visa earns you 20,000 EQMs, which can earn you MVP status and get you halfway to MVP Gold with the use of the card.

Let’s say you fly to Alaska with a friend or family member on a premium fare at least once a year. If so, an ongoing benefit of this lucrative card might be the annual fee, which you’ll get every year on your account’s anniversary date if you’ve spent $6,000 or more during the previous anniversary year — though you’ll get it again. one as part of the current welcome bonus.

For more information about a companion ticket and how to get the most value out of it, see our tips for maximizing your Alaska Airlines Visa Companion Fare.

This card also has no foreign transaction fees, so you can use the card anywhere in the world without incurring additional fees. Plus, you can get $100 off an annual Alaska Lounge+ membership when you pay with this card. Alaskan lounges are some of the best home lounges and are known for their delicious brown pancakes.

Earning miles with an Alaska Airlines Visa

With Alaska Airlines Visa cardyou’ll earn 3 miles per dollar on eligible Alaska Airlines purchases, 2 miles per dollar on gas, local transportation, electric vehicle charging stations, rides, cable and streaming services and 1 mile per dollar on all other eligible purchases.

In addition, if you have an eligible Bank of America account, you’ll enjoy a 10% bonus on all miles earned — increasing your effective earning rates on these purchases even more.

If you frequently travel with Alaska Airlines for business or pleasure and want to build your Mileage Plan balance, this card is an obvious choice for airline purchases.

You should use another travel credit card for non-Alaska purchases as you can do better than the card’s cash rates on all other purchases.

However, if you really want to collect Alaska miles for partner award flights, that advice may not work since Alaska miles are valuable and challenging to earn other than flying Alaska.

Related: Make money with the Alaska-Hawaiian merger

Uses miles on the Alaska Airlines Visa

Alaska’s Mileage Plan switched to a distance-based model in March 2024. Some uses are cheaper, but some of the program’s sweet spots require more miles than before.

Alaska awards for short-haul flights (such as Seattle to San Francisco) start at just 5,000 Alaska miles each way. Most long-haul flights (such as Seattle to New York City) are 12,500 miles in economy.

If you’re looking for first class, it’s usually 40,000 miles on long-haul domestic flights but you can start as low as 15,000 miles round-trip on short-haul flights. If you want to go to Hawaii, those awards start at 15,000 miles round-trip in economy and 40,000 round-trip in first class.

Our Alaska partners will also cover your travel around the world. Those partners include British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas. If you use Alaska, you won’t even get the lowest rate for booking miles from all of these partners (depending on the route).

But you can build great routes by using Alaska’s free one-stop allowance on one-way award tickets.

Some of TPG credit card editor Emily Thompson’s favorite ways to maximize Alaska Airlines spending include booking Cathay Pacific first class from the US to Asia from the US to Asia from 70,000 miles one way one, Japan Airlines first class from the US to Asia from 70,000 miles and Fiji Airways from the US to Fiji one way in business from 55,000 miles.

You could fly to Australia with Fiji Airways and add a free stopover in Fiji with the same 55,000 miles in business class.

But you don’t need to wrap the planet to add miles in Alaska. Booking awards in the US and Canada from 5,000 miles in Alaska round trip is also a great deal.

What cards compete with the Alaska Airlines Visa?

A major drawback of Alaska Visa that the miles are in a certain airline loyalty program. As a result, they are more limited than other currencies as you can only use them in Alaska and its partners.

Here are a few great cards to earn transferable rewards if you don’t have a special need for Alaska miles:

• If you want to earn Chase points: Go get the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, one of the top mid-range travel cards on the market. It offers many opportunities to earn points, such as 3 points per dollar on dining and select streaming services. These valuable points can be transferred to airline and hotel partners or used directly for travel at a rate of 1.25 cents per point with Chase Travel℠. To learn more, read our full Sapphire Preferred review.
• If you follow Capital One miles: I Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card includes fixed-rate redemptions with 15-plus airline and hotel transfer partners. With a reasonable annual fee (see rates and fees) and attractive rewards on everyday spending, this card is a valuable asset to hold on to. To learn more, read our full Venture Rewards review.
• If you want access to a wide range of transfer partners: The American Express® Green Card offers access to 21 Amex hotel and flight transfer partners. American Express has more transfer partners than other major issuers, so this card is a great way to diversify your points. You’ll also enjoy other benefits, such as an annual statement credit of up to $199 each calendar year with a Clear Plus membership, for an annual fee of $150. To learn more, read our full Amex Green review.

For more options, check out our full list of the best travel credit cards.

American Express Green Card information is independently collected by The Points Guy. The card information on this page has not been updated or provided by the card issuer.

Related: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Card

Is the Alaska Airlines Visa Right for You?

I believe the Alaska Airlines Visa is a great option if you are an Alaskan loyalist or want to split your points and miles with valuable Alaska miles. Thanks to Alaska Airlines’ decent cash-back rate and a valuable annual companion ticket, the card’s low $95 annual fee pales in comparison to the benefits.

Bottom line

If you are a dedicated Alaska Airlines customer or want to increase your points and miles accumulation, the Alaska Airlines Visa is a great option. Even those who don’t often fly the airline or its partners can get solid value from an annual companion ticket, which is why I definitely recommend giving this card a shot.

Apply here: Alaska Airlines Visa Signature

Related: How to choose an airline credit card