On Zeroing out My Sign-up Bonus from Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card

As some of you know, last July I applied and was approved for Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card. The main reason was the “free companion” certificate, as I had zero plans for the miles. Ironically enough, I did end up putting the miles to good use, and it was starting to look like the cert would expire.

How using an extra 7,500 miles ended up saving us $100

My sister-in-law has a good friend who lives near Portland, Oregon. Last year she lost her husband (who also happened to be my husband’s relative), which turned her world upside down. So my SIL decided to visit the friend and hopefully give her much needed distraction.

I couldn’t fly to Oregon myself, but wanted to help, so I ended up burning my Alaska miles for her ticket. (Before someone makes a comment on my generosity, I assure you, it’s not like that. My sister-in-law spends a ton of money on my kids and refuses any reimbursement. So it’s the least I can do). 

To me, it was the perfect use for my miles since Alaska is the only airline that has non-stop flights from Orlando to Portland. As I wrote in my post awhile back, I ended up redeeming 20,000 miles one-way on the return portion of the flight since it would be more convenient for my sister-in-law. And we didn’t even book any free Hawaii one-ways. I’m sure quite a few readers suffered a mild heart attack after learning that I got only 1 CPM on my Alaska Mileage Plan stash.

But fear not! In an interesting twist, my SIL ended up getting $100 Alaska Air voucher  because her return flight was delayed. So, in the end, we did alright, wouldn’t you agree? She was planning to fly to Oregon this year anyway (and use Alaska Air), so the voucher was as good as cash.

Using Plastiq instead of buying miles

I had about 11,500 Alaska miles left in my account, and had no plans for them whatsoever. So, I told my SIL that I would book her a one-way ticket to Oregon, and she would use $100 voucher for the revenue flight. The problem: I needed 12,500 miles for low-level one-way ticket. I could buy 1,000 miles for $30 or I could try to acquire them for less.

I decided to charge $550 on my Alaska credit card and do my car payment via Plastiq  (my personal referral link),  The latter added a 2.5% fee. In the end, getting my miles ended up being  a bit cheaper than $30, but not by  a whole lot. If you only need 1,000 miles to top off an account, you may want to consider simply buying them, assuming you find award availability. Which brings me to my next point.

Hunting for elusive low-level availability on Alaska Air 

I had the miles, but we could not find non-stop flights for 12,500 miles. I looked for several months, and nothing. Sure, my SIL could fly on American and connect in LAX, but who wants to do that?

Alaska Air is apparently quite stingy when it comes to award availability on its own operated flights. But I’m stubborn and eventually, I found one seat for 12,500 miles. Done. I had zero miles left in the account.

What to do with my companion certificate? 

As some of you may recall, we will be spending one night in San Francisco after our whirlwind tour of South Pacific.  Reluctantly, I ended up booking our Southwest flight to MCO from San Jose airport, quite a distance from downtown San Francisco. But the timing was better and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Well.

My free airport transfer via GroundLink ended up getting canceled. The more I thought about, the more I felt uneasy about the one hour commute. Uber was estimating the ride at $80-$100, plus, if there was an accident, we would be risking  missing our flight. I looked again at SFO-MCO flight on Alaska Air. It came down from $264 to $213 per person.

With taxes and companion certificate, I was looking at $230 all-in for two people. Of course, the flight is scheduled to depart at 8:00 AM, but at least it would be from SFO airport, which is within 20 minutes drive from downtown. Plus, we would be landing in Orlando at a reasonable hour.

The “Free Companion” certificate from Alaska co-branded credit card can be extremely valuable if you are looking to fly to Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico or Costa Rica (see the map of Alaska Air routes). You don’t have to worry about award availability, and fares are often quite reasonable to begin with. Obviously, this perk will be mostly useful for those who live on the west coast, but I recommend you crunch the numbers even if you are based on the east coast.

My Southwest flight cost me almost 20,000 Rapid Rewards points+$10 tax for two people, and I could get a full refund if I canceled. I decided to do it. BTW, after going back and forth, I ended up renewing my Southwest credit card again. You get 6,000 points after paying the annual fee of $99, but that’s not what sealed the deal.

As a cardholder, you get access to a valuable redemption option, where 20,000 points would be redeemable towards $200 Walmart gift card. Interestingly, DoC blog has reported that even those who don’t have a Southwest credit card can now redeem points on gift cards, albeit at a less favorable rate.  A quick reminder: as of now, the points from the sign-up  bonus still count towards Southwest Companion Pass which you can eventually use for flights to Hawaii.

Since Walmart gift card is almost as good as cash to me, 20,000 points are an equivalent of $200. Factoring in a much shorter/cheaper commute, using Alaska Air companion certificate appeared to be a better deal.

My personal referral link for Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Card

Non-affiliate link for Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card with $100 statement credit

A super vain reason for choosing Alaska Air 

This flight will be operated by Virgin America, a brand that was purchased by Alaska Air not too long ago. It will fade into oblivion after this year, so this is my only chance to try it out. I’m not #AvGeek by any means, but there is just something cool about Virgin America.

It seems to have that Richard Branson touch. Years ago we flew Virgin Atlantic, and I was extremely impressed by how they got the small details just right. Maybe there is a little bit of an #AvGeek in me after all!

Click here to view various credit cards and available sign-up bonuses