Welcome Back!

Hope everyone is doing well 😊 

So let me just quickly vent on the Asiana and Korean merger - as someone that goes to and from there periodically, this sucks from a points redemption perspective…

While it won’t happen right away, the merger means Asiana will surely be pulled from the Star Alliance at some point. Having one less points option to get to and from Korea is a bit sad, especially since you could redeem 75k Aeroplan miles to fly in Asiana business class from New York to Incheon 🥹 

Luckily, you can fly in Korean air for 37k miles each way via Virgin, not to mention Air Premia is a low-cost competitor that flies to Newark and to LAX. Things could’ve been worse! But these are just things that happen in the points and miles world. All about adapting and moving onto the next deal!

Speaking of deals, Alaska has got a lot of them - let’s get right to it!

In today’s edition:

• ⛷️ Alaska has Deals 💰️ 

• 🏦 Transfer Bonuses ✈️

• ✈️ What Else is Alaska Working On? 👷

• 📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️

• 💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

⛷️ Alaska has Deals 💰️

There’s a lot going on at Alaska now that the Hawaiian merger has been given the green light. Alaska has its work cut out for it, like figuring out how to synergize flight schedules, branding, and rewards programs. But while they work on that, they’ve got a bunch of deals and offers to take advantage of!

First, there is an elevated signup bonus on the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® Credit Card! Now, after $3k in spend, you earn 70k Alaska miles plus a companion fare! There are quite a few options with those 70k miles (yes, in business class)!

For reference, Alaska’s companion fare allows you to get a ticket for a companion on a trip at a discounted rate (starting at $122). So if you have a trip for two coming up, getting the second ticket for less with this companion fare could be worth looking into!

Second, Alaska has announced a new credit card to be released in the future, and you can be added to the waitlist. Of course, you don’t need to actually get the card if you join the waitlist. But Alaska has added an incentive for doing so: You can get 500 miles just for joining the waitlist, and if you do decide to get the card later, your signup bonus will be 5,000 miles higher than the standard bonus! A no-strings attached 500 Alaska miles, and potentially 5k more down the line! 💰️ 

The teased details of the card includes 3x on eligible foreign purchases - this has potential to be something incredible from a points earning perspective! Imagine 3x on all international purchases, wow 🤯

As if that were not enough, Alaska runs a quarterly award sale (a quarterly version of Flying Blue Promo Rewards and Singapore Spontaneous Escapes). Their Global Getaways is currently running until Dec. 31st, for flights through April 2025!

Do remember that if you have Amex MR points, you can transfer them to Hawaiian and then from Hawaiian to Alaska, all at 1:1, if you were to take advantage of these getaways. Note, though, that there is a tax of $6 per 10k points when transferring Amex points to US-based airlines.

So quite a few promos and deals going on at Alaska! Exciting to see so many things pop up at once, and hope you can take advantage 👍️

🏦➡️✈️ Transfer Bonuses

¹ This bonus is stackable with a separate 10% bonus for holders of the Aeroplan® Credit Card, for a total of 30%! Details of the deal here.

² New transfer bonuses that were not present the week before are in bold.

³ JetBlue’s normal transfer rate from Amex is 5:4 (1:0.8), so a 25% bonus puts it at a 1:1 ratio. Do note that Chase and Citi transfer at 1:1 normally. Amex transfers to US-based airline partners also incur a tax of $6 per 10k miles transferred.

✈️ What Else is Alaska Working On? 👷

So yes, Alaska has a bunch of deals! But they’re not done there, as they are working on integrating Hawaiian, among other things. We’ve got a better glimpse of what those plans entail:

• 🌏️ Alaska will begin operating transpacific flights from Seattle to Tokyo and Seoul next year!

• 🪙 Alaska and Hawaiian will have a joint mileage program in mid-2025!

• 🛋️ Alaska is planning new lounges in Honolulu and San Diego, and also an international flagship lounge in Seattle!

Lots of developments here, so will go one by one!

Alaska starting on flights to Asia is very exciting, and surely complements Hawaiian’s own network to Asia from Honolulu. More competition and more flights on these routes always means more points redemption opportunities, and potentially lower cash fares overall, so this should be an overall positive. Who knows, Alaska may be working on a new business class seat for these flights too! 🤞

The big news is that Alaska and Hawaiian will also merge their rewards programs. Right now, you can transfer Amex points to Hawaiian and Bilt points to Alaska. You can also transfer from Hawaiian to Alaska, so Amex cardholders have an indirect way of obtaining Alaska miles. Well, with this combining of rewards programs, it seems Amex will cease transfers to Hawaiian once that happens…

That will leave Bilt as Alaska’s only transfer partner, making it harder to earn Alaska miles. That’s not great news, as Alaska miles generally have good value. But this seems to be all part of Alaska’s strategy to grow its own credit card portfolio with Bank of America. As mentioned earlier, the card happens to be offering an elevated signup bonus, so maybe it is worth a look! 🔎 

Last but not least, as airlines and their routes/offerings grow, so do their lounge networks. Naturally, Alaska is working on some new lounges on the West Coast to accommodate their growth. Not much else to say here - hope the lounges are nice, and maybe I’ll be able to go to one if they open them up to Priority Pass holders! 🎫

So until mid-2025, if you need Alaska miles, do take advantage of the Amex-Hawaiian-Alaska indirect transfer while you can. Otherwise, here’s to hoping that Alaska’s developments are all positive for us consumers!

📰 Other Stories & Deals 💰️ 

• 💳️ The Amex Business Platinum seems to have added a $200 Hilton credit to its list of benefits!

• ✈️ Get 50% off Breeze base fares with promo code GOALS, until today!

• 🖥️ Air Canada is introducing free in-flight Wi-Fi to North America flights in May 2025!

💳️ Best Card Signup Bonuses 💳️ 

Again, the usual solid cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred^®/Reserve^®

• Chase Freedom Unlimited^®/Flex^®

• Amex Gold & Plat

• Capital One Venture X

• Citi Strata Preferred^℠

Do search for public links for the above cards to compare signup bonuses to make sure you get the highest one (incognito mode, Resy, etc.).

For cards with elevated signup bonuses (targeted bonuses are not included), I’ve got:

📤️ Spread the Word! 📤️

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Hope that all makes sense! That’s all for this week’s edition of Sense per Point.

Wishing everyone a wonderful rest of your day and week 😊 

- Sean Kim

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