Thoughts on the Alaska Airlines credit card?

[Paul in Idaho]

My wife and I are going on our first trip to Alaska this summer. We're headed to Prince of Wales island for salmon fishing.

We don't travel much and aren't familiar with air miles rewards cards. I know a lot of you here travel to hunt, including in Alaska, so I thought I'd ask for input on the Alaska Airlines credit card. I have seen positive comments about their program in the past ( https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/alaska-on-a-budget.269052/ ) but since I'm not sure how often we'll get to fly I'm not sure yet if it's a good fit for us.

There is a lot of fine print on their T&C page, and since I'm not familiar with air travel, it mostly looks like ways to prevent you from redeeming points for free tickets.

This line doesn't make sense to me either, "get a companion fare from $121 ($99 plus taxes and fees from $22)." I thought the benefit was to get a free companion ticket, but this sounds like the companion's ticket costs a minimum of $121?

Any input and experiences, positive or negative, are appreciated.

Thanks.
Paul

 

[Trial153]

The Alaska card is fair card providing you use Alaska Airlines and their affiliates. Otherwise it’s just ok. The major perks of the AA card is the yearly companion fair and baggage allotments. Both require you to use the airlines yearly to see an advantage and recoup your annual fee. While I travel to Alaska quite a bit I still don’t use AA card for all my travel points. I suggest using a sight like nerd wallet to compare what card is best for you consider you travel habits, in many cases a card like chase Sapphire preferred Or an AMEX travel card is better because of its flexabity.
I travel quite a bit with for hunting as well as with my wife a kids through out the year and all our yearLay experiences are placed on travel cards, which one depends on my plans and goals, there are years I don’t play for air fair as I have accrued enough to points to cover our travel.

In summary a comparison sight like nerd wallet is your friend

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

As far as airline specific rewards cards I think the AK card is one of the best. AK airlines points system for flying within Alaska is absolutely phenomenal, for the rest of the US it’s pretty limited. If you don’t travel much and don’t plan in it I would probably look at other cards. I would consider the BOA travel over the Chase Sapphire, it doesn’t have an annual fee and allows you to redeem points as a statement credit at any time and all kinds of stuff counts, restaurants, parking meters, lol sometimes my hunting licenses, etc. You get more bang for your buck with chase but the point are only good for booking travel. As Trial said check out nerd wallet

 

[406LIFE]

Also, you get what you pay for generally. Perks arent free and come with higher rates or fees. If you are carrying a abalance you need to see if its worth the higher rate for the perks vs a a card with lower rate but few perks.

Fwiw, on my trip to the keys this year I got a Delta card. It saved me $200/ticket, free bags, and a couple other small things. It has a $100/yr fee. Gotta cancel it before that happens. But worth the credit hit for saving about $500 in tickets.

Just be smart and diligent, like you are, with them.

 

[glass eye]

I live near San Diego which is a major hub for Alaska Air. My only regret was not getting the card sooner because I was already flying AK air to Hawaii, could have been building points. I take my wife every year to Hawaii and of course I hunt while we are there. Using companion fare I just got both our tickets to Kona for $673 RT, that comes to $336.50 each. Every year I fly to Alaska for free.

 

[mtmander]

Alaska air is a great airline card to have especially if you plan on flying to alaska

 

[Paul in Idaho]

Thanks everyone. I'll look into nerdwallet and the other cards mentioned, along with more reading of Alaska Air's fine print.

 

[Dave N]

You said first trip. Yeah, if you're anything like me you will go back. Maybe even more than once. I have one and it helps a lot. Sure, it has a yearly fee, but the cheap companion fare every year more than makes up for it for me. First checked bag is free for you and up to 6 others? Fine print reading. The miles toward free flights add up fast. If they still have a sign-up bonus, that bumps your balance up right off the bat. We make enough trips and plan on more that my wife also got the card. We can swap companion fares between us and get miles for both. My last trip cost me $11.20 round trip non-stop.

 

[Paul in Idaho]

Yeah, if you're anything like me you will go back.

For sure. I'd go every year if I could afford it. I have been wanting to go for at least 20 years, and finally got to financial circumstances that make a DIY trip possible.

 

[Dave N]

I just looked. They have a 40,000 mile bonus if you meet the requirements. That is enough for a free round trip ticket! Well, $11.20 is dang near free. They also have partners that count toward mileage. American is one. Pay for those flights with the Alaska card and the cost as well as the miles flown count for you. Start planning!

 

[belshawelk]

Its a great card. I am a million miler with Alaska and use their card extensively. Arguably the best airline.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

For sure. I'd go every year if I could afford it. I have been wanting to go for at least 20 years, and finally got to financial circumstances that make a DIY trip possible.

I’m headed up for my second trip this spring, you can do it and not break the bank, the card definitely helps if you are trying to cut costs. What are you chasing?

 

[Paul in Idaho]

I'll be focused on silvers, if they're in the streams when we are there in late August. I'd like to get out for a saltwater charter at least one day, if I can find a licensed guide who is willing to add one guy to their group. Most seem to require a group of 4 to book.

 

[Trial153]

Another good resource is "the points guy" his website lays out the cost benefit very well.

 

[Bambistew]

We don't use ours much, other than for the companion tickets. Travel from AK generally requires more miles thant from the L48. They also have a limit on the number of tickets for "award travel" on each flight, and I think its 2. You can still use your miles, but its usually considerably more miles after award tickets have been issued for the flight. I was looking at tickets to MT this summer... 75K miles RT, or $900pp. Using the companion ticket it was more reasonable, but still... I really think they inflate many of their prices to absorb the companion tickets, and air miles.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

We don't use ours much, other than for the companion tickets. Travel from AK generally requires more miles thant from the L48. They also have a limit on the number of tickets for "award travel" on each flight, and I think its 2. You can still use your miles, but its usually considerably more miles after award tickets have been issued for the flight. I was looking at tickets to MT this summer... 75K miles RT, or $900pp. Using the companion ticket it was more reasonable, but still... I really think they inflate many of their prices to absorb the companion tickets, and air miles.

All I can say 75k or $900pp is a steal, I just let my united account go because their point system was so terrible. It was basically impossible to ever get a flight with points due to restrictions and they devalued their points multiple times.

 

[jryoung]

We run our business on an AK card and it has been fantastic, they are a great airline to fly as well. It gets me anywhere in the west with ease, my hunting buddies have enjoyed my companion fare many times as well. We've used miles to fly through out the west, to and from the east coast and internationally a couple of times. Last year on our trip to France we were able to fly business class and with our accrual rate we can do so every other year. Booking is a bit tricky for international business since our accrual is purely based on spend and not miles flown, but it can be done, you just have to plan ahead a bit.

 

[NoWiser]

I am going to Kodiak in August to do some fishing. With the AA credit card, round-trip airfare from Minneapolis for my dad and I came to $518.00 total with all taxes and fees. Airfare dropped 2 days later and it would have cost us $100.00 less if I'd have waited. I will cancel the card before the next yearly fee. The card I use all of the time is the Barclaycard Arrival Plus. 2% on all purchases adds up fast.

 

[Dave N]

My last trip from Chicago to Anchorage, round trip non-stop, cost me 40,000 miles.

 

[Gary]

My wife and I just flew between Phila & Anchorage for 50K miles (both of us, R/T). I just checked on R/T Anc to Indy and they were 25K R/T. We charge EVERYTHING - and don't carry a balance on the card - and usually wind up with enough miles for a mileage awards ticket every year. We had a Delta card before the AK Air and were using 40K miles for one ticket - bummer. We also usually go through an AK Air agent when booking a flight. It costs a few bucks extra, but the agent's knowledge is usually worth it.