Can I Use My Alaska Miles to Buy a Ticket for Someone Else
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Previously, I have looked at how you can earn a huge amount of Alaska Mileage Plan Miles by crediting your BA flights to Mileage Program, rather than sticking with BA Executive Social club (BAEC). Alaska Miles are worth substantially more than than Avios too, and so Mileage Plan seems like a cracking option, but there'due south an additional element nosotros need to consider – elite condition.
Many frequent flyers manage to simultaneously hate BA and dearest BAEC aristocracy status (it's an interesting psychological phenomenon…), so wouldn't exist at all keen on giving up their shiny BA cards just to earn a few more Miles. Before we get onto the relative pros and cons though, let's compare how to qualify as an Alaska elite vs qualifying as a BAEC elite.
Annotation that in all the examples here I'k focusing on actual British Airways flights – it could be perfectly sensible to credit Qatar Airways flights (for example) to BAEC, at the same time equally crediting BA flights to Alaska – simply that's a dissever affair.
Getting elite status
BAEC Status:
- Bronze = 300 Tier Points
- Silver = 600 Tier Points
- Gilded = 1,500 Tier Points
Oddly enough, the virtually efficient way to get status with BAEC is normally to fly with partner airlines like Qatar Airways that require a stopover (unless you're actually flying to Doha itself of course!), considering of the way BAEC calculates Tier Points based on the number of flights, likewise as the altitude and Course of travel.
We're concentrating on British Airways flights hither though, so let's utilise the fairly common example of London to North America in Club World.
If you took a render trip from London to Los Angeles, you would earn 2 sets of 140 TPs, making a total of 280 TPs – almost enough for Bronze status.
Complete two of the above returns (or similar) and you'll get 560 Tier Points – almost enough for Silver.
Complete six of these return trips and you'll be on one,680 – more than enough for Gold.
Alaska Mileage Program Status:
- MVP = 25,000 miles
- MVP Gold = fifty,000 miles
- MVP Gilt 75k = xc,000 miles
When you credit BA flights to Alaska, the number of elite qualifying miles (as distinct from redeemable Miles) you earn is fabricated up of the base of operations miles (bodily distance flown) and the class of service bonus, as shown below:
For the London – LA case above then (in discounted Business Course/Club World), you would earn 16,368 elite miles for each roundtrip (GCMap is useful to roughly calculate flight distances).
Two return trips would therefore become you lot 32,736 aristocracy miles, easily enough for Alaska's MVP status (25,000 miles).
3 returns would become you 49,104, very about enough for MVP Gold.
MVP Gold 75k is more than of a stretch, requiring half dozen of these returns (yous'd actually be on 98,208 – considerably more than the 90,000 required)
In other words, earning Statuary/Silver status is generally easier with BAEC, but BA Gilded/Alaska MVP 75k requires a pretty like amount of flying.
There is an important caveat to exist made hither though – if y'all tend to fly 'long' long haul flights direct on BA, then status with Alaska Mileage Plan might piece of work out a footling easier than with BAEC; but if you tend to fly ex-Eu on your BA long hauls (or connect from the regions), or fly relatively 'short' long booty flights, BAEC status will probable be easier for you lot to achieve.
Status match?
Alaska Mileage Plan has a very generous status matching policy, if you happen to have elite status with a North American carrier. Unfortunately, BAEC isn't listed as an eligible choice to friction match from, but there's certainly no impairment in firing off a quick email to ask: [electronic mail protected]
Elite benefits
Everyone's circumstances are different, so what yous personally value most from elite status might well vary, but I would propose that, in wide terms, the well-nigh valuable perks are Lounge access and bonus Avios/Miles.
Lounge access
Alaska isn't role of Oneworld and therefore doesn't offer anything like the same Lounge access globally that BAEC elites are used to. That might non be such a big issue though for ii reasons:
- When flying BA (apart from domestic), MVP Gold and MVP Golden 75k members can admission the BA Galleries Lounges at Heathrow Terminals 3 + 5. You can also bring a guest. There are similar arrangements in identify (but with more options) when flight Hainan, Qantas or Icelandair; and you tin can, of course, access Alaska lounges (and AA ones too).
- Virtually BA outstation lounges aren't much to write abode about anyway, so could be swapped for a Priority Pass lounge or just ownership a drink/snack at the airport bars/restaurants (or arriving at the airport afterward!). Yes, there's a price involved in that location – only how many times a year do you actually want a potable/snack before flight BA Economic system from outside Heathrow? If information technology's a lot, consider spending ~£250 on an unlimited Priority Pass (or even ameliorate, become the Amex Platinum card), but if it's not that often, just purchase lounge access when you need information technology, or pay for a coffee somewhere (probably) nicer instead. The point is, Lounge access is nice, but the vast majority of people will non realistically lose huge value here.
Bonus Miles
BA Statuary gets y'all 25% more Avios on BA and a limited range of partners (Iberia, AA and JAL). Alaska MVP status gets you a 50% bonus on almost all of its broad range of partner airlines.
BA Silver status gets y'all a 50% bonus, whilst MVP Gold offers 100%.
BA Golden condition gets you a 100% bonus, simply Alaska MVP Gold 75K gets you a 125% bonus. Non but that, Alaska hands out 50,000 miles for free, every time you authorize for MVP Gold 75K!
Given that Alaska offers essentially better earning rates than BAEC for BA flights regardless of condition too, a MVP Gold 75K member would earn 375% of flown Miles on BA's cheapest Business Class fares. A BA Gilt fellow member would earn 'but' 250%.
Alaska Miles are (conservatively) worth at to the lowest degree fifty% more than Avios too.
For every mile a BA Gold flies in discount BA Club Europe/Club World, they earn 2.5 Avios if they credit the flight to BAEC – worth about 2.5p. A MVP Gilded 75k on exactly the same flight, crediting to Alaska, would earn iii.75 Miles per mile flown – worth virtually v.6p+.
In value terms, the Alaska member is getting back easily more than than twice as much as the BAEC member on these sort of tickets. If you're flying plenty to earn either BAEC Gold or MVP Gold 75k, that's a value difference that cannot be ignored.
If nosotros await at the example of the the great First Form fares currently available betwixt Inverness and Chicago, the difference is similarly stark:
If you credited the flights (INV-LHR-ORD / ORD-LHR-INV) to British Airways Executive Society, a BAEC Gilded member would earn nighthirty,000 Avios. I by and large value Avios as being worth 1p each, so that's ~£300 dorsum.
If a MVP Golden 75k credited the flights to Alaska Mileage Plan instead, they would earn virtually48,600 Alaska Miles.I value Alaska Miles at roughly 1.5p-i.8p each, then would suggest that 48,600 are worth ~ £780.
(Remember, you merely demand 42,500 Alaska Miles to fly Business Form on People's republic of china Pacific to Hong Kong one-style with no 'surcharges'. There are lots of other amazing redemption options too, some of which I covered here.)
Arguably, you lot could add on another ~12,500 bonus redeemable Miles from the flying too. Why? Because these discount Get-go fares earn 250% of flown miles as elite qualifying miles – which on an 8,794 mile return trip would mean 21,985 elite qualifying miles. Requalifying for MVP Aureate 75k condition requires ninety,000 elite qualifying miles, and then this flight would become yous just nether a quarter of the style there. When you qualify or re-qualify for MVP Gold 75k, you lot go fifty,000 bonus redeemable Miles to spend. If this flight gets you (roughly) a quarter of the way towards re-qualifying (and you do intend to re-authorize), then it's reasonable to include the relevant share of the 50,000 bonus Miles into the redeemable earnings from that flying.
Putting it all together (assuming you were an MVP Gold 75k who was going to use the flight to help re-qualify), you lot could view the flights described in a higher place as earning you ~sixty,000 redeemable Miles, worth ~£960. Compare and contrast that with the BA Gilt who would get ~£300 back in value from the same flights.
The deviation in the value of the Avios/Miles earned is enormous – and I think you have to take that into account when comparing the value of earning elite status via BA flights with either programme.
Bottom line
There are other benefits to Argent and Gold condition with BAEC that I haven't gone into here. The value you lot go from those benefits will depend on your own personal travel pattern, of class, but it could well be worth doing some quick sums to check whether you might exist better off crediting BA flights to Alaska.
Crediting your BA flights to BAEC rather than Alaska Mileage Program could be costing y'all thousands in 'value' in terms of Miles earned each year. You'd accept to use a lot of free seat selections and extra checked numberless to get similar value out of BAEC status…
Source: https://insideflyer.co.uk/2020/08/alaska-mileage-plan-elite-status-for-ba-flyers/
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