Alaska & Singapore Partner Up

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Alaska Airlines and Singapore Airlines have announced a new partnership.

Virgin America (who’s in the midst of integrating with Alaska) and Singapore’s partnership ends September 30, 2017. As of September 27, 2017, Alaska picks up the baton–you’ll be able to earn Alaska miles flying Singapore and Singapore miles flying Alaska on that date. 

Eventually you’ll also be able to redeem Alaska miles on Singapore and Singapore miles on Alaska, but a date and award charts have yet to be announced.

The two airlines will begin a codeshare agreement as well once the government approves it.

Earning

Here’s what Alaska’s earning rates look like.

If you go to alaskaair.com, you’ll notice some confusing information underneath the above chart in the “Details” drop down: 

Singapore has since confirmed that that information is inaccurate–all flights originating in United States are eligible for mile accrual (which is not what the above indicates).

If you have Alaska Elite status, you’ll earn your elite bonus miles on top of what’s listed above, even for partner airlines like Singapore. That makes earning opportunities crediting to Alaska on Singapore very interesting.

If you’re reaching to qualify for status, flying Singapore will count towards your elite credits as well.

The 19th Partner

It’s always exciting to see Alaska add more frequent flyer partnerships as the airline is not a member of any of the three major alliances. Not that a lack of an alliance is an issue. Alaska’s rich and varied list of partners span across all three alliances. Singapore will be it’s 19th partner.

It is highly unlikely that we’ll be able to redeem Alaska miles on awards flying Singapore’s premium cabins, as Singapore is known not for not really releasing any long-haul premium cabin award space to partners. So that’s a bummer. But Singapore’s economy and Premium economy are both solid products, and while we don’t know them yet, Alaska usually has fair to cheap mileage prices.  

How to Earn Alaska Miles

Alaska has a personal and business co-branded credit card issued by Bank of America.

• The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card comes with 30,000 bonus miles after spending just $1,000 within three months of account opening, along with a companion pass and other valuable perks when flying Alaska.
• The Alaska Airlines Visa Business Card also comes with 30,000 bonus miles for spending $1,000 within three months of opening the card, and pretty much all the same benefits as the personal card.

For a long time these cards were known for being easy to churn (open multiple), and while they both still are “churnable”, the best practices have changed as of late. Read Are the Alaska Cards Still Churnable? to get up to date.

Bottom Line

Once approved by the government, Alaska and Singapore’s codeshare agreement will be solidified. You can begin earning Alaska miles flying Singapore as of September 27. See what you’ll earn crediting to Alaska when flying Singapore here. It doesn’t look like Singapore’s released their earning rates flying Alaska quite yet.

We don’t know what the redemption rates for either airline are yet, but as soon as they’re announced we’ll cover it here. Considering the time line of other partner additions, I wouldn’t expect rates for at least a few months.