MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.


lf you aren’t already a member of Alaska MileagePlan, Alaska Airline’s frequent flyer program, register before April 30, 2017, and take a paid Alaska Airlines or Virgin America flight by September 30, 2017 and you’ll earn a bonus of 5,000 Alaska miles.

How to Get 5k Bonus Miles

If you don’t have an existing MileagePlan account…

  • Register here before April 30, 2017. You must use that link.
  • After you join MileagePlan, complete one qualifying flight by September 30, 2017 on either Alaska Airlines or Virgin America.
    • From the promotion’s terms and conditions: “To qualify, the flight must be eligible to earn Mileage Plan miles and must be credited to the new Mileage Plan account; codeshare flights with other airlines do not qualify.”

Read all the specific details of the promotion here on Alaska’s website.

What You Can Do With 5k Alaska Miles

You can fly Alaska Airlines within the 48 United States, Alaska, or to Canada one way on a trip that’s less than 700 miles for just 5,000 miles + taxes.

For example, the following map shows a 699 mile radius around Seattle…

And this map shows a 699 mile radius around Los Angeles…

As the terms and conditions state, a qualifying flight is one that is eligible to earn miles, and you don’t earn miles when redeeming miles on an award ticket. In other words, you must buy a cash ticket and not redeem miles for the flight to qualify for the 5k bonus.

That means you’ll also earn miles on the paid ticket. As Alaska points out on the promo page, they are the only American carrier left that still awards one redeemable mile per mile flown as opposed to an earning structure based on what you paid for the ticket.

So if you flew Seattle to San Francisco, for example, even on the cheapest Alaska economy ticket you’d earn another 1,348 miles on top of the 5k bonus for the miles flown. Not bad earnings for a ticket that commonly costs $99.

Bottom Line

If you don’t already have a Alaska MileagePlan membership and you were planning on flying somewhere in Alaska Airlines or Virgin America’s network before the end of September, there is no reason not to sign up for MileagePlan now as you’ll get a 5k bonus of Alaska miles after completing the flight. Make sure you enroll before April 30 to qualify for the promotion.

Hat tip Frequent Miler

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.

With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!


Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.