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Through 11:59 PM PST October 4, 2018, you can buy Alaska Airlines miles with up to a 50% bonus. It is a targeted offer, but it seems pretty common to get targeted for the full 50%. I was targeted. Log in to your account through this link to see your offer.

The current bonus is as high as I’ve ever seen it–don’t expect to buy Alaska miles cheaper than this if you are indeed targeted for the 50% bonus.

How the Bonus Works

The sale is structured as a bonus on the normal number of miles you’d receive.

The bonus is tiered, so the biggest 50% bonus comes from purchasing 40,000 to 60,000 miles at the normal price of about 2.9 cents each after tax.

It costs $1,773.75 to buy 90,000 miles (60k + 30k bonus) during this sale. That’s a price of 1.97 cents per mile.

While each purchase is limited to 90,000 miles including bonus, you can make unlimited purchases during the sale, so you can buy unlimited miles. The only stipulation is that your account must have been opened 10 days ago or more, but that’s not a problem if you don’t have an account since this sale is good for well over a month. Open an Alaska MileagePlan account now if you don’t have one.

I don’t think Alaska miles are worth 1.97 cents each, but they are worth very close to that. If you have a specific redemption in mind, it is not hard to get more than 1.97 cents of value per mile.

Alaska Airlines is not a member of an airline alliance, but has a thorough mixture of 17 partners from all three alliances (as well as non-allied partners). Read about how to get the most out of Alaska miles in 7 Awesome Alaska Awards w/Free Stopovers & How to Book Them.

Logistics of Buying Alaska Miles

Unlike many miles sales when you are capped at how many miles you can buy, with Alaska miles sales, you can make several maximum purchases to get all the miles you need.

Remember that Alaska Airlines miles sales are handled through points.com, so they are not considered airfare or travel purchases for the purposes of earning a category bonus on your credit card. Buy them with whichever card earns the most valuable type of point to you.

Perhaps that’s the Blue Business Plus Credit Card from Amex which earns 2 Membership Rewards per dollar spent on ALL purchases (that’s like earning a ~4 cent return on every dollar spent as I value Membership Rewards at 2 cents each). Or maybe it’s the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card that earns 2 points per dollar spent on everything, redeemable for 1 cent each towards travel purchases (a return of 2% on all spending). Learn more about the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

Bottom Line

Sign in here to check if you’re targeted for the 50% bonus sale of Alaska miles that lasts through October 4, 2018. If so, you can buy Alaska miles for 1.97 cents as long as you buy 40,000 or more. That is a very good price–historically the cheapest they ever go on sale for–if you have an immediate high value use for the miles. As is the case with any miles sale, I do NOT recommend buying speculatively.