Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card review: Niche rewards for travelers

The Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card comes with useful benefits for the airline’s frequent flyers and a solid sign-up bonus and rewards rate. Cardholders can also hit the ground running with Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ on Alaska Airlines — one of the best deals you can find on an airline rewards card. Get Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) each account anniversary after you spend $6,000 or more on purchases within the prior anniversary year. Valid on all Alaska Airlines flights booked on alaskaair.com.

This card can be well worth the $95 annual fee, but mostly for those who fly with Alaska Airlines often since you can only redeem rewards and take advantage of benefits with the airline.

Quick highlights

• Rewards rate: Earn an unlimited 3 miles per dollar spent with Alaska Airlines, 2 miles per dollar on eligible gas, cable, streaming services and local transit purchases and 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases
• Welcome offer: 70,000 bonus miles plus Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after you spend $3,000 or more within the first 90 days of opening your account.
• Annual fee: $95
• Purchase intro APR: N/A
• Balance transfer intro APR: N/A
• Regular APR: 19.49 percent to 27.49 percent variable APR

The current welcome offer

This card’s latest limited-time online bonus is a nice boost to the card’s previous offer: If you can spend $3,000 with the card in your first 90 days as a cardholder, you can earn 70,000 bonus miles, plus Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23).

The value of the companion fare is solid on its own, but the bonus miles take the offer to the next level. Based on Bankrate’s latest point valuations, 70,000 miles could be worth around $770 in travel with Alaska (based on a 1.1-cent-per-mile valuation). Even if the companion fare only saved you, for example, $150 on an extra ticket, that could add up to a total bonus value of over $900 in Alaska Airlines travel.

That beats out the value you'll find on many of the best airline cards on the market. And while the bonus spending requirement has gone up with the latest offer ($3,000 versus $2,000 previously), it's still reasonable if you put most of the spending on the card.

Rewards rate

The Alaska Airlines Visa Card offers Mileage Plan miles for each dollar you spend, which makes it worth considering if you’re looking for ways to earn airline miles even if you aren’t flying often.

The card also recently added a slew of new bonus categories that make it more rewarding and practical even for occasional travelers. Still, a co-branded airline card like this won’t give you as much flexibility to redeem your miles as a general travel card.

Earning rewards

Cardholders earn 3 miles per dollar spent with Alaska Airlines, as well as 2 miles per dollar on eligible gas, cable, streaming services and local transit purchases (including ride share purchases). You'll also earn 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases. While gas is likely to be the most rewarding non-airfare category for most people, commuters who frequently use public transit could also squeeze a lot of value out of the card's rewards rates.

That said, plenty of competing airline credit cards offer bonus miles in even more popular everyday spending categories, like groceries or dining out. These spending categories are generally more valuable since they make up the bulk of most peoples’ expenses.

Redeeming rewards

Alaska Airlines award flights start at just 5,000 miles, which is an excellent point of entry for any frequent flyer program. You can also use your miles to book hotel stays at more than 400,000 locations or to upgrade your seat to First Class. Fortunately, your miles won’t expire for the life of your account. Even if you close your account you can reinstate your miles for a fee for up to one year.

To make redeeming your miles easier, the airline features a tool on its website that lets you know how many miles you’ll need for an award flight to different regions the airline services. This frequent flyer tool also shows how you can use Alaska miles for flights with oneworld partners, which reach a wider network of over 1,000 destinations.

While the Alaska Airlines frequent flyer program has plenty to offer, this card and program are geared to individuals who live on the West Coast or fly Alaska Airlines often. When you look at the airline’s route map, you can quickly see that Alaska Airlines doesn’t even service states like North Dakota, Iowa, Alabama and Arkansas, so this program may not be a great fit if you frequent those areas. You could potentially use Alaska miles for flights with partners from these destinations, but your options will be more limited than if you were using a non-branded rewards card.

According to Bankrate’s latest point valuations, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles are worth around 1.1 cents each on average. That falls short of many competing airlines’ estimated average rewards values, including Delta SkyMiles and Southwest Rapid Rewards points.

Not only do Alaska miles not carry as much monetary value as other airlines’ miles, but Alaska Airlines’ travel map may be more limited. This makes them less valuable from a usability perspective.

The Alaska Airlines Visa Card has some benefits worth noting, including perks that can help you save big when you fly. Unfortunately, the Alaska Airlines Visa Card doesn’t come with several of the usual airline card benefits like priority boarding or elite qualifying miles.

Famous Companion Fare

Individuals who sign up for this card and spend $6,000 or more on purchases within the prior anniversary year can get access to Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare, which starts at $122 once you pay $99 for the fare and a minimum of $23 in airline taxes and fees.

The Companion Fare with Alaska also includes Virgin America flights, covering most of the United States. You’ll only have one use per year, but each account anniversary you’ll have an affordable opportunity to bring a friend or family member on your next trip.

In-flight discounts and priority boarding

Frequent Alaska customers will also love the fact this card gives a 20 percent discount on in-flight purchases. You and up to six companions on the same reservation also get priority boarding when you pay for your flight with your card.

Free checked bags

Finally, cardholders get a free checked bag on Alaska flights. This benefit also extends to up to six other people on the same itinerary. The projected savings for this perk is approximately $60 per person on a round-trip flight.

The Alaska Airlines Visa Card’s fees are on par with those of most mid-tier airline credit cards. It carries a $95 annual fee and doesn’t charge any foreign transaction fees.

Taking advantage of the Companion Fare and free checked bags benefit at least once a year will more than offset the annual fee, but you can also recoup it via rewards by spending around $2,300 per year on Alaska Airlines purchases (based on Bankrate’s 1.1-cent-per-mile value).

Unfortunately, there is no intro APR if you’re looking to keep interest at bay on a balance transfer or any upcoming purchases. You’ll face a 19.49 percent to 27.49 percent variable APR if you don’t pay your balance each billing cycle.

If you’re considering the Alaska Airlines Visa Card, you should take time to compare it to other travel credit cards and airline cards before you apply. The chart below shows how the Alaska Airlines Visa Card stacks up against cards that offer similar perks and rewards.

Alaska Airlines Visa Card vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card lets you earn rewards for travel with more flexibility than a co-branded airline card. You can redeem your miles to cover any travel purchase charged to your card in the last 90 days at a rate of one cent per mile.

The Venture Rewards card also earns more miles for general purchases than the Alaska Airlines card. This makes it a better choice for cardholders looking to earn rewards on everyday spending and cash in on a future trip.

You can also transfer your miles to Capital One’s airline and hotel partners, which include some oneworld partners that offer the same routes you can book with Alaska Airlines. Plus, depending on the transfer partner and flight or hotel, Capital One Miles can be worth around 2 cents per mile on average based on our estimates, which is almost double the value of Alaska Airline miles.

While you won’t get any airline-specific benefits, you do get a fee credit toward Global Entry or TSA Precheck membership.

Alaska Airlines Visa Card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred

Along with ongoing rewards in a range of everyday spending categories, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently offering one of the best sign-up bonuses available on a travel credit card in its price range.

You can redeem your points for travel through Chase, statement credits, gift cards or merchandise, or you can transfer points to one of Chase’s airline or hotel partners at a 1:1 ratio. If you redeem for Chase travel, you also get a 25 percent increase to the value of your points.

Although the card doesn’t offer frequent flyer benefits with a specific airline, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card boasts a better overall rewards rate than most airline cards and points that are much more flexible.

Best cards to pair with this card

If you are considering the Alaska Airlines Visa Card but hoping to pair it with another rewards card, we suggest pairing it up with a flexible travel credit card, especially if Alaska Airlines is one of the reward program’s transfer partners. That way, you can use your Alaska Airlines Visa Card to rack up miles for the flights you want while using your flexible travel credit card to earn points for other airline bookings or hotel stays.

If you only travel occasionally, it’s also worth considering whether cash back may be a better form of rewards for you than travel points. And since the Alaska Airlines Visa card earns so poorly on general purchases, it may be worth adding a flat-rate cash back card like the Citi® Double Cash Card to your wallet for a more optimal rewards strategy. This would enable you to earn up to 2 percent cash back on every purchase (1 percent when you buy, 1 percent when you pay off purchases), giving you a solid cash cushion for spending outside of Alaska Airlines.

The Alaska Airlines Visa Card can definitely be worth the $95 annual fee, but only if you are in a position to use Alaska miles and the card’s companion fare. If you live in an area not serviced by Alaska Airlines, or if you frequently fly to destinations outside of the airline’s service area, you may want to look at other card options.

Fortunately, there are a great many rewards and travel credit cards to choose from. No matter whether the Alaska Airlines Visa Card makes sense for your travel needs, you should consider all your options before you decide.