[Expired]Alaska Air Visa - 40K bonus
Jun 17, 2011, 9:45 am
#32
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: UA Plat, Copa Pres. Plat, Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, SPG LT Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 769
Jun 17, 2011, 10:14 am
#33
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Bend, OR
Posts: 136
I've been a member of Alaska's Mileage Plan program for over 10 years and have booked a few rewards with them. Availability is decent, although nowadays if you want to book something closer to the actual flight date, your chances are much slimmer. Two years ago I booked R/T tickets on Delta through them for 25K a piece on very short notice. The Alaska CSR's are excellent and welcoming.
Jun 17, 2011, 10:20 am
#35
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PHX
Posts: 4,787
It looks to me as though you have to wait a year for the $99 companion voucher. Does anyone else have experience with that? In other words, you likely have to pay two annual fees to get the voucher. I'm assuming that the companion voucher works like the barclays one and you need to actually put the trip on the card to make the voucher work, so you'd need to still have the card and be paying the annual fee the second year.
Any experience or details much appreciated -- For 40k miles plus the $99 voucher for one annual fee, this would be a no brainer for me.
Any experience or details much appreciated -- For 40k miles plus the $99 voucher for one annual fee, this would be a no brainer for me.
Jun 17, 2011, 10:24 am
#36
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Bend, OR
Posts: 136
It looks to me as though you have to wait a year for the $99 companion voucher. Does anyone else have experience with that? In other words, you likely have to pay two annual fees to get the voucher. I'm assuming that the companion voucher works like the barclays one and you need to actually put the trip on the card to make the voucher work, so you'd need to still have the card and be paying the annual fee the second year.
Any experience or details much appreciated -- For 40k miles plus the $99 voucher for one annual fee, this would be a no brainer for me.
Any experience or details much appreciated -- For 40k miles plus the $99 voucher for one annual fee, this would be a no brainer for me.
Jun 17, 2011, 10:26 am
#37
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SEA
Posts: 1,887
Yes, 1 at issue and 1 at renewal. You keep the latter even if you cancel and don't pay the fee at renewal. My biggest issue with this card (as I said earlier) is they pulled both Experian and Equifax when I applied last year. Not very inquiry friendly.
Jun 17, 2011, 10:31 am
#38
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PHX
Posts: 4,787
Jun 17, 2011, 10:45 am
#40
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: SEA
Posts: 1,887
No, you don't need to keep the card after renewal to book the second companion ticket. It just goes in your Alaska FF account. It's transferable to anyone (as long as you book it), valid for all fares, classes, and flights operated by Alaska. You get 3x miles plus 1000 bonus miles for using the card to purchase tickets (your companion also gets 1000 bonus miles if you use the card). Since I applied for both business and personal last year (4 hard pulls, ugh), I kept the business (willing to pay $75 for the annual companion ticket and the bonus miles which are 6K for a first class companion fare). We use the companion tickets for first class travel to Mexico and Hawaii for ~$700 / person all in.
Last edited by HikerT; Jun 17, 2011 at 11:03 am
Jun 17, 2011, 11:07 am
#41
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: PHX
Posts: 4,787
No, you don't need to keep the card after renewal to book the second companion ticket. It just goes in your Alaska FF account. It's transferable to anyone (as long as you book it), valid for all fares, classes, and flights operated by Alaska. You get 3x miles plus 1000 bonus miles for using the card to purchase tickets (your companion also gets 1000 bonus miles if you use the card). Since I applied for both business and personal last year (4 hard pulls, ugh), I kept the business (willing to pay $75 for the annual companion ticket and the bonus miles which are 6K for a first class companion fare). We use the companion tickets for first class travel to Mexico and Hawaii for ~$700 / person all in.
Edit: Approved! Not sure which card though. I assume it's for the 40k.
Last edited by lkar; Jun 17, 2011 at 11:55 am
Jun 17, 2011, 1:46 pm
#43
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Wenatchee, WA
Programs: Lifetime AA Gold-1MM
Posts: 4,909
You cannot use the AS companion ticket on partner airlines, just on Alaska and Horizon metal.
Jun 17, 2011, 3:10 pm
#45
Join Date: Aug 2005
Programs: AA LTP, UA, DL, HH, Marriott/SPG
Posts: 585
But, even if they pull more then one report, it's a great card the $99 companion ticket alone is worthwhile.