Alaska adds annual maximum to mileage purchases for non elites
#1
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Alaska adds annual maximum to mileage purchases for non elites
Alaska is adding an annual cap to the number of miles that can be bought or purchased each year to 150K. This is waived for elites.
There appears to be an error in where the line break is but it seems pretty clear
It says:
Its supposed to say:
There appears to be an error in where the line break is but it seems pretty clear
It says:
- Your Mileage Plan account may be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles acquired through Points.com in a calendar year, whether purchased by you or gifted to you. MVP, MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75K.
- Mileage Plan member accounts have no annual limit on the number of miles which may be purchased or gifted through Points.com.
- Your Mileage Plan account may be credited up to a maximum total of 150,000 miles acquired through Points.com in a calendar year, whether purchased by you or gifted to you.
- MVP, MVP Gold and MVP Gold 75K Mileage Plan member accounts have no annual limit on the number of miles which may be purchased or gifted through Points.com.
#3
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https://thepointsguy.com/news/alaska-buy-miles-promo/
Alaska is apparently uninterested in having their pseudo-currency inflated by demand this way. It’s not unreasonable: other airlines have annual limits on miles purchases too.
#5
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Every time the sale goes up, there are those who do the maximum per transaction purchase multiple times. Then there are the mileage brokers that buy them up as well. At one point AS tried to stop foreign members from buying but changed their mind for one reason or another. Now they want to restrict to only elite members. Its still enough points that everyone that wants to can buy enough points for RT on CX F. I bet it makes EK happy as well.
#6
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As someone who will probably not make elite status next year (slow-down in work travel and travel in general) I'm still happy about this. I really want Alaska miles to keep some sort of value and not become something where we run into another EK situation and major devaluation because of brokers and people taking crazy advantage of this. Yes if I don't make MVP Gold then I'll probably close my AS Visa and may get a new one in 2 years. The companion cert is really not much value to me without being MVP Gold or at least both my partner and I having MVP since you can't upgrade. We may try to push to both get to MVP at least.
Again - I'm glad that AS is doing some things so that those that really take advantage won't be able to.
Again - I'm glad that AS is doing some things so that those that really take advantage won't be able to.
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it's a way to prop up the value of miles a little by imposing slight restrictions on availability. It's a good thing.
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You are of course right, Alaska is restricting supply, as opposed to allowing whatever natural demand exists for their pseudo-currency (stimulated by bloggers saying "fly CX F for pennies on the dollar" to their audiences) to exist unabated and freely available to be minted by points.com. Between that and reducing churn, it's anti-inflationary pseudo-monetary policy.
#12
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It is also a way to limit the extent of fraud from any individual account. When you have an elite suspected of fraud, the airline has recourse over the quick in/out purchase/redemption/resale. You lose your bank, you lose your benefits, and you might lose your airline.
#13
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https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/1953061-buy-miles-40-bonus.html
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