So let's say I'm going to be about 2000 miles short of the next status level and got the email regarding purchasing EQM through my Alaska Visa. Of course, the obvious way to leverage this offer is just to charge $2500 on the card in purchases I don't intend to return, but let me play devil's advocate for a sec. I'm thinking I'll buy a $2500+ ticket in Y, C, or J (ie. a refundable fare) for a flight next August (which is currently as far out as I can book). The extra 2500 EQM pushes me into the next status level. So I enjoy the new status level for the next 11 months, but shortly before the flight in August, I cancel the flight. If I request wallet credit, I think it'll be fine, since as far as the credit card is concerned, the purchase was never returned. But what if I request a refund? I'm guessing they'd claw back the RDM, but what about the EQM and the resultant bump to the next status level? I got a follow-up "Swipe And Earn" email from Alaska today with a bunch of fine print regarding this offer, but I didn't spot anything to explain how they plan on handling purchase returns.

It may not be against terms to do this, but clearly your proposal isn't the intent behind their offer. I'd be careful. If you start playing games like this, they can revoke your MP and ban you from the program for this type of "funny business". I don't see AS trying to take back anything they'd given based on new status, but certainly that will happen if you're "caught".

While I get that some of us are looking to earn status as cheaply as possible, most of that involves simply taking advantage of mistake/cheap fares and promos and not dabbling in moral gray areas that can land you on the wrong side of AS customer service.

I believe it would qualify as a "deceitful act":

Quote:

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In the event a Mileage Plan member violates these Conditions of Membership, perpetrates a fraudulent or deceitful act against Alaska Airlines, any of its partners or any of its customers, or engages in behavior offensive to Alaska Airlines' employees, partners or customers, Alaska Airlines may, without notice and in its sole discretion, suspend the Mileage Plan member's account; terminate membership in the Mileage Plan program; cancel all previously accumulated mileage; refuse to transport on a temporary or permanent basis; and/or confiscate any certificates or tickets previously issued.

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Mileage Plan T&C

Okay, I see your point. I guess it's not worth the risk of potentially getting blacklisted by AS. Nevertheless, I could still see how something similar to what I described could happen unintentionally. I don't think it's an unreasonable scenario that whatever you purchased to earn additional EQM might need to eventually be returned/cancelled/refunded for valid reasons, whether it be a future flight, a hotel reservation, a fridge, or some doohickey from Costco that broke after 6 months. I wonder how that will be handled? While I agree that you might show up on their naughty list if you put $20k on the card and then refunded it all a few months down the road after earning status, I think it can get murky pretty quickly trying to evaluate whether someone is attempting to game the system or if some purchases are being legitimately refunded. I suppose maybe they have some heuristic for attempting to identify abuse and handle it on a case-by-case basis?

Not sure about other states, but property taxes are due in California soon. For a 2% fee, I can pay these with a credit card. I'll pay these before November 15th with my Alaska credit card and keep my status. Thank you, Alaska Airlines.

I was just considering this approach. My County Assessor wants a 2.35% fee for the service.
I gotta do the math.

I dont feel like all my extra traveling was a waste because if I didn't take advantage of the 50% bonus EQM promotion, I would only have had my MVPG status extended but instead I earned 75K which I never would have had with just a simple status extension.

Seems like AS will NOT give you 50k RDM bonus if you reach 75k thru any kind of promo beside their 50% EQM bonus (such as CC spend or employer challenge). So any 75k who plan to "requal during Jan-Apr 2022" should keep that in mind.

I am not sure about this. I understand that if you get 65k or so miles through bis (with eqm promo), then say 10k through cc, you should get all the usual 75k features— during 2021

That would make sense; the 10K are EQM just like any others. They don't give you the 50K bonus on status acquired outside of full annual qualification, i.e., gained through a challenge or a covid extension, and this also makes sense.

Not quite all. Read the T&C.

**Qualified members can earn 2,500 elite-qualifying miles (maximum of 20,000) that count toward elite status qualification if they make any combination of purchase transactions totaling at least $2,500 (exclusive of any fees, including the annual fee, returns and adjustments) that post to an eligible Alaska Airlines Visa card from Septem.ber 16, 202.1 through Novem.ber 15, 202.1. Purchases from different Alaska Airlines accounts cannot be combined to reach the $2,500 threshold. One individual can only earn a maximum of 20,000 elite-qualifying miles via this campaign, even if they hold multiple Alaska Airlines Visa cards. Elite-qualifying miles will be credited to your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account within the first two billing cycles after qualifying. To qualify for this offer, your credit card account must be open with active charging privileges. Bank of America is not responsible for fulfillment of this elite-qualifying miles offer and posting of miles directly to your Alaska Mileage Plan account. Elite-qualifying miles will not appear on your credit card statement. Elite-qualifying miles count toward elite status qualification only for calendar year 2021, are non-redeemable and cannot be used toward award travel. Members who qualify for MVP Gold 75K status via this offer are not eligible to receive the 50,000 bonus miles awarded to those who earn MVP Gold 75K status. All Mileage Plan terms and conditions apply. This one-time promotion is limited to customers receiving this email.

Those T&Cs leave me with one gaping question. If I earn 75K because this promo kicks me over the top (i.e., the actual way I might qualify) but would naturally make 75K later in the year, am I out the 50K miles? If so, I will need to stop using my card!

I guess once you reach 75k thru flying in 2021 and AS does not automatically give you 50k bonus RDM, you can call Customer Care and have them fix that (or maybe reach out to anteater!)

I recently had a similar “problem” with Chase and Hyatt. They had a spend promo ($X in a certain period earned 5k Hyatt points). I moved some spend to my Hyatt Visa, among them my automobile insurance. Met the requirements, collected my points. Then, a couple months later I sold one car (and a few days later bought a new one). I went to my insurance website and removed the old vehicle from my policy after handing over the keys. That triggered a partial refund to the credit card which meant that I was (retroactively) below the threshold for the 5k bonus. It wasn’t my intent to be deceitful (thanks, Kacee) but I was wondering if Chase/Hyatt would catch this. They didn’t, but to demonstrate my intent I used the Hyatt card to pay for the insurance of the new vehicle even though a different card (CFU) would have earned more points.

Now I get why it may not be a good idea to extend.
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