Alaska Airlines card the answer to my problems?
 

So I have used amex for a long time but am sick of them for many reasons, so I got an aadvantage card. However, I regularly travel Los Angeles to tampa, where I fly delta since they do non stops, also NW to Michigan from LA, and also AA from LAX to BNA. I was not aware until reading way into the AA forum that Alaska Airlines miles can be used for award travel on all of my normally flown airlines. Is there any catch to this, any reason I shouldn't immediately switch all of my spending to this card?

Thanks in advance, it seems like more people would do this so I am curious if people just don't know or if there is a catch?

Is it Amex as a company, or a particular program like Membership Rewards that you want to stay away from?

If the latter, consider the Starwood American Express card -- miles will transfer into any of the above programs 1:1 with a 5k bonus for transferring 20k points, so you earn 1.25 miles per dollar. Plus the fee is lower.

But if you refuse to carry an Amex card, there's nothing whatever wrong with the AS Visa. It's a good card, and I like the annual $50 companion ticket that comes along with it.

it is amex as a company, and I do still carry an amex but it is the blue cash card and will only use it at costco, because I want to leave it open because it is such a big CL. They have wronged me one too many times, and I will just leave it at that.

Anyways, since you know about this card :-) I have another question. Let's say I have 10k American Airlines miles and I call Alaska to book an award ticket on American through Alaska. Will they just take the remaining 15k points I need for my award from my Alaska Air account? Or will they use all 25k from my Alaska account to book the award ticket?

Last question, is the 50 companion ticket only good on Alaska Metal or any flight booked through Alaska?

I am looking at this card because of it's abilities to use other airlines. The odds of me ever actually flying Alaskan Air is pretty slim. Anything wrong with this, or is this a bad idea for any reason?

Thanks for the help Gleff!

It's Alaska, not Alaskan.

And if you want to book a ticket through AS, you will need sufficient miles in your AS account.

I knew that ;) really I did

so here is another stupid question, but when I book award travel through Alaska is the probability of me getting an award any less than if I booked it directly through any of the direct companies(delta, AA, etc)?

This seems like a good alternative to the AAdvantage mastercard, or the diner's mastercard, because I can fly who I want without transfer fees on the diner's and not be limited to AA, no?

I also just saw a post that "you can put miles from Alaska into delta", is this true, if so do I just call Alaska, or is it a points.com thing?

Thanks upgrademe for correcting me. I have been here for a while, but am still a FF baby.

I have had no problem getting award flights using my Alaksa miles on American and on Qantas. In fact, last summer I snagged 4 first class tickets from Seattle to Montreal on AA using AS miles so my wife and kids could go with me to a family reunion.

When it says "you can put miles from Alaska into Delta" they mean you can post frequent flyer miles from Alaska flights to your Delta account (or your AA or NW accounts), not that you can transfer miles between programs.

I have the AS VISA card and think it's a good product. As mentioned before, the $50 companion certificate is a nice bonus.

alright sounds like it is the route for me to go, so, I am going to convert my BofA platinum into the signature product. Also, i read the T&C but it was not very clear regarding this, points expire after 3 years of no account activity correct? And CC usage that posts miles to the account is considered activity, right?

All of these AS-specific questions belong in the AS forum. Really.

Yes, CC useage is considered account activity.

sounds too good tobe true LOL, all the airlines I fly,I can book award travel through, lower annual fee than amex, and bonus renewal points. It's funny that a card for an airline I don't fly will be my new favorite FF card :-)

Am I missing anything or are my ideas about this card correct and I am making the right move?

Thanks again for the help all!

You may want to look into the new Diners/MC card.

I did actually and was kind of turned off by a few things.

1) everyone in the DC forum has been talking about all of the bad experiences thus far

2) the fee to transfer points .95c per 1000pts I believe?

3) that it costs 30k miles for a RT ticket, which equates to 30k in spending, if I understand correctly (which I may not, this is what I gather through preliminary research)

I definitely looked into it, and the biggest concern for me is good CS, and good points redemption. So the fact that it's 30k points and no double points makes it a little harder to earn flights, that's at least another 5k in spending, plus the higher annual fee, plus the cost to transfer. Just my thoughts on DC, but if I am incorrect on any of these please point it out because I would prefer a card like this.

Now, since I don't plan on flying AS and am not familiar with them, are they doing well, any chance of going under and me losing all my points?

Now if that is your concern then you are definately safe in Amex starwood or DC/MC.

I think some deals exsit now where you can fly Alaska on 20k miles now. Check their site or call them and ask where and what.

Now here's something to really confuse ya:

Go to BankofAmerica.com and get their visa check card and checking account. I dunno what may have changed, but this debit card used to give you 1/2 mile per $1 spent and if you think about it, that is a good thing!

Example:
anything PIN or debit is still going to give you miles (except ATMs or cash back, of course) and you get 1/2 mile and they do add up!

I went to Home Depot one time and bought a ton of bolts for a project I was working on but had to return them later when I realized I had the wrong ones. Had spent something like $250.

Since it was a debit, they gave me back CASH. That means I basically got 125 miles but got my money back.

You could always plan to do that kind of thing on purpose, and yes, it does still work. I do not have the BofA card still but I would recommend it. I ran my alaska miles up to 50k and then stopped there when I redeemed one ticket on AA and one on NWA.

So there ya go!

(ps, the BofA account is $30/ year to have it and charges you $5.95/mo for the checking acct but if you have direct deposit you can avoid this fee. AND, to get DD really easy, just sign up for INGDirect.com and do a monthly transfer of funds online between it and your new account for any amount and that counts as a DD to avoid the fee. Ing is a savings account that earns over 3% and if you wish for me to refer you to join them, we both get a monetary bonus upon your signing up! If so, send me a private message in this forum.)

now THAT was a mouthful!

;)MM