I Might Get the Alaska Airlines Credit Card Now... a New Companion Pass Enhancement!

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One of the best features of the Alaska Airlines credit card is that you receive a $99 companion pass every single year upon account renewal. This pass literally comes with no exclusions and the person using the pass will even earn miles for their flight. The card comes with a $75 annual fee and with taxes/fees on the pass you are paying $121, so in theory the companion pass ticket is costing a total of $196. Not bad for a free roundtrip ticket, including Alaska and Hawaii!

Up until this point I actually have never had the Alaska Airlines credit card, although it is a great card. I live in Boston and there are not many Alaska Airline routes from New England. And any designations that include a layover usually require extremely long layovers and just ultimately aren’t worth it (i.e., flying to Hawaii on Alaska Airlines). However, it was just announced that you can now use the companion certificate on Virgin America flights! This is great news as it opens up so many more opportunities for those that live outside of the West Coast. While there still aren’t many routes on Virgin America from Boston, actually the only non-stop flight is to Los Angeles, this is actually a route I fly on often and can take advantage of the companion pass. It also provides a much better cheaper opportunity to get to Hawaii.

Screen Shot 2017-03-20 at 12.13.42 PM — *Alaska Airlines Route Map*

Screen Shot 2017-03-20 at 12.13.11 PM — *Virgin America Route Map*

When using the companion pass on Virgin America flights, you simply book your flight on Alaska Airlines and pick whatever flights you desire. You can also pick an itinerary with both Virgin America and Alaska Airline flights and the companion pass will apply.

The Alaska Airlines credit cards is also one of the easier cards to be approved for and as of today has limited restrictions on how often you can apply (many people apply every 91 days).

Thanks to One Mile at a Time for letting me know about this enhancement!

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