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Shopping portals are great ways to rack up airline miles, hotel points or transferable points from purchases you’re already going to make. In addition to getting miles from the credit card you use, you can also get bonus miles just for going through an airline, hotel or bank’s link to that merchant.
Now through June 20, buy magazines through Alaska’s MileagePlan shopping portal and get 50 miles per dollar spent. That equates to buying Alaska miles for 2 cents each — and getting free magazines to boot. In TPG’s most recent valuations, he values Alaska miles at 1.9 cents each. But, there are plenty of ways to get even more value out of Alaska miles.
Here’s how to take advantage of this offer:
For better or worse, the magazine purchase rates are pretty great. This is good if you’re looking to get a good deal, but it means that you’re going to have to order a lot of magazines to rack up miles.
One thing this deal is especially good for: extending the expiration date of your MileagePlan miles. Alaska miles expire if you don’t have activity within 24 months. Just make sure that you aren’t cutting it too close. Miles from shopping portals can take a while to post, so this isn’t the method to use if your miles are expiring in the next few weeks.
Why collect Alaska miles? Alaska’s MileagePlan has one of the best award charts for premium cabin award flights on some of the top business/first-class products in the world. Just 50,000 miles will get you a one-way flight to Asia in Cathay Pacific’s top-notch business class, a one-way to Japan in American Airlines’ retrofitted 777-200 business class or a flight to Korea in American Airlines’ surprisingly good 787-9 business class.
For 70,000 miles, you can fly one-way to Asia in Cathay Pacific’s incredible first class or Japan Airlines’ stunning first class, one-way to Australia or New Zealand in Qantas first class or one-way to India, Africa or the Middle East in Air France, KLM or British Airways business class
Other ways to get Alaska miles? The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card is still offering an increased 30,000-mile sign-up bonus, plus a companion fare pass where you only have to pay taxes.
Also, Alaska’s MileagePlan is a transfer partner of Starwood Preferred Guest. Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio with a bonus 5,000 miles for each increment of 20,000 points. Stock up on Starpoints through the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express or the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express — both offering a 25,000 Starpoint sign-up bonus.
New to online shopping portals? Here’s a quick overview:
Source: thepointsguy.com