Link: Apply now for the Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card or Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card
There are various airline credit cards that offer some sort of a companion ticket for spending a certain amount. To me, one of the most valuable companion tickets is the one offered by Alaska Airlines, so in this post I wanted to look at that in more detail.
In this post:
How to earn an Alaska companion fare
There are two credit cards that offer Alaska companion fares. Both the Alaska Airlines Visa® credit card (review) and Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card (review) offer a companion fare starting at $122 annually ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23).
There’s even a companion fare offered as part of the welcome bonuses on these cards. Beyond that, the cards require $6,000 in spending in a cardmember year to earn a companion certificate on an ongoing basis. This is only one of the many great benefits of these cards.
The basics of the Alaska companion fare
The Alaska companion fare will automatically be deposited into your Mileage Plan account shortly after you complete the minimum spending on the card, and otherwise shortly after your account anniversary in subsequent years, assuming you meet the requirements. The terms state that it could take up to two billing cycles, but in my experience, it typically posts much faster than that.
When it comes to redeeming the Alaska companion fare:
- The companion fare is only valid for tickets booked in economy, though all economy fare classes are included; you can travel throughout Alaska Airlines’ route network, including to Alaska, Hawaii, and international destinations
- Tickets booked with the Alaska companion fare are upgradeable, both for the primary passenger and companion (this includes using complimentary elite upgrades, Gold Guest upgrades, instant upgrade fares, etc.)
- Both passengers booked with the Alaska companion fare earn miles for their tickets
- The companion fare is valid for a year from when it’s issued, though that’s only the book-by date, while you can travel on a subsequent date
- You’re allowed to use the companion fare code for two other people (in other words, the cardmember doesn’t need to be traveling), but you will need to use your Alaska Visa to pay for the ticket
- Both passengers need to be booked in the same itinerary, travel on the same flights, and be ticketed at the same time
- The companion fare is valid for roundtrip, one-way, and multi-city travel
- The Alaska companion fare isn’t valid for award travel, or for travel that includes segments on any airlines other than Alaska or Horizon
- You need to pay with your Alaska Credit Card to use your companion ticket, though fortunately the card offers triple miles on Alaska purchases, so it’s not a bad card to use anyway
How to book a ticket with the Alaska companion fare
The process of booking a ticket with the Alaska companion fare is really easy. Just log into your Mileage Plan account, and then on the left side scroll down to the area that says “Discount and companion fare codes,” and click “Valid.”
There you’ll see a section that should list all of your valid codes along with their expiration dates, so if you see one there, just click the “SHOP” button.
That will bring you to the booking page, where there will be an automatically generated code placed in the “Discount or companion fare code” box.
Like I said above, you can use this for a one-way ticket, like from Tampa to Honolulu…
Or you can use it for a roundtrip ticket, like from Los Angeles to Liberia, Costa Rica, which is one of Alaska’s furthest international destinations.
You can even use this to book a multi-city trip, like flying from Tampa to Maui via Seattle, with a stopover there.
How to upgrade Alaska companion fare tickets
The Alaska companion fare is limited to economy tickets, though the good news is that these tickets are upgradeable to first class. There are a few ways to go about this, especially if you have elite status, like MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, or MVP Gold 100K:
- MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K members are eligible for complimentary space-available upgrades for themselves and a companion, and those upgrades start clearing at 72-120 hours before departure, respectively (MVP members don’t receive companion upgrades); note that Saver fares, booked in the “X” fare class, are excluded
- MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K, and MVP Gold 100K members receive four Gold Guest Upgrades per year, each of which can be used to confirm a one-way upgrade at the time of booking, subject to upgrade availability; note that tickets booked in G, T, R, or X, fare classes aren’t eligible
- Elite members receive complimentary upgrades at the time of booking when booking certain fare classes and when there is confirmable upgrade availability; MVP members get complimentary upgrades on Y, S, and Z fares, MVP Gold members get complimentary upgrades on Y, S, B, M, and Z fares, and MVP Gold 75K and MVP Gold 100K members get complimentary upgrades on Y, S, B, M, H, and Z fares
- All Mileage Plan members can upgrade on a space available basis for 15,000 miles one-way, though need to book a ticket in the Y, S, B, M, or H, fare classes
- Alaska and American offer reciprocal first class upgrades, so AAdvantage elites could also be upgraded on these kinds of fares
Bottom line
A lot of airline credit cards offer companion tickets that come with all kinds of restrictions that make them virtually useless. That’s why I find Alaska’s companion tickets to be among the most valuable ones out there, given that the companion is basically treated like any other paying passenger.
What has your experience been with Alaska’s companion tickets?
I got worried that I needed to spend $6K on each of my Alaska cards. I looked it up and that's only for new cardholders.
"On January 18, 2023, Bank of America and Alaska Airlines introduced enhanced benefits to the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card. For customers who have applied for our new enhanced product, there is a spend requirement of $6,000 or more on purchases within an anniversary year to qualify for the annual companion fare."
I was worried about this too, but I just contacted Alaska Airlines and they confirmed that I will continue to receive the voucher each year. Whoo hoo!
@Ben - under the "Basics" section where you note that companion cert tickets are eligible for "instant upgrade fares," are you just referring to the MVP upgrades at booking from eligible fares, or are there some sort of generally-available Y-UP fares sold by AS which can be booked using the companion cert?
Theoretically yes. But only if there is upgrade space. Upgrade space is a lot less available that it had been, and for many routes it's just not available. It seems that there is even less further out on the calendar.
There's also the problem that you need to be at least MPV Gold for it to be useful for companion passes. MPV can only get an upgrade based on status for themselves. MPV gold...
Theoretically yes. But only if there is upgrade space. Upgrade space is a lot less available that it had been, and for many routes it's just not available. It seems that there is even less further out on the calendar.
There's also the problem that you need to be at least MPV Gold for it to be useful for companion passes. MPV can only get an upgrade based on status for themselves. MPV gold could get an upgrade for themselves and companion. The "Y-UP" fare is typically more expensive than just buying 1st class, but "Y-up" plus companion fare is cheaper than 2 1st class.
There are also fares that you can immediately upgrade with miles. Again, they are hard to find, and to my mind they're not worth it. For the closest to worth it you are saving about $400 from just buying 2 1st class tickets at a cost of 30,000 AS miles. To me they're not worth it. YMMV.
Thanks for the reply. So to be clear, the only *instant* upgrade fare (not mileage/etc.) is the one available to elite members when upgrade space is available? I.e., there is no generally-available Y-UP instant upgrade fare with AS which is eligible for the companion cert?