Despite its pending acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines isn’t slowing down the evolution of its own operations. Unsurprisingly, that means we have to endure Alaska Mileage Plan changes coming in 2024. And, honestly, these changes are a bit of a mixed bag.
We know that Alaska Mileage Plan is an all-around better program than HawaiianMiles today. And, fortunately, I don’t think that’s going to change, even though some of the upcoming changes aren’t good. But before we get to the bad news, I want to start things off on a positive note.
Alaska Mileage Plan Changes Coming in 2024
The first set of changes all have to do with Elite status. Specifically, they impact how you earn elite status, though it’s important to note that these changes aren’t impacting the actual qualifications – mostly. The number of miles you need to qualify for status are all remaining the same.
Unified Elite Qualifying Miles
You’ll notice that, above, I said the number of miles you need is remaining the same. However, the ability to qualify on segments is going away in 2024. This will undoubtedly impact those that take large numbers of short flights. In the combined Alaska-Hawaiian loyalty program, this will, undoubtedly, make it a lot more difficult for intra-Hawaii commuters to earn status.
So how is this starting off with good news? Well, previously, Alaska had a requirement that Mileage Plan members fly a certain number of flights on their own metal to qualify. However, beginning next year, elite qualifying miles are elite qualifying miles – it doesn’t matter if you earn them flying on Alaska or one of their partners. That means you could earn Mileage Plan status flying exclusively with a partner like British Airways, Japan Airlines, or Singapore Airlines, without ever having to set foot on an Alaska jet.
Earn EQMs with Your Credit Card
Next of the Alaska Mileage Plan changes coming in 2024 is the ability to earn elite qualifying miles via credit card spend. Specifically, Alaska Airlines Visa Signature cardholders can earn 4,000 elite qualifying miles for every $10,000 they spend, up to a maximum of 20,000 miles. That means, if you spend $50,000 on your Alaska Air Visa next year, you can earn MVP status without having to go anywhere. Of course, this will also make it much easier to earn MVP Gold.
Should you spend $50,000 on your Alaska Air Visa to earn MVP status? Probably not. But, hey, if you want to do it, then go for it!
Partner Awards Changing
As you’ll recall, Alaska has a pretty simple partner awards chart this year. Unfortunately, with the Alaska Mileage Plan changes coming in 2024. However, if you read my post comparing Alaska Mileage Plan and HawaiianMiles, you already know what the 2024 partner awards chart looks like.
However, in that post, I didn’t cover what the partner award chart looks like this year. For your reference, I’m including it below.
How does that impact us? Well, here figures to mull over:
- HNL-HND: 3,854 miles
- 30,000 miles (2024) vs 30,000 miles (2023) in economy
- 40,000 miles (2024) vs 40,000 miles (2023) in premium economy
- 60,000 miles (2024) vs 50,000 miles (2023) in business
- 90,000 miles (2024) vs 70,000 miles (2023) in first class
- HNL-LHR (via LAX): 8,011 miles
- 42,500 miles (2024) vs 22,500 miles (2023) in economy
- 55,000 miles (2024) vs 42,500 miles (2023) in premium economy
- 85,000 miles (2024) vs 57,500 miles (2023) in business class
- 130,000 miles (2024) vs 70,000 miles (2023) in first class
Ouch. The changes are bad news for premium cabin awards, especially if you’re planning on flying far. That said, this is still better than Hawaiian’s partner awards. To highlight a few examples:
- HNL-HND
- JAL Economy: 40,000 miles
- JAL Premium Economy: 50,000 miles
- JAL Business: 75,000 miles
- Korean Economy: 100,000 miles
- Korean Business Class: 200,000 miles
- LAX-LHR
- Virgin Economy: 80,000 miles
- Virgin Premium Economy: 130,000 miles
- Virgin Upper Class: 160,000 miles
See, the new, worse Mileage Plan partner award chart is still up to 50% better than Hawaiian’s current one. I know that doesn’t really take away the sting of the coming changes, but still.
Baggage Fee Changes
While not part of the Alaska Mileage Plan changes coming in 2024, I think it’s prudent to mention that Alaska is modifying its baggage fees beginning January 2, 2024. Any ticket issued on or after this date will have to pay higher baggage fees. Specifically, the first checked bag fee is increasing from $30 to $35, and the second checked bag fee from $40 to $45. No other checked bag fees or allowances are changing at this time.
Any increase like this is unwelcome, though it’s worth noting that the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature does give you one checked bag free for you and up to six people traveling on the same itinerary as you. Even at today’s $30 fee, it’s easy to see how quickly this benefit can recoup the card’s $99 annual fee. Of course, if you travel alone or with one other person, the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard’s newish two-checked bag benefit is superior.
Final Thoughts
Like I said at the beginning of this post, the Alaska Mileage Plan changes coming in 2024 are a mixed bag. That said, I think the biggest takeaway I can offer up is that if you typically earn HawaiianMiles Pualani status via segments, you better make sure you hit your target in 2024. And for those of you planning on redeeming partner awards on Hawaiian, maybe wait until HawaiianMiles is folded into Mileage Plan – you’ll get much better redemption rates.