A choose group of airline bank cards tout companion certificates advantages. Generally talking, these perks enable you to carry a good friend or member of the family alongside at a steep low cost (or, in some instances, almost free) while you guide a qualifying ticket. They are sometimes issued yearly for renewing the relevant card.
But are these perks as nice as they appear?
In this information, we’ll deal with one such profit and share precisely how to use the Alaska Airlines companion fare supplied on the Alaska Airlines Visa® bank card and the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card, together with some methods for making the most of it.
Alaska Companion Fare overview
The companion fare on these playing cards is comparatively easy. You can carry a journey companion on an Alaska Airlines flight for a hard and fast greenback quantity (plus obligatory taxes and charges).
You can obtain a companion fare in two methods: as a part of a welcome bonus and for annually you maintain the card. Currently, the welcome presents for each the private and enterprise playing cards embody one:
- Alaska Visa bank card: Get 70,000 bonus miles and Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and charges from $23) with this provide. To qualify, make $3,000 or extra in purchases inside the first 90 days of opening your account.
- Alaska Visa Business: Get 50,000 bonus miles plus Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and charges from $23) with this provide. To qualify, make $3,000 or extra in purchases inside the first 90 days of opening your account.
Then, you’ll be able to obtain an additional companion fare for annually you maintain both card, however you should spend $6,000 or extra on purchases inside the prior anniversary 12 months to unlock this profit.
It’s necessary to be aware that the companion fare is simply legitimate on Alaska-operated flights. While Alaska has some terrific airline companions that provide you with entry to some implausible award redemptions like Cathay Pacific top quality, you’ll be able to’t make the most of the companion low cost on these different carriers — and this has remained constant since Alaska joined the Oneworld alliance.
Related: How to redeem miles with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
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Companion Fare restrictions
The profit additionally carries some extra restrictions and objects of be aware, as laid out on the service’s companion fare FAQ web page:
- Both the main ticket holder and the companion have to be booked on the identical itinerary at the identical time.
- The certificates is legitimate for coach journey solely, although the tickets are eligible for upgrades.
- The companion fare have to be redeemed on alaskaair.com by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on the expiration date, typically 12 months after being issued (although journey can happen after the expiration date).
- Both vacationers accrue miles on the tickets.
- There are not any blackout dates.
- You wouldn’t have to be considered one of the vacationers to use your companion fare. However, you should use your Alaska card to pay for the tickets. (More particulars underneath “Book for friends or family members” in a while in the information.)
If you are still ready for the catch, let me save you a while. There actually is not one; this perk really is a terrific possibility to save cash yearly on an Alaska Airlines flight.
Related: Alaska Airlines Visa bank card overview
When do you obtain the companion fare?
As far as timing goes, the phrases point out that the first 12 months’s companion fare will submit to your Mileage Plan account inside the first two billing cycles after qualifying for the sign-up bonus by reaching the minimal spending necessities. However, once I added the card to my pockets in 2018, I acquired the low cost code simply six days after my qualifying assertion closed, so that you hopefully will not be caught ready.
After 12 months one, the phrases point out that you will obtain the companion code inside two billing cycles after your anniversary date. However, my expertise is a bit sooner than that timeline.
My private expertise of receiving the companion fare
I initially opened my account on July 3, 2018, so I anticipated my companion fare annually to arrive in mid-to-late August. However, every subsequent fare has posted a bit earlier, even earlier than the $75 annual charge hit my account:
- My 2019 fare posted to my account on July 29, 2019 — lower than 4 weeks after my account anniversary.
- My 2020 fare posted to my account on July 22, 2020.
- My 2021 fare posted to my account on July 21, 2021.
- My 2022 fare posted to my account on July 21, 2022.
My expertise has additionally proven that you simply will not obtain notification of its arrival, so you will want to periodically test by yourself.
Related: How we’re saving nearly 50% on airfare for our cruise to Alaska
How do you utilize the Alaska Visa companion fare?
When it comes time to use the companion fare you’ve got earned on the Alaska Airlines Visa bank card or the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card, the reserving course of is comparatively simple.
For starters, it is necessary to be aware that the profit takes the type of a reduction code that’s mechanically deposited into your account. To discover it, merely log in to your Mileage Plan account, discover the low cost and companion fare codes part on the profile homepage and see in case you have a sound code.
The precise code can be a sequence of letters and numbers straight beneath the “Shop” icon (which I’ve blurred out in the image under):
To begin the search course of, click on the “Shop” icon to go straight to Alaska’s search engine. The companion fare code needs to be mechanically copied into the Discount or companion fare code subject (once more, mine is blurred out right here):
From there, enter your search standards, click on “Find Flights” and make sure that you solely have two passengers chosen. If you attempt to guide for greater than that, you will get an error message like this:
I realized this when attempting to guide a flight for me (the cardholder), my spouse and my daughter. To get round this limitation, I merely booked my daughter and me collectively to use the companion fare after which created a separate reservation for my spouse.
Once you’ve got initiated the search, the outcomes web page will flag eligible itineraries with a inexperienced icon subsequent to the worth:
Find the flight you need and click on “Add to Cart.” The abstract web page will point out that your base fare is the common worth, however your companion fare is simply $99 plus taxes and charges from $23.
Expect to pay at the very least $23 extra to cowl extra taxes and charges to your companion, together with:
- U.S. flight phase tax
- U.S. passenger facility cost
- U.S. September 11 safety charge
- Any state or country-specific charges (e.g., U.S. Alaska/Hawaii departure tax)
In the above instance, the whole for 2 passengers comes to $722.83. However, if I take away the companion fare code, the worth jumps to $1,174.40.
In different phrases, on this pattern round-trip itinerary from Orlando (MCO) to Seattle (SEA), the profit saves $451.57 — greater than 4 occasions the private card’s $95 annual charge.
How do you maximize the companion fare?
So, how do you make the most of this companion ticket profit on the Alaska Airlines Visa card? Well, it is truly fairly onerous not to get a whole lot of worth from it. The private Alaska Visa Signature card carries a $95 annual charge, whereas the Alaska Visa Business card is $70 for the firm and $25 for every card on the account.
Meanwhile, your companion’s ticket will sometimes value $122 ($99 -plus ~$23 in taxes and charges). As a outcome, you will want to guide a ticket with a base fare of greater than $197 to get extra worth than you are paying.
This could also be more durable on quick hops up and down the West Coast, however for those who’re trying to fly farther — probably even to Hawaii — it is fairly simple to discover a ticket at this degree to come out forward.
Related: The finest time to go to Hawaii this 12 months
However, there are a couple of methods to stretch the worth of this even additional:
Include an open jaw
One of the finest issues about the Alaska companion fare is that you simply’re not restricted to a easy, round-trip itinerary. You can guide a one-way ticket, however you’d most likely get the most worth by utilizing it in different methods. The first useful various is to construct in an open jaw, whereby you fly into one metropolis and again out of a unique one, permitting you to see two locations on a single ticket. This ticket would nonetheless be eligible for the companion fare profit.
To accomplish this, comply with the directions above: log in to your account, go to the Discount and Companion fare codes part and click on Shop. Change from Round-trip to multicity from the search web page and enter your search standards. The outcomes will once more present you that your companion profit is being utilized.
Let’s say you wanted to guide a flight from New York-JFK to the West Coast, and also you needed to fly into Portland (PDX) however then again out of Seattle (SEA). When you enter these parameters into the search fields, you’ll be able to mix these two flights right into a single itinerary and leverage the companion fare profit.
To get between the two cities, you can choose up a one-way rental automobile, take Amtrak or think about using the following technique for maximizing this perk.
Include a stopover
Instead of being compelled to “fill” the open jaw between the two cities in the above instance, you can fill it with a flight and embody a stopover. In this case, your itinerary turns into a flight from New York to Seattle with a stopover in Portland. While you do have to pay to your ticket and any extra taxes and charges for the companion’s added flight, you are extending the worth of the profit even additional.
Related: How to guide free stopovers with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
Here’s what the mixed itinerary would appear to be:
If you take away the companion code, the worth for this itinerary jumps to $1,280.42, supplying you with almost $500 value of worth on a single ticket.
Of course, you can additionally mix an open jaw and a stopover to lengthen the worth even additional. For instance, as an example you have been flying out of Orlando (MCO) and needed to go to Hawaii after which cease in Portland in your approach residence. Since the Aloha State is such a trek from Florida, you need to go to each Maui and Oahu, and also you discover a low-cost one-way flight between the two islands.
Here are your multicity search parameters:
- Orlando (MCO) to Kahului (OGG)
- Honolulu (HNL) to Portland (PDX)
- Portland (PDX) to Orlando (MCO)
And this is a pattern of the itinerary you’ll have:
This journey provides you an in a single day layover in San Diego, eight nights in Hawaii — cut up nonetheless you want between the islands — and 5 nights in Portland. In this instance, eradicating the companion code would trigger the worth to soar from $1,354.47 to $2,368.76, supplying you with an unimaginable worth of over $1,000.
Now, I do know full effectively that this itinerary will not be a sensible comparability, however spending the equal of $700 per individual for flights from Florida to Hawaii and again with a stopover in Portland is not too shabby.
When I first acquired this card again in 2015, I booked an identical itinerary. We flew from Orlando to Maui (with an in a single day layover in San Diego), spent 4 nights at the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, flew again to San Diego, spent 4 nights at the Andaz San Diego, after which flew residence to Orlando. In that case, the companion fare saved us effectively over $750.
Now, it is value noting that the phrases & situations of the companion fare state the following: “multiple stopovers not allowed.” However, I used to be ready to worth out an itinerary with two stopovers: Orlando to San Diego (stopover 1) to Portland (vacation spot) to Seattle (stopover 2) again to Orlando. The abstract web page indicated that the companion fare utilized to the complete itinerary.
Just bear in mind that this routing is technically in opposition to the phrases of the companion fare. And it appears like Alaska Airlines could also be imposing this prohibition of a number of stopovers going ahead.
Related: Maximizing Alaska Airlines’ award routing guidelines
Consider a standing problem
A 3rd approach to maximize the companion ticket is thru a standing problem. While Alaska used to present a straight-up standing match for elite vacationers from different airways, the service now presents you a three-month trial of the equal tier of Mileage Plan MVP standing. If you are a higher-tier member of one other loyalty program, you could even get pleasure from MVP Gold or MVP Gold 75K standing, placing you in an ideal place to snag an improve and revel in different perks in your journey.
However, the most necessary factor to take into accout is timing. Once your standing problem is authorised, you will have non permanent standing for 3 months — and also you want to fly a certain quantity throughout that point to keep it:
- MVP: 5,000 miles
- MVP Gold: 10,000 miles
- MVP Gold 75K: 20,000 miles
As a outcome, be certain to wait till your flight is lower than three months away to provoke the problem. That approach, you will get pleasure from the corresponding perks in your journey, and the ticket booked with the companion fare will aid you meet the necessities to lengthen your standing for the remainder of the 12 months.
Book for mates or relations
This subsequent suggestion is one thing I did not initially understand once I opened the Alaska Visa the first time round, however it may well assist if it appears such as you will not give you the chance to use this perk in a given 12 months. Unlike most companion ticket advantages, you do not want to be considered one of the vacationers to use it. This could seem shady, nevertheless it’s truly spelled out on the card’s Companion Fare FAQ web page.
One of the questions is, “Who can use my companion fare code?” and this is the reply:
“The Mileage Plan™ member who owns the companion fare code must either be one of the travelers or the purchaser of the reservation. If the member is allowing two travelers to use his or her companion fare code, then the member’s name must match the name on the credit card used to purchase the reservation.”
One of our TPG writers did this for a colleague final 12 months, saving him almost $700 on a transcontinental flight. I, too, have used this a couple of occasions for mates and associates once I had expiring companion fares that I wasn’t going to give you the chance to use.
This is completely permitted so long as you pay for the reservation utilizing your Alaska Visa card.
Related: Maximizing redemptions with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
Open two Alaska playing cards in your family
Another approach to make the most of this perk is for those who take a number of annual journeys on Alaska or are reserving a single journey for 4 or extra vacationers. If you and your partner, companion or important different each open the card, you will every have your individual companion tickets to use annually, and you do not even want to journey when utilizing it. Here are some examples of when this might work effectively:
- Family of 4: A single companion fare for a household of 4 would minimize the ticket worth by roughly 25% in the first 12 months; if each mother and father have one, the worth can be slashed almost in half.
- Family of three plus a good friend: If you are a household of three (like me), you can use a second companion fare to make a journey with your child and permit them to carry alongside a good friend.
- Weekend with mates: Maybe you are planning a bachelor or bachelorette occasion in the subsequent 12 months or two. By having a number of companion fares unfold throughout the group, you’ll be able to save some severe money for the journey itself.
- Two journeys as a pair: If you sometimes take at the very least two round-trip flights on Alaska as a pair, you’ll be able to leverage two companion fares, the place one pays for the first ticket and the different pays for the second. We have retired mates who journey to Seattle from Florida a number of occasions per 12 months, they usually every have an Alaska card for this very cause.
Keep it easy
Finally, you might have considered trying to contemplate holding issues easy. You haven’t got to add an open jaw, nor do you want to embody a stopover. Sometimes, it makes the most sense simply to guide the flight you want and nonetheless get some stable worth from it.
That’s precisely the place I discovered myself in a few years in the past. We have been in search of flights round the holidays to and from Salt Lake City (SLC), and we managed to seize a implausible Economy Web Special on American Airlines for the return leg. However, the outbound portion was nonetheless up in the air — till I remembered I had an unused companion fare (initially used for a flight at the finish of a canceled journey to Asia).
I booked a ticket for my daughter and me utilizing the certificates, although even with the low cost, it nonetheless set me again $566.20 out of pocket (because it was round the holidays). However, once I noticed that the one-way ticket had dropped to $369 per individual (thanks to worth monitoring on Google Flights), I modified the flight and acquired $84 again into my Alaska pockets — which might be put towards a brand new flight.
The whole value of the itinerary? $482.20.
Paying over $240 per individual for a one-way, home flight hurts, however with out the low cost, the flight would’ve been $737.20.
By paying a $95 annual charge on the Alaska Visa card, I saved $255 — and that is earlier than contemplating the free checked luggage we loved on the flight.
Bottom line
When you hear “companion ticket” in relation to a bank card, you most likely begin picturing all of the restrictions that might forestall you from utilizing a profit that appears useful on the floor. However, the companion fare profit on the Alaska Airlines Visa bank card and the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card really is versatile and easy to use on all method of itineraries, although you’re restricted to flights on Alaska steel.
If you’ve got by no means thought-about these playing cards earlier than, hopefully, this submit has proven you simply how useful they are often.
