Alaska Airlines announced this week that the move to a single loyalty program with Hawaiian Airlines will come this summer, and that they’ll also launch a premium credit card at that time.
They’re giving out 500 miles for joining the wait list for that card plus an additional 5,000 bonus miles if you apply and are approved – on top of the card’s initial bonus.
So far we know that this card will come with a $395 annual fee and:
- it will include a global companion award certificate valid on Alaska and partner airline awards.
- it will offer 3 points per dollar on foreign transactions and dining, and offer accelerated elite status.
- waived award ticket fees, lounge passes and inflight wifi passes, plus same-day confirmed fee waivers will also be benefits.
Brett Catlin, Alaska’s Vice President of Loyalty, Alliances and Sales, shared some additional details about the card’s companion award certificate with me.
- The global companion award certificates will be useable on any Alaska Airlines redemption – that means partner awards and for any class of service.
- Cardholders will receive one certificate for having the card and can receive a second certificate earned from spend each year.
- However, there will be mileage caps on these awards. The certificate earned via spend will have a higher mileage cap. Cardholders will be able to “top up” the companion award certificates with additional miles above the caps (Catlin says this is “inspired by some of what we see hotels offer”).
He also clarified – for avoidance of doubt – that the card’s ‘partner award fee’ waiver applies to the $12.50 partner award fee, and not the YQ/YR surcharges imposed by partners like British Airways.
That would have been nice! (That’s actually a nice earned feature of the Qatar Airways credit cards.)
I noted earlier that I certainly like the card’s 3x points-earning on foreign transactions. That’s a unique and valuable category accelerator.
Catlin agrees, telling me “I’m most excited about the 3x on all foreign spend.”
Bonusing foreign transactions is something that some other airlines have wanted to achieve, but the economics never worked because their bank co-brand deal required the program to subsidize the points-earning on foreign transactions due to the foreign transaction fee waiver in the product.
The foreign transaction fee waiver was always important in travel rewards because when the customer would travel abroad, they’d put away cards that didn’t have it – and then wouldn’t return those cards to top of wallet when they got back home.
It’ll be really interesting to see whether this effect operates in reverse – driving the Alaska premium card to top of wallet when cardmembers leave the country, and keeping it top of wallet when they return home.
It’ll also be interesting to see the extent to which expats are able to make use of this to earn 3x on their daily spend.
