You might have heard about people getting “free” round-trip tickets using credit card miles, but it’s hard to believe until you see it yourself. That’s why I’m here to tell you how the Alaska Airlines Credit Card got me AND my family free round-trip tickets to Disney.
I mean, free round-trip tickets? There has to be a catch, right? After going through the motions myself, I found out these offers aren’t too good to be true. It turns out that if your credit card is decent and you’re committed to paying off your monthly balance, you really can score free flights (to anywhere, not just Disney). Of course, there are several other credit cards that can help earn you free travel, but in my opinion, Alaska Airlines has the best deals for this hack.
Please note, The Krazy Coupon Lady has not been compensated in any way for this article; we just wanted to help a sister out since travel is so dang expensive.
Here’s exactly what you need to do to score free flights with the Alaska Airlines Credit Card:
Step 1: Sign up for the Alaska Airlines Credit Card.
It doesn’t matter when you do this, but the best time to sign up for Alaska’s credit card is toward the end of the year. They tend to have more generous offers through Black Friday and the entire holiday season.
The Alaska Airlines Credit Card has a $75 annual fee, which will be the first charge to your new credit card. But you’re not even going to stress about that because of the free trip you’re about to get. Just hang on, you’ll see!
Once you’re all signed up, you’ll need to create and link your Alaska Mileage Plan Account to your Alaska Credit Card to make everything easy-peasy.
Note: You can’t sign up for this card if you’ve already signed up within the past 24 months. And you’ll need to keep your credit card open at least until you’ve spent the points you’ve earned.
Step 2: Spend at least $2,000 within 90 days to get 40,000 bonus miles.
In order to get a 40K mile bonus, you have to spend at least $2,000 on the Alaska Airlines Credit Card within the first 90 days. I hit the $2,000 mark by simply paying all my bills with my credit card: cable, groceries, car payment, fuel, you name it. Basically, I put everything I’d normally buy on my Alaska Credit Card to qualify for those 40,000 bonus miles.
Spending this much in less than 90 days takes some discipline — you’ll want to pay off your balance ASAP to avoid interest fees, but it’s totally doable to get 2/3 of the way toward your free airfare.
Total miles earned with my Alaska Airlines Credit Card: 42,000
Step 3: Join the Alaska Mileage Plan Shopping program to get miles on all your purchases.
With Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Shopping Program, you can earn air miles by shopping with their retail partners and paying with your Alaska Airlines Credit Card. If you do both, you can earn anywhere from two to 20 miles for every dollar spent! You can easily shop online with their Mileage Plan Shopping Button, which connects you to thousands of online retail partners and sends you alerts for bonus miles.
I earned a bunch of extra miles just by shopping for holiday gifts during Black Friday and Cyber Monday!
Here’s how my spending broke down:
- Kohl’s: I spent $500 shopping during Black Friday/Cyber Monday (5x miles for every dollar) and earned an additional 2,500 miles.
- Walmart Groceries: I spent $500 in two months (1x mile for every dollar) and earned an additional 500 miles.
- Macy’s: I spent $200 on Cyber Monday (6x miles for every dollar) and earned an additional 1,200 miles.
Plus, since I shopped during a bonus miles period (which typically happens near the end of the year), I earned 500 bonus miles per purchase, which gave me an extra 1,500 points!
Total miles earned through Mileage Plan Shopping: 5,700
Total miles earned with my Alaska Airlines Credit Card: 47,700
Step 4: Refer a friend to the Alaska Airlines Credit Card and get 10,000 bonus miles when they’re approved.
Alaska Airlines has a referral program for their credit card, which gives you 10,000 bonus miles when someone you refer gets approved.
My sister couldn’t sign up fast enough once I told her about all the miles I was earning on things I’d buy anyway. She signed up for the Alaska Airlines Credit Card, got approved, and BOOM. I earned 10,000 bonus miles just like that.
Total bonus miles from one referral: 10,000
Total miles earned with my Alaska Airlines Credit Card: 57,700
Related: Check out these other refer-a-friend programs for credit cards and services that’ll save you hundreds.
Step 5: Sign up for Mileage Plan Rewards Dining to earn air miles when you dine out.
When you join Alaska Mileage Plan Dining, you’ll earn 1,000 bonus miles on your first meal. Plus, you’ll get up to five miles for every dollar you spend at over 10,000 eligible restaurants!
So just by signing up and dining out at a local restaurant where my family ALWAYS eats, I earned a total of 2,360 extra miles.
Total miles earned through Mileage Plan Dining: 2,360
Total miles earned with my Alaska Airlines Credit Card: 60,060
Step 6: Book four round-trip tickets to Anaheim, California using 60,000 miles plus $50 (per person).
YOU DID IT! First, check the Alaska Airlines fare calendar to find tickets that only cost 15,000 miles per round trip. That’s how I got four free tickets to Anaheim for 60,000 miles!
Now that you booked a free trip to Disneyland for you and the fam, all you have to do is find out how to do a Disney vacation on a budget (and we can help with that).
Here’s a final breakdown of how I earned 60,000 miles with my Alaska Airlines Credit Card:
- 42,000 air miles for spending $2,000 on my credit card in the first 90 days
- 2,500 air miles for spending $500 at Kohl’s
- 500 air miles for spending $500 at Walmart
- 1,200 air miles for spending $200 at Macy’s
- 1,500 air miles for shopping during a bonus miles period
- 10,000 air miles for referring my sister
- 1,000 air miles for signing up for their Mileage Plan Dining program
- 1,360 air miles for dining out at eligible restaurants
Total miles earned with my Alaska Airline Credit Card: 60,060
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