Alaska Will Let You Convert Wallet Funds to Miles

Through November 13th, Alaska Airlines will allow Mileage Plan members to convert wallet funds in their account to miles. Here’s why you should consider this offer.

THIS OFFER HAS EXPIRED. This was the second time Alaska Airlines has offered its Mileage Plan members the opportunity to convert wallet funds to miles. Read on to learn why you should take advantage if (or when) the offer returns.

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Where were you planning to travel this year? The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted nearly all aspects of travel, and most of our plans have fallen apart. We had Ireland on our schedule, but the Emerald Isle will now have to wait another year. We canceled visits to see family in Nashville and Seattle, as well, and another trip to Savannah.

Flights Credits, Not Refunds

When U.S. airlines cancel flights, passengers are entitled to a full refund. And while it took awhile, United fully reimbursed our trip to Ireland.

But when passengers cancel their flight plans, the airlines are under no obligation to issue a refund, even in a pandemic — unless the ticket purchased was specifically refundable. So in 2020, the airline industry waived change fees and provided customers flight credits for future travel. These are cash equivalents that can be used toward future flights. We currently have future flight credit with Delta, Southwest, and Alaska. That’s great, except that these flight credits all have an expiration date.

Alaska Airlines puts these credits into an account wallet. Customers can view their funds and their expiration dates in their Mileage Plan accounts. And then apply the funds to future flight bookings before they expire.

Transfer Wallet Funds to Miles

Through November 13, 2020, Alaska will let customers convert these wallet funds to Mileage Plan miles. And at a good conversion rate. For every dollar converted, customers receive 100 miles. That’s just a penny a mile!

Plenty of websites try to put a value on points and miles, ranging from as little as 1 cent per per mile to as high as 1.8 cents a mile. But if you stick with the most conservative of these estimates, this offer is at worst a wash. I believe you’ll get closer to the top end in value, making this a potentially lucrative offer.

Why You Should Convert to Miles

Should you decide to take Alaska up on its offer, you’ll be buying miles for just one cent each with your available wallet funds. That’s a lot less than the normal cost to buy miles, a pricey proposition at 2.75 cents per mile. I rarely recommend buying miles at normal prices, unless you’re short just a few miles for an award booking. You can do better if you hold out for a promotion, with bonuses up to 60%. That drops the price to a bit under 1.72 cents per mile. Still, that is 72% more expensive than Alaska’s latest offer.

Sweet Spot Redemption Opportunities

Alaska is one of the few airlines that still publishes an award chart, which makes it easy to see at what Mileage Plan members can book with those points.

Some of the best redemption opportunities are on Trans-Pacific routes, to Asia and beyond. Want to fly First Class to Australia? Book for 70,000 miles each way on Qantas, when you use your Alaska miles. Business Class tickets are just 55,000 miles, with comparable cash fares often going for more than $5,000.

You’ll find similar awards to Asia, with First Class on Cathay Pacific for just 70,000 miles. Fly to Europe in First Class on British Airways for 70,000 miles (plus some pricey fuel surcharges on BA, which definitely lessens the value of your “free” flight).

Miles Won’t Expire… If You Have an Active Account

Unlike wallet credits from a canceled flight, your Mileage Plan miles won’t expire. But there’s a BIG caveat: you must have some activity in your account every 24 months. If not, Alaska will delete your account and all the miles in it.

That said, it’s easy to keep your account active, even if you don’t fly Alaska very often. You can use the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card, which offers an annual companion fare for just $99 plus taxes and fees (about $121). That alone justifies its $75 annual fee. You can also make purchases and earn miles with the Mileage Plan shopping portal, or earn miles for taking surveys. It counts as activity when you convert your Alaska wallet funds to miles, thus re-setting the 24-month clock.

Why You Might Not Take the Offer

This is the second time that Alaska has offered to convert wallet funds to miles. I took a pass on it about a month ago. And indeed, I can think of a few reasons NOT to take the offer.

Alaska is Joining oneworld Alliance

First and foremost, Alaska Airlines is scheduled to join the oneworld alliance on March 31, 2021. Alaska is using oneworld as a selling point for this promotion, and it indeed may be. Alaska will soon be able to offer more partner destinations and more mileage redemption opportunities. But we don’t yet know what changes might occur to Alaska’s Mileage Plan program.

• Will the award chart go away? Will it become more expensive to book using miles, giving us a de facto mileage devaluation?
• What about its current global partnerships? Singapore Airlines is in the competing Star Alliance. Will they continue to partner with Alaska?
• Could Alaska become a revenue-based program, like the other major airlines, instead of the mileage-based program as it exists today?

We don’t have answers to these questions, and that uncertainty gives me pause. There is no reason to believe Alaska will make big changes to Mileage Plan, except that change seems inevitable. For its part, the airline says it will retain its current global partnerships “as long as it’s mutually beneficial to do so.” Whatever that means.

In any event, I believe any future changes to the program would not be enough to make this offer a bad deal. The changes would have to be substantial. Still, points/miles inevitably get devalued in every program. It’s just the way they work. So if you take the offer, I recommend you have a plan to use those miles and not just leave them sitting in your account.

Award Bookings Don’t Apply toward MVP Status

If you’re chasing status with Alaska Airlines, remember that your award bookings will NOT help you get there. You can earn elite qualifying miles only through paid revenue fares.

But wallet credits are treated just like cash. So your travel using wallet funds will earn miles, and will apply toward elite status. If you convert your Alaska wallet funds to miles, you’ll be giving up this opportunity. You’ll still need to spend money on enough revenue flights to earn status — money that had been banked in your Alaska wallet.

Too Many Miles Already?

If you already have more miles than you know what to do with, you might also take a pass. That’s where I’m at right now. My wife and I have more than 500,000 Mileage Plan miles between us. We can go far with those miles already. So… why do I need even more miles? Honestly, we should probably keep the wallet funds. They’ll come in handy during 2021.

Understand the Fine Print

Alaska will let you convert your wallet funds to miles, and it’s a great value overall. But there are a few things you need to be aware of:

• Customers can convert 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of their Alaska wallet funds to miles.
• All transactions are final, so be sure this is what you want to do.
• The offer applies only to wallet funds that were in your account before November 3, 2020.
• The offer applies to any available Alaska wallet funds as of 11/3/2020, including gift certificate funds.
• The offer expires on Friday, November 13, 2020 at 11:59PM (Pacific).

If you plan to convert your Alaska wallet funds to miles, you don’t have much time.

Final Thoughts

I love this offer! Alaska Airlines will let customers use their wallet funds (if available) to essentially buy Mileage Plan miles for just a penny each. The deal is far better than any of the “buy miles” promotions regularly offered by Alaska or any other airline. You just need to have the wallet funds already in your account.

If you need to top off your balance and have wallet funds available, I would enthusiastically recommend you take the offer. Convert your Alaska wallet funds to miles.

That said, if you already have enough miles and would get more immediate benefit from using these wallet funds in 2021, then put some more thought into it. Don’t take the offer just because it’s a great offer, tempting as that may be. (And I am very tempted by this offer).

Southwest Airlines is doing a similar deal. They’ll let customers trade flight credits for Rapid Rewards points. But although I have a few dollars on account with Southwest, I won’t be making that trade. I looked at my situation and decided it wasn’t necessary.

The same applies here. Just make the best decision for you and your individual situation. The good news is that you’re unlikely to go wrong if you take the offer. And if you don’t, you’ll still have those wallet funds to use toward future flights… and MVP status.

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