Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card — Full Review [2024]

Great Card If

• If you’re a frequent Alaska Airlines flyer.
• You want perks like free checked bags and priority boarding.
• You could make good use of the annual companion fare certificate.

Don’t Get If

• You seldom fly with Alaska.
• You want a card that earns transferable rewards.

Alaska Signature Card — Is It Worth It?

If you frequently fly with Alaska Airlines, the Alaska Signature card is likely worth it for you. The card helps you earn far more Alaska miles than you would otherwise earn, with 3x miles on Alaska flights, 2x miles on eligible gas, EV charging station, cable, streaming services, and local transit purchases, and 1x miles on all other purchases.

Plus, if you have an eligible Bank of America account, you receive a 10% rewards bonus on all miles earned from card purchases. This means that, at the end of your cardmember year, if you’ve earned 30,000 miles from card purchases, you receive a further 3,000 bonus miles.

The Alaska Signature card also offers several other rewarding perks, such as free checked bags, priority boarding, 20% back on inflight purchases, an annual companion certificate when you spend $6,000 on the card, and more.

Alaska Signature Card Top Perks and Benefits

Let’s take a detailed look at the specific perks of the Alaska Signature card.

Annual Companion Certificate

The annual companion certificate on the Alaska Signature card allows you to book a companion fare flight for just $122 — a $99 fare plus taxes and fees starting from $23.

The companion fare is valid for any round-trip economy ticket purchased through the Alaska website for anywhere Alaska flies (including internationally).

Needless to say, depending on where you are planning to fly and the time of year, it is likely that the cash price of your companion’s tickets could be far more than the $122 you’d pay with the companion fare. However, you are required to spend $6,000 on your card in the previous calendar year to earn the companion certificate.

Free Checked Bags and Priority Boarding

Paying for checked bags can be expensive, especially when you are traveling with a large party. But with the Alaska Signature card, you and up to 6 guests traveling on your reservation receive free checked bags. This can amount to pretty large savings if you often travel with family and friends.

Your full party of up to 6 guests also receives priority boarding, allowing you to be one of the first passengers to board so that you can settle in and secure overhead bin space for your carry-on items.

Discount on Inflight Purchases

If you often buy items on your Alaska flights, especially Wi-Fi, the Alaska Signature card helps save you money there as well, with a 20% rebate toward food, beverages, and Wi-Fi purchased on Alaska and Alaska-operated flights.

Discount on Alaska Lounge+ Membership

If you’re a frequent Alaska Airlines flyer, you likely have an Alaska Lounge at your home airport. If you want to be able to access these lounges each time you fly, you can use your Alaska Signature card to get a $100 discount off an annual Alaska Lounge+ membership.

Best Ways To Earn and Redeem Alaska Miles

By far, the easiest way to earn more Alaska Airlines miles is to use your card for all of your daily expenses and pay your statement balance in full each month. This will ensure that you’re earning anywhere from 1x to 3x miles on these purchases, depending on what bonus category the purchase falls in.

If you’re an Alaska Airlines frequent flyer, it probably comes as no surprise to you that Alaska offers one of the most valuable airline loyalty programs. Once you’ve built up a nice stash of miles, you’ll have tons of great ways to redeem Alaska miles thanks to their lucrative award charts.

Alternative Cards to the Alaska Signature Card

Bilt World Elite Mastercard^®

In the world of cards that earn transferable rewards, the Bilt Rewards program is the only 1:1 transfer partner program with Alaska Airlines.

With the Bilt Card, you can earn 3x points at restaurants, 2x points on travel booked directly with airlines, hotels, and car rental agencies, and 1x points on rent payments, without a transaction fee, up to 100,000 points each calendar year. Keep in mind that you need to use the card 5 times each statement period to earn Bilt Points (Rewards & Benefits).

Plus, the Bilt Card offers other perks like cellphone insurance, a monthly rent day where the number of points you earn is doubled (except on rent purchases), trip delay insurance, rental car insurance, and more.

Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

If you prefer to earn transferable rewards to avoid being locked into the Alaska Airlines loyalty program, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is worth considering.

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you earn 5x points on Chase Travel purchases, 3x points on dining, online grocery purchases, and select streaming services, 2x points on all other travel worldwide, and 1x points on all other purchases. Plus, it too offers a 10% bonus on all points earned each year.

Beyond that, you receive perks like a $50 annual Chase Travel hotel credit, travel and purchase protections, a complimentary DoorDash DashPass membership, access to Chase transfer partners, and more.

We’ve also compared the Alaska Signature card to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card here:

• Alaska Airlines Signature card vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card