Alaska Airlines credit card is currently offering a signup promotion for new account holders. If you apply for Alaska Airlines credit card, you can qualify for up to 25,000 miles. Is this the best signup deal out there? Read our review to find out.

Company History
Did you know Alaska is about 1/5 as big as the continental United States? Alaska Airlines was founded in 1932 as a carrier geared for Alaskan flights to and from the continental US. At the time there were many flights, but today most major airlines have routes to this state. Surprisingly, Alaska Airlines’ headquarters are actually near Seattle, Washington. Today, they are partnered with the regional carrier Horizon Airlines (they both have the same parent company).

Alaska Airlines Credit Card Review
Like just about every airline does nowadays, they also have their own branded credit card. They actually have three different cards now – the Preferred, Platinum Plus, and Visa Signature. The three cards are similar in many ways. Where they differ is with the rewards, credit limit, annual fee, and signup bonus offers. We will discuss each of these below.

Issuer
The credit cards are issued and managed by Bank of America (technically FIA Card Services, which is their wholly-owned subsidiary). Due to the popular consensus that B of A credit cards have the worst customer service, this is a big turnoff for many.

Type
Their credit cards operate over the Visa payment network.

Annual Fees
The annual fees on the Alaska Airlines credit cards are:

Visa Signature version: $75.00
Platinum Plus version: $50.00
Preferred version: $35.00

Rewards
The rewards are as follows:

Visa Signature: 3 points per dollar on Alaska Airline purchases
1 point per dollar on other purchases
A $99 companion ticket given each year the card is renewed

Platinum Plus: 2 points per dollar on Alaska Airlines purchases
1 point per dollar on other purchases

Preferred: 1 point per dollar on Alaska Airlines purchases
1 point per dollar on other purchases

Unfortunately, the online Alaska Airlines credit card application does not allow you to specify which card you want – instead they issue it based on your credit. So if you have great credit, you will probably be issued the Visa Signature version whether you want it or not.

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*Important Warning About Visa Signature Cards*
If you aren’t familiar with the Visa Signature card, it has no pre-set spending limit. This may sound like an attractive feature to have, but it can actually backfire. Without a pre-set spending limit, there is no credit limit which is reported to the credit bureaus.

When there is no specified credit limit, allegedly the credit scoring agencies will “guess” your limit based on other factors (such as other cards). If they guess too low this could be a problem. Part of your score is based on credit utilization (what percent of your limit is being used). Many financial experts claim you should keep that number below 20% to 30% so you don’t look overextended (meaning you should never use more than 30% of the limit on any account).

It doesn’t matter if your bill is paid in full every month, because it’s the balance on your monthly statement that is reported to the credit bureaus. If the scoring algorithm guesses too low of a limit on your Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit card, reportedly this could backfire big time when it comes to that credit utilization number… because it might appear you are using a higher percentage of credit than you really are.

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Signup Bonus
The signup bonus when you apply for Alaska Airline credit card changes periodically. At the time of this credit card review, here’s what they were offering:

Visa Siganture: 20,000 bonus miles for approved application
5,000 bonus miles after net retail purchases reach $750.00
$99 round trip companion (when you pay for a regular priced ticket)
Platinum Plus: 5,000 bonus miles
Preferred: 3,000 bonus miles

Fortunately, they seem to always offer this (or a similar) signup offer – so there is no rush to apply. In fact, for the last two years when I’ve flown out of their terminal, I have seen them advertising this same bonus offer.

Should You Apply For Alaska Airlines Credit Card?
The signup bonuses on this credit card are good, but that being said, there are other credit card deals out there giving 25,000 bonus miles for applying. The rewards on regular purchases (which will likely be the vast majority of your spending) are only the average 1 point per dollar spent. The Visa Signature version does give a couple extra points for purchases from Alaska Airlines, but for most of us, that only encompasses a small part of our total annual spending. In conclusion, the promo offers they have are good but the points on spending are lackluster – so it’s a tossup.

How To Get 2 Miles Per Dollar On Every Purchase (sponsored)
Whether you get the Alaska Airlines credit card or not, for your regular spending you will be much better off with the new Discover Escape card. It gives a staggering 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases! You can also get a special 25,000 mile signup bonus offer – read our Discover Escape card review to find out how!