When Buying Alaska Miles Can Be Worth It
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In this article, I want to share the following analysis: when buying Alaska miles can be profitable. What promotional offers Alaska has offered in recent years and when it makes sense to buy Atmos miles.
Let’s first consider the offers for purchasing points. There are two options:
Standard Offer to Purchase Alaska/Atmos Rewards Miles
The standard offer for purchasing Alaska/Atmos Rewards miles without any bonuses is that the program sells miles at a base price of approximately 3.5 cents per mile (plus taxes and fees) if no promotional bonus applies.
At this standard price, purchasing miles is usually not a good deal. After all, the typical redemption value of Alaska/Atmos miles is usually estimated at around 1.2–1.6 cents per mile when actually used.
This means that without bonuses, the purchase price per mile is higher than the average value you would get when using them.
Purchase of Frequent Flyer Alaska Miles with a Bonus or Discount
As you already know, Alaska occasionally sells miles with a bonus.
Historically, over the past year, we have the following data on the shares that were offered
| Program / Promotion | Date / Window | Bonus % (max) | Approx. Cost per Mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska Mileage Plan – 50% bonus | Mar 10–Mar 23, 2025 | 50% | ~1.97¢ |
| Alaska Mileage Plan – up to 60% bonus | Apr/May 2025 | 60% | ~1.85¢ |
| Alaska Mileage Plan – up to 70% bonus | June 11–26, 2025 | ~70% | ~1.74¢ |
| Alaska Mileage Plan – up to 60% bonus | Jul/Aug 2025 | 60% | ~1.85¢ |
| Alaska / Atmos Rewards – up to 70% bonus | Sep/Oct 2025 | 110% | ~1.79¢ |
| Alaska / Atmos Rewards – up to 100% bonus | Late 2025 – Feb 18, 2026 | 100% | ~1.88¢ |
In 2025 and early 2026, we saw:
- Standard 50% bonuses (typical)
- More generous 60% multi-level promotions in spring/summer 2025
- Even rare, targeted ≈70% bonuses, available only by email, in mid-2025
- And the strongest Atmos Rewards bonuses of up to 110% in Sep 15–Oct 10, 2025
These promotions are targeted, not all accounts receive the best tiers, which means that the actual cost per mile can vary significantly for different members.
While a 100% bonus sounds best, the effective cost per mile may be similar or sometimes worse than 60-70% promotions, depending on how the tiers are composed. The real metric to pay attention to is the cents per mile you pay after adding bonus miles — for example, ~1.88 cents at 100% vs. ~1.74 cents at 70%, if such offers become available.
Buying Alaska Miles Can Make Sense If
Here are some cases when it makes sense to buy miles:
- There’s a specific award flight you want that would otherwise cost far more in cash than the cost to buy the miles.
- Alaska is offering a bonus on purchased miles (e.g., 25%–50% extra), which lowers your effective cost per mile and you know for sure that you will spend these miles in the near future
- You’re booking premium cabin seats on Alaska or partner airlines (like Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, or Emirates), where award pricing is usually high in cash but competitively priced in miles.
For example, if you see a business class award to Asia that costs ~70,000 miles one-way but cash is $3,000, and Alaska is selling miles for an effective cost of ~1.6–2.0 cents each after a bonus, the miles purchase + award redemption could represent very good value.
How to estimate the value you receive? – Perform the following calculation:
Value per mile = (Cash price of ticket − taxes/fees) ÷ miles required
If the value you get is higher than what you’re effectively paying per mile to buy them, then buying is likely worth it.
Example
- Alaska miles needed for a partner business class award: 70,000
- Cash price for the same ticket: $2,800
- Alaska is selling miles at ~2.0¢ each after bonus → Cost to buy 70,000 miles = $1,400
- Effective cents per mile you’re getting: (2800 ÷ 70,000) = ~4.0¢ per mile value
| Route | Cabin | Cash Price | Miles Needed | Cost to Buy Miles | Value Per Mile | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US → Japan | Business | $3,000 | 70,000 | $1,400 (2.0¢) | 4.3¢ | 🔥 Excellent |
| US → Hawaii | Economy | $550 | 40,000 | $800 (2.0¢) | 1.4¢ | ❌ Bad |
| US → Europe | Business | $2,500 | 60,000 | $1,080 (1.8¢) | 4.1¢ | ✅ Great |
Here are specific redemption options when purchasing miles:
- Long-haul business or first class on partners
- Hard-to-price premium routes (Asia, Middle East, South Pacific)
- Premium cabins where cash fares are $2,000–$5,000+
- Topping off an account for a confirmed award
When Buying Miles Isn’t a Great Deal
- If you’re buying miles at or near their normal retail price (often ~2.5–3.5 cents each) and redeeming them for economy flights where the cents-per-mile value is much lower (e.g., 1.2–1.6¢), you may be overpaying relative to just buying a ticket or using another reward currency.
- For short domestic flights or routes with abundant cash-priced award tickets, buying miles usually doesn’t make financial sense.
Conclusions
Buying Alaska or Atmos Rewards miles is not always profitable, but when used correctly, it can be a powerful strategy.
At the standard price of around 3.5 cents per mile, buying miles rarely makes sense.
However, during strong bonus promotions that reduce the effective cost to around 1.6–2.0 cents per mile, buying miles can unlock value — especially for premium partner awards where cash fares are extremely high. Stick to one simple rule of thumb: only buy miles when you’ve already found available awards and the math clearly shows it’s cheaper than paying cash. Then buying miles can save you thousands of dollars.
If not, it’s usually better to earn miles through flying or credit card rewards rather than buying them speculatively.
