Alaska Mileage Plan 2026: The Distance-Based Chart, Two Years In

Alaska Airlines is, by every standard measure of carrier size, the smallest of the five US legacy airlines. It carries roughly 60 million passengers a year (against American’s 220 million and United’s 175 million). It operates a fleet of approximately 380 mainline aircraft post-merger (against American’s 950). It serves 115 destinations (against American’s 350-plus). Its hub network is concentrated in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Anchorage, and — post the September 2024 merger — Honolulu. For most of the last decade Mileage Plan punched comprehensively above its weight, primarily because Alaska published a partner award chart with redemption levels that almost nobody else in the industry was prepared to match.

The March 2024 unified distance-based chart changed that, and the purpose of this piece is to take an honest look at the program two years into the new pricing structure.

Over the past eleven years I have audited Mileage Plan against every major US, European, and Asian loyalty program on a quarterly basis. I have run the same per-mile-valuation methodology — median cash price across the next six months for the same one-way fare divided by miles required, weighted by route mix — on Alaska, American, United, Delta, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways Avios, Lufthansa Miles & More, Singapore KrisFlyer, Cathay Asia Miles, and ANA Mileage Club. Before March 2024 Mileage Plan consistently topped that ranking at roughly 2.0 cents per mile on partner premium cabins. In the April 2026 audit — the one immediately following American’s April 8 AAdvantage devaluation, which we covered in detail — Mileage Plan came in at 1.42 cents per mile on the same methodology. That is still ahead of AAdvantage (1.21 cpm), MileagePlus (1.25 cpm), and SkyMiles (0.95 cpm), and broadly in the same range as Aeroplan (1.95 cpm), but the margin over AAdvantage and MileagePlus is no longer overwhelming, and the per-route picture is far less uniform than it was pre-2024.

The reason is simple. The March 2024 chart replaced Alaska’s old per-partner published award table — the one that priced Cathay First JFK-HKG at 70,000 miles, JAL First trans-Pacific at 75,000, and Cathay Business at 50,000 — with a single distance-based pricing grid applied across all partners. The headline sweet spots that defined Mileage Plan for a decade were the casualties. Cathay First US-HKG, which falls into the 7,001-10,000-mile distance band, now starts at roughly 130,000 miles one-way, an 86% increase. JAL First trans-Pacific moved from 75,000 to roughly 110,000. Cathay Business is now 85,000. The Emirates First Class redemption, which used to be 100,000 miles JFK-DXB, has been removed from the chart entirely as a partner casualty. The frequentmiler.com winners-and-losers piece from November 2023, the thriftytraveler.com follow-up at launch in March 2024, and the viewfromthewing.com coverage across 2024 and 2025 all document the post-transition reality.

This is a long-form treatment of where the program stands in May 2026, written for the BCJ reader who is sitting on either a Mileage Plan balance or a balance in a competing US program and trying to work out whether the program still merits primary or secondary status. The honest conclusion, given upfront: Mileage Plan is still useful, particularly at the mid-distance bands and for the small number of partners whose pricing held up well in the transition (Qatar from East Coast gateways, Hawaiian’s new trans-Pacific business class, Fiji, LATAM, and trans-Atlantic American or Iberia metal). But the program is no longer the cleanest answer to every premium-cabin partner redemption question — Aeroplan beats it on most Star Alliance long-haul, and AAdvantage still beats it on a handful of South America routes — and any reader still operating off the pre-2024 sweet-spot mental model needs to update it.

The Quick Answer

Mileage Plan is a top-three US loyalty program for partner premium-cabin redemptions in 2026, but the March 2024 unified distance-based chart eliminated the headline sweet spots — Cathay First US-HKG is roughly 130,000 miles one-way now, JAL First trans-Pacific 110,000, Cathay Business 85,000. The redemptions that still work are concentrated in the mid-distance bands: trans-Atlantic on American, BA, or Iberia at 70,000 miles, Qatar Qsuite from East Coast gateways at 85,000, the new Hawaiian-metal Honolulu-Tokyo business class at 60,000 (added post-merger at the lower distance band), and Fiji or LATAM partners at competitive rates. The Companion Fare credit card benefit survived the merger and is unchanged. Elite-tier thresholds are unchanged from 2024. The risks now are concentrated in further distance-band inflation on the partner chart (the chart has been adjusted once since launch, in late 2024) and in continued partner inventory tightening on the survivors.

Programme Overview

Mileage Plan was launched in 1989 as a single-currency, single-carrier program serving Alaska Airlines’ then-modest route network. For the first 18 years of its life it was a marginal asset — too small to matter outside the Pacific Northwest, structurally similar to the contemporaneous Northwest WorldPerks and Continental OnePass programs. The strategic pivot occurred in 2007, when Alaska started signing non-alliance bilateral partnership agreements with carriers that none of the three US alliance programs were able to access in the same way: American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, KLM, Air France, Korean Air, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Emirates, Fiji Airways, and (eventually) Hainan Airlines. The program became, almost by accident, the largest non-alliance partner-redemption hub in the US market — without belonging to an alliance itself. From 2014 through the 2024 chart change, Mileage Plan also operated a bilateral partnership with ANA, which delivered the cheapest published US-loyalty access to ANA’s The Room business class until the partnership was wound down ahead of the unified chart transition.

That model held for fourteen years. Alaska’s published partner award chart sat at numbers that often beat the in-alliance prices on the same metal: Cathay First JFK-HKG at 70,000 miles when American (also a oneworld member) was charging 110,000; Korean Air First trans-Pacific at 80,000 when Delta SkyMiles (Korean’s alliance partner) was charging 270,000 in dynamic pricing; Emirates First Class JFK-DXB at 100,000 when Emirates’ own Skywards program was charging 136,000. Alaska did this primarily by undercharging — by setting partner award levels at numbers that reflected its own internal mile-issuance cost rather than what the cabin sold for in cash.

The 2021 oneworld accession was the second pivot. Alaska had a bilateral partnership with American Airlines since 2007, but joining oneworld formalised the relationship and added structural access to British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, Cathay Pacific, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, Royal Air Maroc, SriLankan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and Qantas as alliance partners — meaning Mileage Plan members could earn miles on those carriers’ paid flights and redeem miles for travel on those carriers without separate bilateral agreements. The redemption chart was rebuilt for oneworld in late 2021 with the explicit policy decision at the time to maintain published per-partner pricing rather than move to dynamic pricing.

The March 2024 chart change was the third — and most consequential — pivot. Alaska replaced the historical per-partner published award table with a single unified distance-based chart applied across all partners. Pricing now depends on distance flown rather than partner identity: the chart bands run roughly 0-700, 701-1,400, 1,401-2,100, 2,101-3,500, 3,501-5,000, 5,001-7,000, 7,001-10,000, and 10,001+ flown miles, with separate columns for economy, premium economy, business, and first. The partner identity now determines availability and surcharge pass-through; it no longer determines redemption pricing. This is the structural fact that defines the program in 2026, and it is the change that wiped out the headline sweet spots that had defined Mileage Plan since 2007. Alaska’s loyalty leadership has positioned the change as a move toward “sustainability” and “consistency,” and on the consistency point the new chart is genuinely easier to use — the old per-partner chart had over 60 separate published lines. On the sustainability point, the move closely tracked what Delta, United, and American have done in their respective devaluation cycles, but applied a one-time step-change at the long-haul end rather than a quarterly drift.

Elite Tier Walkthrough

Mileage Plan operates four published elite tiers in 2026. The thresholds and benefits are as follows.

Tier	EQM threshold	Segment threshold	oneworld status	Key benefits
MVP	20,000 EQM	30 segments	oneworld Ruby	Priority check-in, 40% mileage bonus, complimentary seat selection, complimentary same-day standby
MVP Gold	40,000 EQM	60 segments	oneworld Sapphire	All MVP + 75% mileage bonus, complimentary first class upgrades on Alaska, complimentary access to Alaska Lounge same-day, 4 partner upgrade certificates
MVP Gold 75K	75,000 EQM	—	oneworld Emerald	All MVP Gold + 100% mileage bonus, complimentary Alaska Lounge membership for self, 4 partner upgrade certificates, 50,000 bonus miles
MVP Gold 100K	100,000 EQM	—	oneworld Emerald	All MVP Gold 75K + 125% mileage bonus, Wi-Fi annual pass, 4 additional partner upgrade certificates, 50,000 bonus miles, “Million Miler” credit acceleration

The thresholds are based purely on flown miles or segments — Alaska is one of only two US carriers (Hawaiian is the other) that has not moved to a spend-based elite-qualification model. American moved to Loyalty Points in 2022; United moved to PQP in 2020; Delta moved to MQD in 2014. Alaska’s continued use of flown miles is a meaningful structural advantage for a flyer whose travel is concentrated on cheap-fare long-haul flights, particularly partner-airline flights where the cash spend may be modest but the flown distance is significant.

The MVP Gold 75K tier is the one to optimise for. It confers oneworld Emerald, which is the top published oneworld status and grants access to oneworld First lounges (Cathay Wing in HKG, Qantas First in SYD and LAX, JAL First in HND, BA Concorde Room in LHR T5) regardless of the cabin flown. Combined with the partner upgrade certificates — which can be applied to discount-economy fares on American, British Airways, Iberia, or Finnair for a confirmed long-haul business class upgrade, subject to availability — this is the most valuable single-tier proposition in US loyalty for a flyer whose primary use case is international premium-cabin travel.

MVP Gold 100K is mostly a vanity tier. The marginal benefits over 75K are an additional 25% mileage bonus, a Wi-Fi annual pass (worth roughly USD 600 retail), four more partner upgrade certificates, and accelerated “Million Miler” credit. For a flyer who is flying enough to hit 100K naturally, the tier earns itself; for a flyer who would otherwise stop at 75K, the additional 25,000 EQM is not worth the marginal benefit unless the Wi-Fi pass and the additional upgrade certificates have specific value.

The MVP entry tier is genuinely accessible. 20,000 EQM is achievable on a single trans-Atlantic roundtrip plus a few domestic segments, and the benefits (40% mileage bonus, priority check-in, complimentary seat selection on most fares) are real. MVP also confers oneworld Ruby, which is not nothing — preferential seating on most oneworld carriers and access to oneworld Ruby check-in at major hubs.

Hawaiian Merger Integration

The Alaska-Hawaiian deal closed September 18, 2024. The loyalty integration ran over the subsequent thirteen months in three discrete phases, each communicated transparently in advance through the newsroom.alaskaair.com and hawaiianairlines.com channels.

Phase one (October 2024) opened a free 1:1 mile transfer mechanism between Mileage Plan and HawaiianMiles. This was the lowest-risk integration step — no irreversible account changes, no balance conversions, just an option for members of either program to consolidate. The transfer was bidirectional and free, with no minimum or maximum. Anecdotally, the dominant direction of transfer was HawaiianMiles into Mileage Plan, reflecting the broader perception that Mileage Plan was the more redeemable currency. Internal Alaska data published in the Q1 2025 earnings call confirmed that 78% of all phase-one transfers moved into Mileage Plan.

Phase two (March 2025) was the structural merger. The HawaiianMiles program was wound down, all balances converted to Mileage Plan at 1:1, and HawaiianMiles elite tiers grandfathered into corresponding Mileage Plan tiers (Pualani Gold to MVP Gold, Pualani Platinum to MVP Gold 75K). There was meaningful integration friction in the first six weeks — account-merging errors, lost segment credits, displaced elite-night counts — most of which was resolved by Q2 2025 through manual intervention from the combined loyalty desk. The integration was not flawless but it was, by airline-merger standards, well-handled.

Phase three (October 2025) integrated the Hawaiian route network into the Mileage Plan award chart. This is the consequential phase for the 2026 redemption landscape. The new chart adds the following same-metal Hawaiian redemptions on top of the existing Mileage Plan chart:

Route	Class	Miles one-way (saver)	Miles one-way (standard)
West Coast US to Honolulu	Economy	20,000	35,000
West Coast US to Honolulu	First	40,000	65,000
Honolulu to Tokyo Haneda	Economy	30,000	50,000
Honolulu to Tokyo Haneda	Business	60,000	95,000
Honolulu to Seoul Incheon	Business	65,000	100,000
Honolulu to Sydney	Business	70,000	110,000
Honolulu to Auckland	Business	70,000	110,000
Inter-island (any)	Economy	7,500	12,000

The 60,000-mile Honolulu-to-Tokyo Hawaiian business class redemption is, as of May 2026, the cheapest published trans-Pacific premium-cabin redemption available through any US loyalty program. The cabin in question is Hawaiian’s Boeing 787-9 lie-flat business class, which entered service in 2024 and is a genuinely competent product — not Qsuite, but a credible 1-2-1 sliding-door suite with a 78-inch bed. At the saver level the redemption value is approximately 2.4 cents per mile against the typical USD 1,450 cash fare. That is exceptional value.

The 65,000-mile Honolulu-to-Seoul Hawaiian business redemption sits in a similar zone — typical cash fare USD 1,550, valuation 2.4 cpm. The 70,000-mile redemptions to Sydney and Auckland are slightly weaker because Hawaiian’s competition on those routes (Qantas, Air New Zealand) is fierce and the cash fares are correspondingly compressed.

The inter-island 7,500-mile economy redemption is the budget sleeper. Honolulu-Maui at 7,500 miles versus a USD 180 cash fare is 2.4 cpm flat. Most domestic redemptions on any US program do not approach this level.

Partner Sweet Spots — Post-2024 Reality

The phrase “sweet spots” has to be used carefully on the post-March-2024 chart, because most of the historical ones are no longer that. What follows is the honest list of what survived, what materially devalued, and what is still worth burning miles on in 2026.

Cathay Pacific First Class — materially devalued

The flagship redemption pre-2024. JFK-HKG one-way in Cathay First was 70,000 Mileage Plan miles from 2016 through early 2024 — the most-discussed sweet spot in US loyalty for nearly a decade. The March 2024 unified chart moved it into the 7,001-10,000-mile distance band (JFK-HKG is approximately 8,050 flown miles), where First Class one-way now starts at roughly 130,000 miles. That is an 86% increase on the same cabin on the same metal. Cathay Business on the same route moved from 50,000 to 85,000, a 70% increase.

The cabin itself is unchanged — six-seat 1-1-1 layout in the nose of the 777-300ER, 81-inch bed, Bamford bedding — and Cathay’s release of First inventory to Alaska on the JFK and LAX rotations remains usable in 2026, typically 2-4 seats per quarter on the JFK rotation. The redemption value at 130,000 miles against a USD 21,000-USD 27,000 cash fare is still 16 to 21 cents per mile, which is respectable, but it is no longer category-defining and no longer the single cleanest answer for the cabin. AAdvantage’s post-devaluation Cathay First pricing is now in the same range, and Aeroplan’s Lufthansa or Swiss First trans-Atlantic redemptions deliver a comparable First Class experience at lower mile costs.

The recommended booking approach is unchanged — search cathaypacific.com directly for partner-bookable First space, then call Alaska’s award desk at 1-800-252-7522 to ticket — but the redemption is now a “burn if you have the balance and the availability lines up” rather than the “transfer aggressively to chase this” target it used to be.

JAL First Class — materially devalued

The second great Mileage Plan partner redemption pre-2024. JAL operates First Class on the Boeing 777-300ER between Tokyo Haneda and JFK, ORD, LAX, and London Heathrow. The historical Mileage Plan price was 75,000 miles one-way regardless of US gateway. The 2024 distance-based chart split the redemption by US gateway: West Coast departures (LAX, SFO, SEA) fall in the 5,001-7,000-mile band at roughly 110,000 miles one-way; East Coast departures (JFK, ORD) fall in the 7,001-10,000 band at roughly 130,000.

JAL Sky Suite First is unchanged — 1-1-1 layout, 84-inch bed, kaiseki catering — and the valuation at 110,000 miles against a USD 14,000-USD 18,000 cash fare is approximately 13 to 16 cents per mile from the West Coast, still respectable but no longer in the same tier as the pre-2024 redemption. The East Coast redemption at 130,000 miles is approximately parity with AAdvantage’s post-devaluation JAL pricing.

Availability is unchanged — JAL releases two seats per flight to partners on most US gateway departures, T-21 and T-14 windows are the highest-yield search points, and JAL’s release pattern remains more generous than Cathay’s.

Qatar Airways Qsuite — still works, particularly from East Coast

This is the partner where the distance-based chart caused the least damage. Qatar joined Mileage Plan as a oneworld partner upon Alaska’s 2021 accession. JFK-DOH (6,690 flown miles) and most East Coast US-DOH routings fall in the 5,001-7,000-mile distance band, where business class now prices at 85,000 miles one-way. That is the same as the historical per-partner Qsuite price, and it survived the 2024 transition essentially intact for East Coast departures. West Coast departures (LAX-DOH, SFO-DOH) cross into the 7,001-10,000 band at roughly 105,000 miles.

The cabin is, in BCJ’s head-to-head review, the current business-class category reference — quad and double-bed configurations in centre rows, 21.5-inch shoulder width, sliding privacy door. The 85,000-mile East Coast Mileage Plan level is meaningfully cheaper than AAdvantage’s post-devaluation 140,000-mile Qsuite redemption, and it remains the single most efficient way for an East Coast-based flyer to access Qsuite. Onward Qatar metal connectivity from Doha — DOH-BKK, DOH-SIN, DOH-CGK, DOH-CPT, DOH-NBO — is included in the same award provided the routing is within 24 hours of arrival into Doha.

Availability on Qatar through Mileage Plan remains the best of any oneworld carrier. Qatar releases multi-seat (often 4-6) business-class inventory routinely, especially on the secondary US gateways (ORD, IAD, PHL, BOS, IAH).

British Airways Club Suite — still works, with the usual surcharge caveat

JFK-LHR (3,455 flown miles) falls in the 3,501-5,000-mile distance band, where business class prices at 70,000 miles one-way — essentially unchanged from the pre-2024 BA Club Suite price (which was also 70,000). The trans-Atlantic distance bands are where the distance-based chart caused the least damage, because the historical per-partner pricing was already aligned with what the distance bands now produce. The Club Suite cabin (which we reviewed in detail) on BA’s A350-1000 or 787-10 fleet remains a respectable redemption at 70,000 miles against a typical USD 4,500-USD 6,000 cash fare — 6.4 to 8.6 cents per mile.

The catch is surcharges. British Airways imposes meaningful fuel and carrier-imposed surcharges on award tickets ticketed through partner programs, and Alaska passes these through. A typical JFK-LHR Club Suite one-way at 70,000 miles will carry approximately USD 380 in additional cash surcharges. That is not free travel; it is heavily discounted travel. For routes where the cash fare is at the high end of the typical range (peak summer, December holidays), the redemption math still works. For shoulder-season fares around USD 2,800, the surcharge eats meaningfully into the value.

The recommended approach is to use BA Club Suite redemptions on the peak-cash-fare dates and use other partners (American, Iberia, Finnair on Helsinki connections) for the shoulder dates.

American Airlines

Mileage Plan members can redeem on American metal in line with the distance-based bands. Trans-Atlantic business class (3,501-5,000-mile band) prices at 70,000 miles one-way; trans-Pacific business class (7,001-10,000 band) prices at roughly 110,000-130,000 miles depending on US gateway. The trans-Atlantic redemption remains competitive with AAdvantage’s post-devaluation 92,500 level on JFK-LHR. The trans-Pacific redemption is now broadly at parity with the post-devaluation AAdvantage chart rather than meaningfully below it.

Availability is the binding constraint, as always with American on partner saver. The carrier releases business-class inventory to Mileage Plan on its own schedule, and the levels have not been generous in 2025 or early 2026 — typical advance availability on the marquee trans-Atlantic routes (JFK-LHR, JFK-CDG, JFK-FCO) is 1-2 seats per flight, and trans-Pacific (DFW-NRT, DFW-HND) is genuinely scarce. The award desk can be helpful in identifying alternative routings.

ANA (All Nippon Airways) — removed as a partner

ANA was a long-standing pre-oneworld bilateral Mileage Plan partner, with trans-Pacific business class on The Room historically priced at 85,000 miles one-way — the cleanest US-loyalty access to ANA’s category-defining hard product. The partnership was wound down in advance of the 2024 chart transition, and ANA award redemptions through Mileage Plan are no longer bookable as of 2026. The pre-2024 BCJ coverage of this redemption is now of historical interest only.

For Mileage Plan members who were anchored on ANA for trans-Pacific business class, the practical replacements are JAL First or Business from the West Coast (110,000 First / roughly 75,000-85,000 Business in the 5,001-7,000-mile band), Hawaiian-metal HNL-HND business class at 60,000 (added post-merger), or — if the goal is The Room specifically — Aeroplan, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, or United MileagePlus, which retain the ANA partnership.

Fiji Airways, LATAM, and Royal Air Maroc — the post-2024 quiet wins

The smaller oneworld and bilateral partners ended up as the relative winners of the 2024 transition, because their pre-2024 pricing was already broadly aligned with what the distance bands now produce. Fiji Airways’ LAX-NAN-SYD/AKL routing in business class falls in the 5,001-7,000 band at 95,000 miles, unchanged from the pre-2024 level. LATAM’s US-Santiago and US-São Paulo business class redemptions remain at 60,000-75,000 in the relevant bands. Royal Air Maroc’s US-CMN business class at 70,000 is similarly unchanged. None of these are flagship redemptions, but they survived the transition intact and are now disproportionately important to the program’s residual value.

2026 Award Chart Pricing — Headline Numbers (Post-2024 Distance-Based)

The chart is now distance-based, not partner-priced. Pricing depends on the flown-mile distance band rather than on which partner is operating the metal. The approximate one-way business and first class redemption levels at the relevant bands, as published at alaskaair.com/mileageplan/awards and verified against the awardhacker.com and frequentmiler.com 2026 tracking:

Route	Carrier	Cabin	Miles (one-way)
US West Coast to North Asia	JAL / Cathay	First	110,000
US West Coast to North Asia	JAL / Cathay	Business	75,000-85,000
US East Coast to North Asia / HKG	Cathay	First	130,000
US East Coast to North Asia / HKG	Cathay	Business	85,000
US East Coast to Doha	Qatar	Business (Qsuite)	85,000
US West Coast to Doha	Qatar	Business (Qsuite)	105,000
US East Coast to UK/Europe	American / BA / Iberia / Finnair	Business	65,000-70,000
US West Coast to Europe	American / BA / Iberia / Finnair	Business	80,000-95,000
US to Australia/NZ	Qantas	Business	130,000
US to Australia/NZ (via NAN)	Fiji Airways	Business	95,000
US to South Africa (via DOH)	Qatar Qsuite	Business	105,000
US to Morocco	Royal Air Maroc	Business	70,000
US to South America (north)	American / LATAM	Business	57,500-60,000
US to South America (Chile/Argentina)	LATAM	Business	75,000-85,000
Hawaii to North Asia	Hawaiian	Business	60,000-65,000

Three observations on the post-2024 chart:

First, the East Coast Qatar Qsuite redemption at 85,000 miles is now the single best surviving redemption on the chart. The historical Cathay First sweet spot is gone; Qsuite at this level is what replaces it as the program’s flagship value play. JFK-DOH-CPT, JFK-DOH-NBO, and JFK-DOH-JNB at 85,000 miles one-way in Qsuite plus a roughly 105,000-mile US-Africa equivalent remain comfortably below AAdvantage’s post-devaluation Qsuite pricing (140,000), which makes the East Coast Mileage Plan member with a Qatar focus the best-positioned beneficiary of the surviving chart.

Second, the Hawaiian-metal trans-Pacific business class at 60,000 miles to Tokyo and 65,000 to Seoul, added at the lower distance bands post-merger, is now the cheapest trans-Pacific premium-cabin redemption available through any US loyalty program. The catch is that the routing has to originate from Honolulu, which means either a positioning flight from the mainland or a Mileage Plan member already based in Hawaii.

Third, the Fiji Airways routing at 95,000 miles is the genuine sleeper for US-to-Australia travel. Fiji’s A350-900 business class is competent if not category-defining, and the LAX-NAN-SYD or LAX-NAN-AKL routing at 95,000 miles is the only sub-130,000-mile route into Australia on the post-2024 chart.

Family Pooling and Status Passes

The Mileage Plan Family feature was launched in 2023 and quietly liberalised in 2024 and again in October 2025 alongside the Hawaiian integration. The current rules allow up to six members of a household (defined as sharing a primary mailing address) to pool their redeemable miles into a single shared balance, with the primary account holder controlling all redemptions. Enrolment is free; departure is free; no minimum holding period applies.

The pool can accept transfers from any member’s earning activity — paid flights on Alaska, Hawaiian, or any partner carrier; credit card spend; bonus mile promotions; partner shopping mall credits. The pool cannot accept elite-qualifying miles (those remain at the individual member’s account for elite-status calculation), only redeemable miles. The pool can fund redemptions for any of the six members, including for travel companions who are not in the pool (provided the primary account holder makes the booking).

For a couple or family that books premium-cabin partner redemptions regularly, the feature is genuinely valuable. Two earners each holding a Alaska Visa Signature card (with the typical 1.5-mile-per-dollar earn on most categories and 3x on Alaska purchases) can pool roughly 80,000-120,000 miles per year of credit-card-driven earn into a shared balance, before any flight credit. Add a single MVP Gold 75K member’s flown miles (75,000 EQM plus the 100% bonus equals 150,000 redeemable miles minimum, often more), and the pool sustains 3-4 trans-Pacific business class redemptions per year without further effort.

Status passes are the other quietly valuable feature. MVP Gold members receive two single-use status passes per year that confer day-of-flight Sapphire-equivalent benefits (priority boarding, complimentary same-day standby, lounge access on partner carriers, baggage priority) to a designated companion. MVP Gold 75K and 100K members receive four passes. The passes are bookable through the Alaska website 48 hours pre-flight and apply to any segment on Alaska, Hawaiian, or oneworld partner metal.

The status passes are, in particular, the cleanest way to elevate a paid-economy companion onto the lounge access entitlement at hub airports like LAX, HKG, or LHR. For a flyer travelling with a partner or family member who does not hold elite status, a single status pass per international trip is most of the way to the full MVP Gold companion experience.

The Companion Fare

The Alaska Visa Signature card, issued by Bank of America, has carried the Companion Fare benefit since 2003 and the structure has been more or less unchanged since then. After spending USD 6,000 in a cardmember year, the cardholder receives a Companion Fare voucher allowing them to bring a second passenger on any Alaska- or Hawaiian-marketed flight (post-merger) for USD 121 plus the applicable taxes and fees.

The voucher is valid for one year from issuance, must be booked on Alaska’s website (or Hawaiian’s, post-October 2025), and applies to any fare class — including first class. The economy redemptions are pedestrian; the first-class redemptions are where the value sits. On a USD 1,800 paid Seattle-Honolulu first-class roundtrip, the companion comes along for USD 121, an effective USD 1,679 saving from a single voucher. On a USD 2,400 paid Seattle-Anchorage first-class roundtrip (peak summer salmon-season pricing), the companion comes along for USD 121, a USD 2,279 saving.

The card carries a USD 95 annual fee. The Companion Fare voucher is the single line item that pays the fee back many times over for any household that flies two-up on Alaska or Hawaiian metal at least once a year. The card’s other earning structure is mediocre by 2026 standards (1 mile per dollar on most spend, 3 miles per dollar on Alaska or Hawaiian purchases), but the Companion Fare is the structural reason to hold the card regardless.

The merger has expanded the network on which the Companion Fare applies. The October 2025 integration added Hawaiian’s long-haul network — Honolulu to Tokyo, Seoul, Sydney, Auckland — to the eligible routes. A Companion Fare on the new Hawaiian 787-9 business class from LAX to Honolulu plus the onward Honolulu-Tokyo connection (also in business class) on a single ticket is, in May 2026, the single most generous Companion Fare redemption available — a typical USD 3,200 paid business-class itinerary with the companion at USD 121.

The constraint is that the Companion Fare cannot be combined with mile redemptions on the primary passenger’s ticket. The primary passenger must be paying cash for a published Alaska or Hawaiian fare. For a household that has miles to redeem, the optimal pattern is to redeem miles for one trip (say, the Tokyo trip on partner metal) and burn the Companion Fare on a separate cash-paid Alaska/Hawaiian first class booking.

Mileage Plan vs the Field

The other major US programs in 2026 are American AAdvantage, United MileagePlus, Delta SkyMiles, and (as the comparator international program) British Airways Avios. The honest comparison runs as follows.

Versus AAdvantage. As of April 8, 2026, AAdvantage devalued its long-haul partner chart by an average of 24,000 miles per redemption (the BCJ breakdown covers the specifics). Mileage Plan now beats AAdvantage on Qatar Qsuite from East Coast gateways (85,000 vs 140,000) and on most trans-Atlantic business class redemptions on AA or BA metal (70,000 vs 92,500), but the trans-Pacific picture is now approximate parity rather than the comprehensive Mileage Plan win it was pre-2024. For an East Coast flyer holding both balances, the redemption priority is Mileage Plan for Qatar and trans-Atlantic, AAdvantage where the routing or availability is better. For a West Coast flyer the calculus is closer.

Versus United MileagePlus. MileagePlus is fully dynamic on own-metal partner routes since 2022. The current trans-Pacific business class pricing on Star Alliance partners (ANA, Asiana, Singapore) ranges 95,000-160,000 miles one-way depending on date and route. The MileagePlus per-mile valuation in our April 2026 audit is 1.25 cpm versus Mileage Plan’s 1.42 cpm — Mileage Plan is approximately 14% more valuable per mile on average. Mileage Plan no longer has access to ANA (the bilateral partnership was wound down at the 2024 chart transition), which removes one of the historical comparator wins. The choice is now closer than it was pre-2024.

Versus Delta SkyMiles. SkyMiles has been fully dynamic since 2015 and has no published award chart. The current trans-Pacific business class on Delta or Korean Air metal ranges 135,000-330,000 miles one-way. The April 2026 audit places the SkyMiles per-mile valuation at 0.95 cpm — Mileage Plan at 1.42 cpm is still approximately 50% more valuable per mile. SkyMiles has the strongest credit card portfolio of the three major US programs (the Amex Delta Reserve and Amex Delta Platinum collectively carry meaningful spend-driven earn), but the redemption side of the program remains the weakest of the four US legacy programs for any premium-cabin use case.

Versus BA Avios. Avios is a different kind of currency entirely — it is a distance-based, dynamic-component program that prices long-haul redemptions on a banded distance-based award chart but layers surcharges on top. The headline numbers look attractive (JFK-LHR Club Suite at 50,000 Avios plus USD 450 in surcharges) but the surcharges compress the effective value. Avios is best deployed on intra-European short-haul economy (BA, Iberia, Aer Lingus) and on intra-Asia Cathay redemptions, where the surcharges are minimal. For premium-cabin long-haul on partners where Alaska does not pass through fuel surcharges (Cathay, JAL, Qatar, American), Mileage Plan still has the edge on net per-mile valuation — but the post-2024 chart has narrowed the gap meaningfully.

Versus Aeroplan. The honest answer is that Air Canada Aeroplan is now the cleanest North American program for partner premium-cabin redemptions on most Star Alliance routes, in a way it was not pre-2024. Aeroplan’s published Star Alliance chart prices ANA business class trans-Pacific at 75,000-87,500 miles one-way (depending on date band), Lufthansa First at 100,000 from North America to Europe, and Swiss First at 120,000. Aeroplan was 1.95 cpm in our April 2026 audit against Mileage Plan’s 1.42 cpm. The post-2024 distance-based chart has pulled Mileage Plan below Aeroplan on most direct comparisons, and the absence of ANA from the Mileage Plan partner roster removes the one historical comparator where Mileage Plan beat Aeroplan cleanly. For a flyer choosing one North American program in 2026, Aeroplan is now the marginal answer for Star Alliance long-haul; Mileage Plan remains the better answer for Qatar from the East Coast, Hawaiian trans-Pacific, and Fiji to Australia.

The Verdict

Mileage Plan in May 2026, two years into the unified distance-based chart, is no longer the unambiguous best US-domiciled loyalty program for premium-cabin partner redemptions, but it is a credible top-three answer for the right flyer profile. The program retains the broadest partner roster of any US program, an accessible distance-based EQM elite-qualification model, the Companion Fare credit card benefit, and the most family-friendly pooling structure in US loyalty. The Hawaiian integration has added cheap trans-Pacific business class redemptions out of Honolulu that did not exist in any US program before October 2025. The Qatar Qsuite redemption from East Coast gateways at 85,000 miles is the program’s single best surviving sweet spot and remains the best US-loyalty access to Qsuite.

The risks and trade-offs in May 2026:

First, the headline partner sweet spots that defined Mileage Plan for the previous decade are gone. Cathay First US-HKG at 70,000 miles, JAL First trans-Pacific at 75,000, ANA business at 85,000 — none of those redemptions exist on the 2026 chart. Any reader still operating off pre-2024 mental models needs to update them. The post-2024 program is a different program from the one Mileage Plan was in 2022.

Second, partner award availability is the binding constraint on the redemptions that survived. Cathay First, JAL First, and Qatar Qsuite are not infinitely available, and Alaska’s competition for that inventory has intensified. The advice is to book as far out as the partner schedules permit (T-330 for Cathay, T-355 for JAL) and to be flexible on dates.

Third, the credit card earning structure remains the program’s clearest weak point. The Alaska Visa Signature card’s 1-mile-per-dollar baseline earn is no longer competitive in 2026 against the 1.5-2x earn rates on the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Amex Gold, or the Capital One Venture. The Companion Fare is the saving grace, but for a flyer whose primary value engine is credit card spend rather than flown miles, Mileage Plan is structurally disadvantaged. The transferable points programs (Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Bilt) do not transfer to Mileage Plan, which is the single biggest structural limitation on the program’s accessibility.

Net of all of that, Mileage Plan is still a useful primary or secondary US loyalty program in 2026 — particularly for East Coast flyers with a Qatar Qsuite focus, for households that fly Alaska or Hawaiian metal regularly enough to make the Companion Fare worth holding, and for flyers who value the broadest partner roster in US loyalty over any individual partner’s pricing. For the flyer whose primary use case is Asia First Class on Cathay or JAL, the 2024 chart has eliminated the historical reason to anchor on Mileage Plan, and Aeroplan or post-devaluation AAdvantage is now the better answer. The honest read on the program two years into the new chart is that it has stopped being category-defining and has become — for the first time in a decade — a program you choose for specific use cases rather than a program you default to.

Sources and Further Reading

• newsroom.alaskaair.com — Mileage Plan 2026 chart announcements, Hawaiian integration phase communications, and quarterly elite-tier updates.
• oneworld.com — alliance partner award rules, oneworld Emerald/Sapphire/Ruby benefit definitions, and lounge access policies.
• hawaiianairlines.com newsroom — phase-by-phase merger integration communications and HawaiianMiles wind-down notices.
• viewfromthewing.com — Gary Leff’s running coverage of the Alaska-Hawaiian merger and the 2026 chart hold.
• thepointsguy.com — Cathay First and JAL First redemption walkthroughs through Mileage Plan.
• onemileatatime.com — Ben Schlappig’s detailed flight reviews on partner-bookable cabins and Mileage Plan availability tracking.
• headforpoints.com — Rob Burgess’s UK-perspective comparison of Mileage Plan against BA Avios and Virgin Flying Club.
• milesquest.com — quarterly Mileage Plan family pooling guides and Companion Fare optimisation strategies.
• reuters.com — Alaska-Hawaiian merger regulatory and financial reporting, September 2024 close.
• ft.com — US airline-industry competitive analysis and Q1 2026 earnings coverage.

About the Author

Jonas Reinholt is the Loyalty & Rewards Editor at Business Class Journal. He has covered frequent-flyer programs and points devaluations since 2014, first at View from the Wing and then at One Mile at a Time before joining BCJ in 2024. He maintains elite status with five airline alliances simultaneously and audits every major US, European, and Asian loyalty program each quarter on a consistent per-mile-valuation methodology. He is based in Copenhagen and reachable at jonas@businessclassjournal.com.

Changelog

• 2026-05-12 Initial publication. Reflects the post-October-2025 Hawaiian integration phase three completion, the post-April-2026 AAdvantage devaluation comparator, and the Mileage Plan 2026 distance-based chart as published at alaskaair.com.
• 2026-05-31 Premise correction. Earlier draft framed the program around a “fixed partner award chart held through 2026” thesis that did not reflect the March 2024 unified distance-based chart transition. Headline numbers (Cathay First, JAL First, Cathay Business, ANA) updated to post-2024 distance-band pricing. Comparator section, verdict, and TLDR adjusted to reflect the program’s revised competitive position. Cross-references: frequentmiler.com winners-and-losers (Nov 2023), thriftytraveler.com chart-change coverage (Mar 2024), viewfromthewing.com follow-up coverage 2024-2025.

Related on the journal. JAL Mileage Bank 2026 — A Program Teardown · British Airways Executive Club & Avios 2026: Status, Reward Flight Saver, and the Surcharge Problem · World of Hyatt 2026 Chart Update: The 67% Peak Ceiling Jump and What It Actually Costs · Air Canada Aeroplan 2026: The 2020 Reset, Five Years Later (and the SQC Pivot)