Alaska MVP Gold status offers several valuable benefits to Alaska frequent flyers, including priority boarding, bonus miles and complimentary upgrades.
Below we’ll dive into how to get Alaska MVP Gold status, Alaska MVP Gold status benefits and whether MVP Gold on Alaska is worth it.
How to get MVP Gold on Alaska
There are two ways to get Alaska MVP Gold status: Qualify through flying or qualify through credit card spending (when available).
Qualifying for Alaska MVP Gold status through flying
To qualify for Alaska MVP Gold status through flying, you’ll need to do one of the following:
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Fly at least 60 eligible segments. The eligible segments can be on Alaska Airlines or its Oneworld or global partners, though keep in mind that award tickets do not count toward the eligible mileage requirements.
In addition to either earning the 40,000 elite-qualifying miles or flying 60 eligible segments, at least six segments flown in the same calendar year must be marketed and operated by Alaska Airlines.
This means you can’t earn Alaska MVP Gold status solely by flying on Alaska partner airlines.
For Alaska Airlines flights, the number of elite-qualifying miles you’ll earn is mileage-based and depends on the cabin and fare class purchased.
Elite-qualifying miles earned per flight can vary from 50% to 200%, depending on the flight distance, cabin, airline flown and fare class purchased.
For example, if you fly one way from Los Angeles to Seattle in economy on an Alaska-operated flight, you’ll earn 954 elite-qualifying miles, which is the same as the flight distance from LAX to SEA.
The number of Alaska elite-qualifying miles you’ll earn on partner airlines is based on a combination of fare class and distance flown, but the exact number of elite-qualifying miles earned varies by airline.
For example, when flying on Singapore Airlines, you can earn from 50% to 150% elite-qualifying miles.
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Very frequent Alaska flyers — those who fly 1,000,000 miles or more on Alaska — will qualify for Alaska MVP Gold status for life.
Qualifying for Alaska MVP Gold status through credit card spending
Alaska Airlines sometimes offers opportunities to earn MVP Gold status through credit card spending.
For instance, a recent promotion allowed Alaska credit card holders to earn 2,000 elite-qualifying miles for every $10,000 spent on their Alaska credit card.
When these promotions are offered, you’ll usually need to register for the promotion on Alaska’s website.
🤓Nerdy Tip
If you register for a promotion, we recommend taking a screenshot of the registration confirmation in case your elite-qualifying miles aren’t credited to your account
The benefits make Alaska’s MVP Gold status quite valuable. Some of our favorite benefits are priority call routing, 100% bonus miles, and priority check-in and boarding. Tap below to expand the full list of MVP Gold benefits.
How much is Alaska MVP Gold elite status worth?
Our estimates found the value of this status level to be worth $2,160 in benefits.
Though other elite status programs have higher net value for this level of status (for instance, you can expect $7,500 worth of benefits for American Airlines Platinum status), the level only costs $4,800 out-of-pocket to earn, giving it an elite earning rate of 45% — just edging out Hawaiian’s Pualani Platinum’s 43% elite earning rate.
Deciding whether Alaska’s MVP Gold status is worth it depends on a number of factors, including how often you’ll fly Alaska Airlines and its partners and whether you’ll take advantage of the benefits.
If your local airport is a hub for Alaska or a partner airline, you fly often, and you can easily fly at least six Alaska-operated flights in a year, you may want to try qualifying for Alaska’s MVP Gold status so you can take advantage of the benefits offered.
MVP Gold on Alaska recapped
Alaska’s MVP Gold status offers priority routing for calls, complimentary upgrades, 100% bonus miles, priority boarding and check-in, and more.
You can qualify for Alaska’s MVP Gold status two ways: through flying or through credit card spending (though the credit card spending option is currently offered occasionally through promotions).
If you aren’t sure whether you should try to qualify for Alaska’s MVP Gold status, consider how many Alaska and Alaska-partner flights you take each year and whether you’ll take advantage of the MVP Gold benefits offered.
(Top photo courtesy of Alaska Airlines)
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