October 1st is an important date for Alaska Airlines‘ status match. If you applied the match before this date and finished the challenge, the status is going to be valid until the end of this year. However, if the match is applied after October 1st you will keep the status through the end of 2020.
While many people are waiting for today to apply, Alaska has made some awful cuts to the program.
New Status Match Challenge
Alaska Airlines has been known for generously giving status without any restrictions. That is not the case anymore.
From now on, any successfully matched account would enter a three-month challenge period first. In order to keep your status after the initial three-month period, you’ll need to fly on flights marketed by Alaska Airlines and operated by Alaska Airlines, Horizon or SkyWest during that initial three-month period. Codeshare flights operated by other airlines, flights on Alaska Global Partners and award travel do not count toward keeping your status.
- In order to keep MVP status, you must fly 5,000 miles
- In order to keep MVP Gold status, you must fly 10,000 miles
- In order to keep MVP Gold 75K status, you must fly 20,000 miles
Other Important Terms
- The status match offer is a one-time-only offer; a member may only receive one status match for the lifetime of their account.
- Offer subject to change without notice.
- A status match is only offered to members who have achieved elite status through actual flight miles or segments in another program. Status granted based on credit card activity, transferred points, or any other promotional offer is not eligible for a status match.
- Members who receive MVP Gold 75K status as part of this status match offer, are not eligible for the 50,000 bonus miles associated with qualifying for MVP Gold 75K status.
- Please allow up to 4 weeks for verification and approval.
- You will receive a welcome email once the status match is approved, or you can also check your status in your account at alaskaair.com.
- Offer valid only for legal residents of the United States and Canada.
- All terms and conditions of the Mileage Plan™ program apply.
Request a Match
Alaska Mileage Plan offers status matches to all three of the elite tiers, MVP, MVP Gold, and MVP Gold 75K. Below is a full list of airline status programs that Alaska match.
| Status | Match From |
| MVP | Aeromexico Gold Air Canada Altitude 25K (Prestige) and 35K American Airlines AAdvantage Gold Delta Silver Medallion Frontier Elite Hawaiian Pualani Gold JetBlue TrueBlue Mosaic Southwest A-List United Premier Silver and Premier Associate |
| MVP Gold | Aeromexico Platinum Air Canada Altitude 50K American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Delta Gold Medallion Hawaiian Pualani Platinum Southwest A-List Preferred United Premier Gold |
| MVP Gold 75K | Aeromexico Titanio Air Canada Altitude 75K and 100K American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum American Airlines ConciergeKey Delta Platinum Medallion and Diamond Medallion Southwest A-List Preferred & Companion Pass (must hold both) United Platinum, 1K, and Global Services |
Alaska Airlines has a dedicated status match website. You will be asked to provide documents and account information there, so be prepared.
Once you are matched, based on the tier, the following benefits are effective immediately.
Why The Alaska Mileage Plan is my Favourite Frequent Flyer Program
Apart from the service and airport benefits, Alaska Mileage Plan is a great frequent flyer program to redeem First and Business Class flights from partner airlines. Here are some key highlights of Alaska Mileage Plan:
- Free stopovers for one-way or return tickets
- Redemption on unique airlines. Some examples include Aer Lingus, Fiji Airways and Icelander Air
- Great redemption rates on First and Business Class. Examples:
- Cathay Pacific First Class from US to Asia for 70k miles one way
- Hainan/Cathay Pacific Business Class from US to Asia for 50k miles one way
- Qantas Business Class from US to Australia for 55 k miles one way
You can find out more about Alaska Mileage Plan in the post below:
Bottom Line
To be consistent with the three-month trial, the best time to request a match in 2020 is now July 1st. You could then enjoy the status until the end of 2021 after meeting the challenge requirement.
Although these updates of the status match is an unfortunate change for travellers, Alaska Airlines still offers a competitive frequent flyer program, as they frequently offer buy miles discounts and there are many sweet spots in the program.
Anyone planning to request an Alaska status match or recently requested one? What do you think about the updates of the Alaska status match?