Credit card companies love using existing cardholders as part of their referral market. Not only is it cheaper to pay with miles/points than paying cash (as they do with affiliates) but it is always helpful to hear about offers from friends and family as their experiences may be more in line with what the new customer may expect.
Earn 2,500 Alaska Airline Miles By Referral
Alaska Airlines has the same type of referral program as Chase and American Express where you can refer people to get the credit card and then you get miles when they are approved for their card. In this case, the referral bonus is lower than what Chase gives out as it is only 2,500 miles per referral. But, since the card itself only offers 25,000 miles to new members, this percentage of the referral is kind of in line with what Chase gives on its referrals.
How To Do It
To start, go to this website – here – and enter the necessary information. It asks for your name and Mileage Plan number as well as your e-mail address.
After doing that, enter the names of friends and family for whom you want to refer for the card. It needs first names, last names, and e-mail addresses. You have enough for up to 5 friends but you can select more after filling out that part.
The next step is that your friends or family members will receive the e-mail with the offer and then they can apply! If they apply and are approved, you will qualify for the 2,500 miles.
Why This Is Great
Bank of America is normally quite generous with instant approvals and higher credit lines – even when other banks may not give you any more cards/credit. Combine that with the fact that you receive the 25,000 miles just for having the card be opened and it is a pretty easy process!
Now, the card does come with an annual fee of $75 that is not waived, but that is a small price to pay for the 25,000 Alaska miles you receive for opening up a credit card. These miles are easily some of the most flexible around today since you can use them on airlines with all major alliances and even those without the alliances (Emirates).
So you can really maximize this referral process by just having the same people sign-up again and again through your own link! If you have 5 friends/family members that will sign-up, just send them another referral another couple of months later and you can just keep racking up the miles! If you did 5 at a time, that is an easy 12,500 Alaska Airline miles – especially since they are almost guaranteed to get approved (not a real guarantee but as I said, Bank of America is very generous).
The Varying Card Offer Conundrum
One of the harder things to do with credit card referring is to always suggest the offers that are better for the end user when you get nothing for them! It is hard to send someone to a particular card offer knowing that you are missing out on a big bonus because you did not have them use your own link. But, of course, that is the thing to do if you want to be helpful to the end user!
Well, you can face that same conundrum here! There is an Alaska Airlines offer that gives the 25,000 miles plus a $100 statement credit after spending $1,000 in 3 months. That statement credit easily wipes out the $75 annual fee. However, the terms say that the statement credit is only available for new cardmembers. On one of my apps, I applied through that particular link and did not get the statement credit after meeting the minimum spending so your mileage may vary on that. I always told people to apply through that link anyway just on the chance that it may work.
– Alaska Airlines Credit Card Link With $100 Statement Credit
But, with this referral bonus, I would just let family/friends know there is a different offer available with a statement credit if they meet the $1,000 spending. If they do not want to do the spending, then there is no conflict in sending them your link! If they already have had one of these cards, also no conflict as they may not get the statement credit since they are not a new cardmember.
Thank you so much for the great tip!
I enjoy your posts.
Misty
Thanks for the kind words, Misty! It means a lot!
Question on churning with the Alaska cards…I already have 1 personal and 1 business card with Alaska- how long should I wait before applying for another?
Thanks for the referral tip- that is awesome!
I have done it every 3 months without a problem.
When you churn the Alaska card every 3 months, do you always call to close the previous Alaska card first before applying? or you still have them all open when applying…..if so, what did you tell the customer service reconsideration rep if you have to call recon due to pending approval and they asked you “hmm I see you have two/three same Alaska card already, why do you apply for same card again?”
I have not had to call in yet about it but I would simply offer to close one to open another if they asked. Or just shift the balance around. There are several benefits with the Alaska card, not the least of which is the companion ticket. It would be perfectly normal for a family to have several of those tickets to minimize the cost of the travel, so if that works for you, there is one example.
Also, if you transfer the credit line and close the card after the first year, you would never have that many of them open at one time.
appreciate the transparency to mention about the $100 statement credit offer..
Thanks for that!
[…] Statement Credit on 2nd and later apps? I saw this post on BoardingArea about the 2,500 mile referral offer and then read this language in the T&C of the $100 Statement Credit after $1,000 spending […]
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