Tagging Miles

Targeted: Alaska Airlines card – Spend $250 in specific category stores, get $50 off an Alaska Flight

By Leave a Comment





Alaska Airlines, or rather Bank of America tends to send a good number of targeted bonuses. This is one that I received today:

Targeted Alaska Air Promo

Its kind’ve a run of the mill offer, if you ask me, not terribly enticing, but also not terribly difficult to achieve.

Here are the Terms and Conditions:

*To be eligible for this offer, your account must be open with charging privileges and you must activate this offer by December 31, 2015. You will receive a $50 flight discount code on future travel if from the date you activate this offer through December 31, 2015, you make purchases of $250 or more at merchants which are assigned one of the following specified merchant category codes (“MCC”): Department Stores (5311), Electronics Stores (5732), Computer Software Stores (5734), Hobby, Toy and Game Shops (5945), Book Stores (5942), Sporting Goods Stores (5941) and Sports Apparel, Riding Apparel Stores (5655), each an “eligible purchase” for this offer. Please note that this list does not include MCC(s) commonly assigned to large discount retailers that are often referred to as “big box” stores or “superstores”. Although we do not determine which MCC a merchant chooses to classify itself, merchants are generally classified based upon their primary line of business. Purchases made at merchants that do not process transactions under these codes, credits, returns, adjustments, purchases of cash equivalents, fees, interest charges and fraudulent transactions will not qualify. We reserve the right to verify eligibility of all transactions. If your account is converted to a different rewards program or to a card without a rewards program during the offer timeframe, the offer is no longer valid. Allow up to 12 weeks from the end of the promotion for the $50 flight discount code to appear in your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan™ online account. You must use ‘My Account’ to access the $50 flight discount code at alaskaair.com/myaccount . The discount code can only be used on Alaska Airlines flights and is not valid on partner airlines. The $50 flight discount code will expire one year from the date issued to your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan online account. The value of this reward may constitute taxable income to you. You may be issued an Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 (or other appropriate form) that reflects the value of such reward. Please consult your tax advisor, as neither we, nor our affiliates provide tax advice. – Bolding mine.

The key take-aways for me are:

  • Specific Merchant Category Codes (you can see up top for those)
  • Generally MCCs not assigned to large discount “big box” retailers.

I think the bigger question is – would this kind’ve a promotion entice me to use my Bank of America Alaska Airlines card? I’m thinking the answer is yes, if I flew Alaska Airlines regularly.

What about you? Would this kind of offer entice you to put spend on your Bank of America Alaska Airlines card?

Targeted: $50 Alaska Air flight discount when you use your Alaska Airlines Visa Signature

By 2 Comments

I assume this is a targeted offer (I received it via e-mail).

Receive a $50 flight discount after you spend $1,250 or more with your Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card at qualifying Book, Toy, Electronics, Sporting Goods, and Department Stores from the day you activate through December 31, 2014.

It seems like a pretty good selection of stores to make purchases at, and really, $1,250 isn’t a whole lot (roughly 4% if math serves me). The terms and conditions specifically state:

You will receive a $50 flight discount code on future travel if from the date you activate this offer through December 31, 2014, you make purchases of $1,250 or more at merchants which are assigned one of the following specified merchant category codes (“MCC”): Department Stores (5311), Electronics Stores (5732), Computer Software Stores (5734), Hobby, Toy and Game Shops (5945), Book Stores (5942), Sporting Goods Stores (5941) and Sports Apparel, Riding Apparel Stores (5655), each an “eligible purchase” for this offer. Please note that this list does not include MCC(s) commonly assigned to large discount retailers that are often referred to as “big box” stores or “superstores”.

So it probably doesn’t hurt to double check the MCC of particular stores if you plan to try to MS or resell your way to that $1,250.

Here’s a screenshot of the offer:

Targeted $50 Alaska Air Flight Credit from Bank of America

Targeted $50 Alaska Air Flight Credit from Bank of America (after $1,250 spend).

Note: Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline, or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. The owners of this website may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links and advertisements posted on this website. For more information, please see our Legal Notice.