
Alaska Airlines passing out goodies to Virgin Elevate passengers this week (Image: Alaska Airlines)
Today Alaska Airlines sent an email to Virgin America Elevate members with a nice gift: 10,000 miles or a $100 discount.
To get the gift, you must link your Elevate and Mileage Plan accounts by January 31.
If you don’t yet have an Alaska Mileage Plan account, the email provides a new account number for you. Just click the activate button, fill out a few fields and you’re done. If you already have both Alaska and Virgin accounts, you can link them here.

Screenshot of email from Alaska Airlines
I linked my accounts this morning, and while Alaska says that the 10,000 mile gift will automatically show up in my Mileage Plan account, I don’t see them there yet… so it’s not instantaneous.
In addition to linking accounts, the email explains that Alaska will match your Virgin Elevate status with the comparable tier in Alaska’s program– MVP, MVP Gold, and MVP Gold 75K. (Side note: Alaska will match your elite status with several other carriers– just send an email to elite.flyer@alaskaair.com and include: your name, Alaska Mileage Plan number, front/back scan of your elite card from other airline, copy of your most recent statement from other airline. The process should take about three weeks.)
If you link your accounts, you do not have to convert points to miles…yet. Once you go through the linking process, you’ll get this reminder: “Your Elevate and Mileage Plan accounts will both remain active. Your balances aren’t going anywhere, and in fact, you can continue to earn Elevate points or Mileage Plan miles when you fly on Virgin America or Alaska Airlines.” For now, I think it’s best to just hold on to your Virgin points and not convert them until you have a specific flight you want to redeem for… then you should examine whether it makes more sense to use miles or points for the transaction.
To help explain things- and brag a bit about how its Mileage Plan is the last remaining mileage (vs revenue)-based program, Alaska created the short video below. It also points to Alaska’s robust roster of partners and destinations where you can now use your Virgin points.
So where can you go on Alaska Airlines- or its many partners and for how many miles? Be sure to check out its helpful interactive award chart here.
Here’s an interesting tip from reader Nick H that should make American AAdvantage members smile… has anyone tried to take advantage of this loophole yet?
All of these are signs that business travelers stand to benefit most from the Alaska-Virgin combo. With its acquisition of Virgin, Alaska hopes to build a West Coast powerhouse. To do that, it’s going to have to win the hearts, wallets and repeat business of Virgin loyalists in the Bay Area.
Shortly after the deal closed last month, Alaska offered Virgin Elevate elite members access to benefits such as priority check in and boarding on Alaska Air flights. Last week it invited Elevate members to join its Mileage Plan program and convert Virgin points to Alaska miles at a relatively generous rate of 1.3 to 1. Then it even reduced the mileage cost on many award flights. It also recently added free movies, chat and texting on flights equipped with Gogo. I expect that frequent travelers will see even more coddling like this over the next year.
So it’s good news on the points/miles front. But time will tell regarding something more important: fares. We’ll be keeping an eye on those markets where Alaska and Virgin have competed keenly on price, such as SFO-SEA or LAX-SEA. Right now, you can fly roundtrip on those routes for as little as $120-$150 booked in advance, or around $250-$300 at the last minute. Let’s see if that will last.
–Chris McGinnis
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same gift- 10K only
Mine did the same thing, but the link apparently happened. The best way to find out if it worked is to try the conversion of points (you don’t have to do it, but just try it)… it’ll tell you if your accounts are matched up.
I don’t think is “another gift” if by that you mean in addition to the 10K that some of got a few days ago.
Isn’t this just extending that 10K offer to a new class of people who didn’t get the earlier one?
Or has someone out there now got 20K?
Might wait a few days to see if it sorts itself out. Let us know if not.
“Yet another sign business travelers stand to benefit most…”
If you mean because they have retained a mileage based rewards program…I would have to disagree. Leisure travelers (like college students) have the flexibility to fly at odd times but still reap the reward of hefty airline mile accrual…and since you have the option of the Mileage Plan Visa, you certainly have a method to rack up plenty of them by how much you spend.
As to the other perks, Alaska has done a great job crossing the Rubicon on free texting in flight. (I have said previously that is the number one amenity I think the tech-heavy West Coast would want).
I’m sure, meanwhile, that Premium Class was designed with Virgin loyalists in mind. But I actually think the biggest selling point will be the free drinks…so I would suggest perhaps a different branding…Connesseiur Class, maybe?
Now all that’s left is allowing all passengers *one* free checked bag and a little snack. Do that and you have a lot more regional flavor to attract passengers and maintain slightly higher fares but strong passenger loyalty.
My MP acct. was posted with the 10,000 miles without doing any linking.