Alaska Airlines confirms details of new premium card coming next year, including on companion pass

There is more news on the newly announced premium credit card coming in 2025 from Alaska Airlines. The team at Alaska confirmed details on what the card’s new companion certificate feature will benefit, as first reported by Gary Leff at View From the Wing based on a conversation with Brett Catlin, Alaska’s vice president of loyalty, alliances and sales.

As we reported Tuesday, Alaska made some major announcements about its future, including adding flights to Asia from its Seattle hub, readjusting its route network now that its merger with Hawaiian is done, and adding new lounges. It also confirmed that it was adding a premium product to its credit card lineup next summer.

Alaska said the new premium card will include a beefed-up version of its current Alaska Companion Fare benefit that comes as a perk of the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card and the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card.

Alaska is calling the enhanced version of the companion benefit a “Global Companion Award Certificate” that will be good on international flights, including on some partner airlines.

Now, Alaska is confirming that the companion certificate will be valid for any class of service (that includes first or business class), on any Alaska mileage redemption, including partner mileage awards.

Cardholders will earn one certificate just for holding the card and will receive a second certificate if they meet certain spending requirements on the card, though we don’t know how much the spending requirement will be.

The certificates will also reportedly come with different mileage caps, which we also don’t yet know. The mileage cap on the certificate you earn through spending will be higher. Caitlin said customers will also be able to “top up” the companion certificates. That sounds similar to how Marriott Bonvoy credit cardholders can add up to 15,000 additional points to the value of free night certificates that come with select Marriott credit cards. The new Alaska certificates might operate in a like fashion.

We’ll have to wait to learn just how valuable the new Global Companion Award Certificates really are, but it is certainly an exciting development.

Here are a few other things we know about the new premium card. The annual fee will be $395. The card will also earn 3 miles per dollar spent on all eligible foreign purchases and dining, which is pretty compelling.

Alaska confirmed the card will allow customers to waive the award ticket booking fee of $12.50 that Alaska applies to partner mileage award bookings. It will not waive the fuel surcharges that partners such as British Airways levy on award redemptions.

Finally, the new card will allow holders to accelerate their path to Alaska Mileage Plan status, though there are no public details as yet.

Get 500 free Alaska Mileage plan miles just for joining the waitlist

There’s a fun opportunity for Alaska Mileage Plan members right now to earn 500 Alaska Mileage Plan miles just for putting themselves on a waitlist for the newly announced premium card from Alaska, and another 5,000 bonus miles for being one of the first approved for the fancy new card in addition to the welcome bonus it eventually offers.

To earn the bonus 500 Alaska Mileage Plan miles, you must join the waitlist by Dec. 31.

Once card applications are open, you can use an exclusive link sent to you by Alaska. Then, if your application is approved, you will receive 5,000 bonus miles in addition to the card’s welcome bonus (which we expect to be lucrative).

Registration is simple, and you’ll get a confirmation notification after you sign up.

Related: A new era for Hawaiian as it launches Dreamliner service

“I think when we looked at our credit card portfolio, we did see that niche missing, and so we talked about it a lot, and we wanted to have a credit card offering that was attractive and had attractive benefits for our customers,” said Alaska CEO Ben Minicucci In an interview with The Air Show podcast.

“It will add significant value to our loyalty program,” he added.

As soon as we get more details on the new card and its benefits, we’ll have a full TPG analysis of the pros and cons and who it might be right for, so be sure to check back in.

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