Alaska Airlines Visa Business Credit Card Review 2024

• Introducing the Alaska Airlines Visa Business Credit Card
• Quick Facts
• What Is the Alaska Airlines Visa Business Credit Card Best For?
• Alaska Airlines Visa Business Credit Card Rewards
• Other Alaska Airlines Visa Business Credit Card Benefits
• Fine Print
• How the Alaska Airlines Visa Business Credit Card Stacks Up
• Is the Alaska Airlines Visa Business Credit Card for You?
• Methodology

The Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* is popular with small business owners and for good reason. This card offers a valuable annual companion fare after spending at least $6,000 within your anniversary year that alone justifies the annual fee for many cardholders. Free checked bags, Alaska Lounge discounts and Alaska Airlines inflight purchase rebates help businesses reduce travel costs.

The Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program is highly regarded, even with travelers not based on the West Coast. Earning miles on flights and credit card spend is highly competitive. Redeeming miles for award flights on Alaska Airlines’ wide network of partner airlines is relatively straightforward and often excellent value. That network appears to be expanding with Alaska poised to acquire Hawaiian Airlines, its partnership with American Airlines and joining the Oneworld alliance in 2021.

• Annual fee of $70 for the company and $25 per card
• Earn 3 miles per dollar on Alaska Airlines purchases, 2 miles per dollar on eligible gas, shipping and local transit including rideshare purchases and 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases
• Welcome bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus miles and Alaska's Famous Companion Fare after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of account opening

The Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* is best for small business owners who fly Alaska Airlines regularly, as it earns bonus rewards for those purchases. It’s also your best bet when making purchases while aboard Alaska Airlines flights, with 20% savings for food, beverage and Wi-Fi purchases.

This card is a no-brainer for those interested in an Alaska Lounge+ Membership, which provides access to nine Alaska Lounge locations and nearly 90 partner lounges. Membership costs $750 for non-elites—but this card confers a $100 discount.

Earning Rewards

The Alaska Airlines Visa business credit card earns Mileage Plan miles. You earn 3 miles per dollar on Alaska Airlines purchases, 2 miles per dollar on eligible gas, shipping and local transit including rideshare purchases and 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases.

The card currently includes a welcome offer: Earn 50,000 bonus miles and Alaska's Famous Companion Fare after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of account opening.

Redeeming Rewards

Redeeming rewards earned by a business card is an easy way to either reduce your business expenses or reward yourself for your hard work. While Alaska Airlines flies primarily from the U.S. West Coast, its miles can be redeemed for flights on Alaska Airlines and its global network of 30 partner airlines, which includes American Airlines, British Airways, Korean Air and Qatar Airways. This opens up vast worldwide opportunities for award redemptions.

One of the unique features of flight awards in the Mileage Plan program is the ability to book a free stopover, even on one-way tickets. This can be particularly valuable within the U.S. if your business or personal travels take you through one of Alaska Airlines’ hubs: Anchorage, Alaska (ANC), Los Angeles (LAX), Seattle (SEA), Portland, Oregon (PDX) or San Francisco (SFO). The airline also operates plenty of flights through San Diego (SAN) and San Jose, California (SJC). A trip from Chicago to San Francisco could be booked with a three-day stopover in Seattle at the one-way award price. Other airlines would price similar tickets as two one-way tickets.

Because free stopovers apply to Mileage Plan partner airlines, this opens up possibilities for stopovers at global airline hubs of Alaska’s partners.

One minor limitation of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan awards is that you can book tickets with Alaska flights and at most just one of its partner airlines. Depending on your desired award routing, you can get around this by booking two one-way awards instead of a round-trip ticket.

As a member of the Oneworld airline alliance, Mileage Plan members will enjoy the ability to redeem miles and receive reciprocal benefits on all Oneworld member airlines. In addition, Alaska Airlines has other airline partners, independent of the major airline alliances.

Rewards Potential

Using data from various government agencies, Forbes Advisor has developed estimates for how much a family in the 70th percentile of income spends annually in various categories. We base our assumptions on a sole proprietor in this income range. The 70th percentile of wage-earning households brings in $118,438 annually and has $39,337 in annual expenses that can reasonably be charged to credit cards. These figures are used to estimate the potential rewards from this credit card.

Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* Rewards Potential
Category	Earning Rate	Estimated Annual Spend	Estimated Annual Earnings
Alaska Airlines purchases	3X	$770	2,310
Gas, transit and shipping	2X	$3,562	7,124
All other purchases	1X	$35,005	35,005
			44,439 Alaska Airlines MileagePlan Miles

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The yearly total the average freelancer or sole proprietor could conceivably earn by funneling all expenses through the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* is 44,439 miles. Domestic flights on Alaska Airlines start at 5,000 or 7,500 miles one way for short trips like Seattle (SEA) to San Francisco (SFO) or Los Angeles (LAX). Longer domestic trips like Los Angeles (LAX) to Chicago (ORD) or New York (JFK) start at 10,000 or 12,500 miles each way. The miles you’d earn each year are more than enough for a round-trip economy ticket between the East Coast and Europe on many partner airlines.

• Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare. Receive an annual companion fare on your cardmember anniversary that lets you purchase a companion flight starting at $122 ($99 plus taxes and fees from $23).
• Free checked bag. Get a free checked bag for you and up to six guests on your reservation.
• Discount on inflight purchases. Save 20% on inflight purchases when you use your card.
• No foreign transaction fees. You won’t be charged a fee for using your card at a non-U.S. retailer.
• $100 Alaska Lounge+ membership discount. You may receive $100 off an annual Alaska Lounge+ membership when you use your card for the purchase.
• Business cash flow management tools. Get access to a range of online services to help you manage your business, including automatic payments, transfers and downloading transactions into QuickBooks.
• Travel insurance. Provides $1,000,000 in travel accident insurance as well as auto rental insurance.

Interest Rates

• Regular APR: 21.24% - 29.24% variable APR on purchases and balance transfers
• Purchase intro APR: N/A
• Balance transfer intro APR: N/A

Fees

• Annual fee: $70 for the company and $25 per card
• Balance transfer fee: 4% of the amount of each transaction
• Foreign purchase transaction fee: None

Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* vs. Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card

If you are a frequent traveler in the Pacific Northwest, you might consider making Delta your preferred airline.

Like the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card*, the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees) offers a free first checked bag when you fly with Delta. The card offers the following rewards: Earn 2 miles per dollar on eligible purchases with U.S. shipping providers and U.S. advertising in select media up to $50,000 per category per year, 2 miles per dollar on purchases directly with Delta and at restaurants and 1 mile per dollar on other purchases.

Plus, the card provides a couple of annual statement credits that the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* does not. For example, you’ll receive a $200 Delta flight credit after spending $10,000 on the card within a calendar year. You’ll also get up to $150 in Delta Stays Credit each year, which can be used to offset prepaid hotels booked through Delta.

Generally, the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* has the edge because of its annual companion fare, which can provide much more value than Delta’s yearly statement credits. Higher-tier Delta credit cards do offer a companion certificate, but you’ll have to pay substantially more in annual fees to open one.

The Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card can include up to 99 additional card members, and unlike the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card*, the Delta card does not charge for these additional cardholders. This Delta card comes with a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $150.

Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* vs. Capital One Spark Miles for Business*

If flexibility is more important to you than scoring a companion ticket, consider a card like the Capital One Spark Miles for Business*. The annual fee is a $0 intro for the first year; $95 after that, and the card earns 2 miles per dollar on every purchase and 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.

Points can be redeemed for 1 cent each toward any type of travel redemption—airfare, hotels, rental cars or vacation packages. Or, use your earnings to cover recent eligible travel purchases or transfer your miles to one of Capital One’s travel partners for potentially even more value per point.

The Capital One Spark Miles for Business* includes a welcome offer: Earn 50,000 bonus miles after spending $4,500 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card* vs. Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card

If your travels find you staying overnight at hotels, you may want to consider the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card. For an annual fee of $125 (Terms apply, see rates & fees), the card offers the following rewards: Earn 6 points per dollar on eligible purchases at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy® program, 4 points per dollar at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. purchases for shipping and 2 points per dollar on all other eligible purchases.

You’ll also get a free night every year after your card renewal month, valued at up to 35,000 Bonvoy points. You can earn an additional free night after spending $60,000 within a calendar year (certain hotels have resort fees). If you typically travel alone, this might be a better perk for you than a companion pass.

Bonvoy is currently the only transfer program to Alaska Airlines, so if you want to enhance your Alaska Miles balance, this is another way to get the job done.

For a welcome offer, the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card offers three Free Night Awards after spending $6,000 in purchases within the first six months of account opening.

Read more: Best Business Credit Cards of 2024

If you are a small business owner who is a West Coast-based flyer and frequently travels on Alaska Airlines, this card should be on your shortlist. With the companion fare, the unique flexibility of free stopovers and the network of partner airlines offered by Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, you will quickly discover value well in excess of the card’s annual fee.

If you prefer cash back, don’t live on the West Coast or if your travels don’t match with Alaska’s route network, a card that awards an effective 2% back toward travel like the Capital One Spark Miles for Business* may be more rewarding, especially if your business travel includes hotel stays.

Forbes Advisor considers a variety of criteria when assigning credit cards a rating. Cards are graded based on numerous factors, including:

• Annual fees
• Welcome bonus offers
• Ongoing earning rates
• Value of individual points or miles
• Included travel or merchant credits
• Additional cardholder benefits

Card features we expect cardholders to use the most often are weighted more heavily in our ratings. Altogether, the factors come together to provide a star rating for each individual card.

Read more: How Forbes Advisor rates credit cards.

To view rates and fees for Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card please visit this page.
To view rates and fees for Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card please visit this page.