For those looking to fly to Asia in the next few months, this is the plan for you.
**Note: Due to the recent changes in both the American Express SPG products, this method may not work until SPG releases its new offers in August 2018.**
Here are the cards that you’ll need:
American Express: Personal SPG Card
Visa: N/A
MasterCard: MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite MasterCard
Notable Mentions: American Express Business SPG Card
Total Yearly Fees: $135 after GCR rebates
Overview:
The idea behind this collection is simple and is easy to manage; Meet the minimum spend on the MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite MasterCard and the American Express Personal SPG Card in order to obtain their respective bonuses. After transferring the SPG Starpoints to Alaska Airlines, you will have enough miles for a flight from Canada to Japan or Korea. Alternatively, the miles can also be used towards a flight to Europe, but is significantly less valuable in comparison to a flight to Asia.
Here’s how it works:
End goal: Round Trip Flight (Coach) to Asia Via Alaska Airline Partners
We need: 50,000+ Alaska Miles
Transfer Ratios to Note:
1 SPG Starpoint : 1 Alaska Mile
(** 5,000 mile bonus for every 20,000 SPG Starpoints Transferred)
The Strategy:
There isn’t much in terms of strategy as spending requirements should be met relatively easily ($1,000 and $1,500 within 3 months). In the case where you have issues on spending, space out your credit card applications and buy gift cards for use on a later date if necessary. Let’s begin by breaking down the steps by card:
MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite MasterCard: The card offers 30,000 bonus Alaska miles after $1,000 spend in the first three months. This alone will be enough for a one way flight from Canada to Japan/Korea. Since this MasterCard is churn-able, you can also consider cancelling the card once you receive your miles, waiting 3–4 months and reapplying for another hit of bonus points. The only setback is that there is a minimum income of 80,000; there is an alternative Alaska Airlines product, but it only offers 20,000 bonus points instead.
Total Alaska Airline miles after $1,000 spend: 1,000(earn) + 30,000 (bonus)= 31,000
American Express Personal SPG Card: The Personal SPG card has a minimum spend bonus of 20,000 Starpoints after a spend of $1,500 in the first 3 months. Since Starpoints can be transferred into a variety of airline partners and offers a bonus of 5,000 points with every 20,000 transferred, we can convert our bonus into 25,000 Alaska Airline miles.
Total SPG Starpoints after $1,500 spend = 1,500(earn) + 20,000(bonus) = 21,500
After transferring 20,000 Starpoints to 25,000 Alaska Airline miles, we have:
31,000 + 25,000= 56,000 Alaska miles + 1,500 Leftover Starpoints
And… You’re done!
56,000 Alaska miles is more than enough for an off-peak round-trip flight to either Japan or Korea via American Airlines (Click here for more info). You’ll also have some spare Alaska Miles and Starpoints to start off your savings for the next trip!
Food for Thought
Notable Mentions: For those of you who are interested in travelling on Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines, consider churning the MBNA Alaska Airlines MasterCard or applying for the American Express Business SPG Card. 60,000 or so Alaska miles can be redeemed for a round trip flight from Canada to Asia on both Cathay and JAL.
Points Smart 