Alaska MVP Gold: What to Know

Alaska MVP Gold status offers several valuable benefits to Alaska frequent flyers, including priority boarding, bonus miles and complimentary upgrades.

Below we’ll dive into how to get Alaska MVP Gold status, Alaska MVP Gold status benefits and whether MVP Gold on Alaska is worth it.

How to get MVP Gold on Alaska

There are two ways to get Alaska MVP Gold status: Qualify through flying or qualify through credit card spending (when available).

» Learn more: Your guide to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Qualifying for Alaska MVP Gold status through flying

To qualify for Alaska MVP Gold status through flying, you’ll need to do one of the following:

Earn 40,000 elite-qualifying miles in a calendar year. The 40,000 elite-qualifying miles can be earned through flights taken on Alaska Airlines or its Oneworld or global partner airlines, including American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, and others.
Fly at least 60 eligible segments. The eligible segments can be on Alaska Airlines or its Oneworld or global partners, though keep in mind that award tickets do not count toward the eligible mileage requirements.

» Learn more: How much are my Alaska Airlines miles worth?

In addition to either earning the 40,000 elite-qualifying miles or flying 60 eligible segments, at least six segments flown in the same calendar year must be marketed and operated by Alaska Airlines.

This means you can’t earn Alaska MVP Gold status solely by flying on Alaska partner airlines.

For Alaska Airlines flights, the number of elite-qualifying miles you’ll earn is mileage-based and depends on the cabin and fare class purchased.

Elite-qualifying miles earned per flight can vary from 50% to 200%, depending on the flight distance, cabin, airline flown and fare class purchased.

For example, if you fly one way from Los Angeles to Seattle in economy on an Alaska-operated flight, you’ll earn 954 elite-qualifying miles, which is the same as the flight distance from LAX to SEA.

The number of Alaska elite-qualifying miles you’ll earn on partner airlines is based on a combination of fare class and distance flown, but the exact number of elite-qualifying miles earned varies by airline.

For example, when flying on Singapore Airlines, you can earn from 50% to 150% elite-qualifying miles.

You can find the most up-to-date partner mileage information on Alaska’s website.

Very frequent Alaska flyers — those who fly 1,000,000 miles or more on Alaska — will qualify for Alaska MVP Gold status for life.

» Learn more: How to earn miles with Alaska Airlines

Qualifying for Alaska MVP Gold status through credit card spending

Alaska Airlines sometimes offers opportunities to earn MVP Gold status through credit card spending.

For instance, a recent promotion allowed Alaska credit card holders to earn 2,000 elite-qualifying miles for every $10,000 spent on their Alaska credit card.

When these promotions are offered, you’ll usually need to register for the promotion on Alaska’s website.

🤓Nerdy Tip

If you register for a promotion, we recommend taking a screenshot of the registration confirmation in case your elite-qualifying miles aren’t credited to your account

» Learn more: Is an Alaska Airlines credit card worth it?

Alaska MVP Gold benefits

The benefits make Alaska’s MVP Gold status quite valuable. Some of our favorite benefits are priority call routing, 100% bonus miles, and priority check-in and boarding. Tap below to expand the full list of MVP Gold benefits.

Alaska MVP Gold benefits

100% elite bonus miles.
First class upgrades at booking on Y, B, H or K fares.
Premium class upgrade at booking on Y, B, H, K, M, L, V, S or N fares.
Space-available first and premium class upgrades on other Alaska fares 72 hours before departure.
Companion upgrades to first and premium class.
Up to four first class guest upgrades per year.
Complimentary premium beverage or chocolate in the main cabin.
Priority check-in and boarding.
Two free checked bags.
Alaska Lounge membership discount.
Priority call routing in call centers.
Oneworld Sapphire status.
Complimentary same-day flight changes.
Access to preferred seating.

How much is Alaska MVP Gold elite status worth?

In NerdWallet’s annual analysis of the best airline elite status programs, we sought to determine how much value the major U.S. airline loyalty programs deliver to flyers. Here's how Alaska's Mileage Plan MVP status program did.

	MVP	MVP Gold	MVP Gold 75k	MVP Gold 100K
Value	$830.	$2,240.	$5,925.	$8,700.
Cost to earn	$2,400.	$4,800.	$9,000.	$12,000.
Elite reward rate	35%.	47%.	66%.	73%.

Is MVP Gold worth it?

Deciding whether Alaska’s MVP Gold status is worth it depends on a number of factors, including how often you’ll fly Alaska Airlines and its partners and whether you’ll take advantage of the benefits.

If your local airport is a hub for Alaska or a partner airline, you fly often, and you can easily fly at least six Alaska-operated flights in a year, you may want to try qualifying for Alaska’s MVP Gold status so you can take advantage of the benefits offered.

» Learn more: Benefits of the Alaska Airlines credit card

MVP Gold on Alaska recapped

Alaska’s MVP Gold status offers priority routing for calls, complimentary upgrades, 100% bonus miles, priority boarding and check-in, and more.

You can qualify for Alaska’s MVP Gold status two ways: through flying or through credit card spending (though the credit card spending option is currently offered occasionally through promotions).

If you aren’t sure whether you should try to qualify for Alaska’s MVP Gold status, consider how many Alaska and Alaska-partner flights you take each year and whether you’ll take advantage of the MVP Gold benefits offered.

(Top photo courtesy of Alaska Airlines)