I travel quite a bit for work and I am reimbursed for my expenses by my company. I have been using the same credit card to earn rewards in return, but now I am planning on hunting in Alaska soon. I was wondering if anyone on the forum knows of any good airline credit cards that would enable me to earn miles for a flight into (most likely) Anchorage. Just curious if anyone has done this to get them a free flight up north from the lower 48.
Airline Help
- Thread starter smw110136
- Start date
DrH
Member
The Alaska Airlines Visa.
Big Sky Dreamin
Member
Chase has a good miles card if I rember correctly..
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Kaitum
Well-known member
Lots of folks use the Alaska Airlines Visa for hunting trip travel to Alaska. I live in AK and use it for travel within state and to the lower 48. Sometimes you can even use the miles to get you to a smaller rural village from Anchorage or Fairbanks.
RobG
Well-known member
I don't know about the other companies, but Delta's mileage program will transition to full suck in 2015, requiring a lot more points to fly. If you have been waiting to use your points you should book tickets now because they are going to be worth a lot less after Jan. 1. Keep that in mind if you are considering a card giving you delta miles.
United Airlines miles are worthless since they will either lose your luggage or cancel your flight. They need to get their act together...
United Airlines miles are worthless since they will either lose your luggage or cancel your flight. They need to get their act together...
jryoung
Well-known member
My wife runs her business through her Alaska Air credit card. We've been pretty happy with it, there are always some restrictions, but in general we get the flights we want and the AK mileage program is often rated as one of the best.
Lawnboy
Well-known member
I work for many doctors and most of them told me to get the Alaska card because they are one of the few that truly honor the points over the years.
People ask how I can afford to go every year to see my brother and hunt sheep in Alaska and the answer is my flights have all been free. I use it for fuel and equipment purchases and I build houses every 2 years and put as much on the card as I can during the building process.
They give you 25,000 to start and then 2 companion fares valued at $99 each year. This only works when combined with a regular price ticket. It still gives you a big discount. I've found that it usually takes around 40-50,000 points to get a round trip ticket to Alaska. This is for flights with good times. You can find roundtrip tickets for 25,000 if you're willing to take some crappy redeye flights.
People ask how I can afford to go every year to see my brother and hunt sheep in Alaska and the answer is my flights have all been free. I use it for fuel and equipment purchases and I build houses every 2 years and put as much on the card as I can during the building process.
They give you 25,000 to start and then 2 companion fares valued at $99 each year. This only works when combined with a regular price ticket. It still gives you a big discount. I've found that it usually takes around 40-50,000 points to get a round trip ticket to Alaska. This is for flights with good times. You can find roundtrip tickets for 25,000 if you're willing to take some crappy redeye flights.
Hatchie Dawg
Well-known member
Along these lines how easy is it to fly back with meat from a successful trip. I am thinking about using a similar strategy to get to CO for next year's elk season. Fly for free, then rent a vehicle. Can I fly back with cooler of meat without too much hassle of I am successful?
Kaitum
Well-known member
Generally yes, but each airlines will have their own rules so its best to check with the airlines far ahead of time to plan accordingly. One strategy is to put the meat, preferably frozen, in durable coolers and use those coolers as your checked luggage. Then snail mail your hunting clothes / non-essential gear back home via parcel post. This will help minimize the number of checked bags you have (i.e. minimize costs). Use your hunting pack as your carry on, but don't forget to remove knives, ammo, etc. My experience with checked bags is they really nail you when you exceed the 50 lb checked bag weight limit. In my case it was cheaper to pay for 2 checked bags vs. 1 over-weight checked bag. If you're successful in harvesting an elk, you're definitely looking at 2 coolers. Sometimes a 3rd (or 4th) checked bag really jumps up in cost. Again, just depends on the airline.
This in spades! Watch not only the weight be the size. A 70qt cooler is about the biggest you can get on without paying oversize fees, which are on top of overweight fees. If you do go overweight, go to the max! A 75# cooler costs as much to check as a 99#.
It can get a bit expensive to get everything there and back, but for me it was worth it this year vs. driving and the extra time off. I can leave home and be hunting faster than I can just get there driving. I was able to get home close to 180# of meat this way and saved over 3 days of leave and kitchen passes!
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