The Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card Review

The Alaska business credit card offers high-value rewards and a companion pass—both of which will apply exclusively to Alaska Airlines. That said, you will have to pay a hefty annual fee, which will increase by $25 with every employee card you add to your account.

The Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Card starts you off with a solid signup bonus: 40,000 Alaska Airlines bonus miles when you spend $2,000 in the first 90 days. One Mile at a Time values Alaska miles at about 1.8 cents each, so your bonus is worth around $540.

Plus, from the get-go, you’ll be able to access what this airline calls “Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare,” which will grant you a companion pass for the cost of $121 that can apply to any Alaska Airlines flight.

So, altogether, you’ll access around $661 worth of free travel with your Alaska business credit card.

You’ll also earn ongoing rewards as you spend with the Alaska Airlines business credit card. For every dollar you spend on Alaska purchases, you’ll earn 3 miles.

And for every other dollar you spend elsewhere, you’ll earn 1 mile.

There will be no caps to how many miles you can earn with your Alaska business credit card, and your miles won’t expire as long as your account is open.

Plus, every year, you can get an annual companion fare from $121 ($99 base fare, plus at least $22 in taxes and fees).

This means that once a year on an Alaska Airlines flight, you can bring someone along for just $99 in base fare and applicable taxes and fees.

You also get one free checked bag for you and up to six other people on your reservation for any Alaska flight.

The Alaska business credit card allows you to choose between two annual fee structures:

For the card’s Business Level Earning Plan, you’ll pay $50 a year for your company’s account along with an additional $25 a year for every card you attach to your account.

Meanwhile, the card’s Individual Level Earning Plan will cost you an annual fee $75.

No matter which of these plans you opt for, you won’t have to pay a cent extra for any foreign transactions you make on your Alaska business credit card.

• You or people on your reservation check bags on at least three Alaska flight segments per year.
• You want a solid signup bonus worth about $540 in airfare on Alaska or one of their partners.
• You can get good use out of the companion fare discount.

• You don’t often check bags or travel with Alaska
• You don’t want to deal with the hassle of a brand-specific rewards program.

Having laid out all of the details on what the Alaska business credit card has to offer, let’s get more precise with what these details actually mean for your search for the perfect business credit card.

Now that we’ve got all things Alaska business credit card on the table, let’s lend a little more attention to the outlying details on what the Alaska business credit card entails.

Here are the most notable upsides of doing your business spending with the Alaska Airlines business credit card:

If you choose the Alaska Airlines business credit card for your spending, then you’ll have the chance to access a lot of value in your first three months with the card.

All you’ll have to do is spend just $2,000 within 90 days of opening your account, and you’ll not only earn 40,000 bonus miles, but also earn your first yearly companion pass right away.

To put the accessibility of this welcome offer into perspective, most business credit cards will require that you spend at least $3,000—if not thousands more—during your first three months with your card in order to access their welcome offers.

And more often than not, these harder-to-earn welcome offers are worth around the same value as the Alaska business credit card welcome offer.

Plus, you’ll be able to see recurring value not only from the spending rewards you earn with the Alaska business credit card, you’ll also be able to access a companion pass for each year you have the card.

This companion pass will just cost you $121—a $99 companion ticket with fees and taxes worth $22—and it can apply to any Alaska flights that you book through alaskaair.com.

Many other business credit cards that offer anniversary bonuses will do so conditionally—most of the time, you’ll have to have spent a certain amount over a given calendar year. However, you’ll be able to access this yearly companion pass with the Alaska business credit card as long as your account stays open.

With all of the Alaska business credit card’s virtues out on the table, let’s consider the other side. Here are the most notable downsides to doing your business spending with the Alaska business credit card:

At the end of the day, when you compare the Alaska business credit card’s rewards to the rewards you can earn with more general business travel credit cards, you’ll see that they’re still not that versatile.

Put simply, general travel rewards business credit cards will allow you more freedom in how you redeem the rewards you earn for your business spending.

So, though the Alaska business credit card might be more versatile than other branded business travel cards, it still can’t hold up to the versatility to non-branded travel rewards business credit cards.

Not to mention, the Alaska business credit card will only reward you more for the spending you do with it.

While you’ll still be able to access 1x miles for the spending you don’t do with Alaska you’ll be missing out on the bonus rewards you could be accessing with more general business travel cards.

That’s because most of the non-branded travel rewards cards you’ll come across will reward you for the types of spending you do—like travel, shipping, dining, advertisement, etc.—rather than rewarding you for spending with a certain brand.

You will also have to pay an annual fee to access the perks that the Alaska business credit card.

Granted, the Alaska business credit card will allow you to choose between two payment setups—either $75 per year for one card or $50 per account per year, plus $25 per card per year.

But it still stands that either option is pretty steep. This is especially true when you can access some travel rewards cards for no annual fee at all.

Plus, most of your top business credit card options won’t charge you extra for attaching employee cards to your account, so that’s just another avoidable fee that the Alaska business credit card would saddle you with.