Last fall, MBNA abruptly announced that it was no longer accepting new applications for its pair of co-branded Alaska Airlines credit cards. At that point, existing cardholders could continue to earn Alaska miles through daily spending, with no end in sight.
The latest development in this story is that the relationship between MBNA and Alaska Airlines is set to end.
As of September 1, 2023, legacy cardholders of either the MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard and the MBNA Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus Mastercard will be transitioned to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard and the MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus Mastercard, respectively.
MBNA Alaska Airlines Mastercards to Become MBNA Rewards Mastercards
Recently, anyone with a legacy MBNA Alaska World Elite Mastercard received a notification that the annual fees on their card would be increased from $99 to $120 as of the next annual fee due date. This seemed a bit odd for a product which had been discontinued for new applications, but it turns out that there was something else happening behind the scenes.
As of September 1, 2023, all existing cardholders of the MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard will be transitioned to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard. Likewise, all existing cardholders of the MBNA Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus Mastercard will be transitioned to the MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus Mastercard.
Until then, you can continue earning Alaska miles as per usual on the present version of your Alaska Airlines co-branded card. Replacement cards are to be received by cardholders no later than October 30, 2023.
What this means is that September 1, 2023 marks the official end of any Alaska Airlines co-branded credit cards in Canada. However, as we shall see, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Canadians will no longer have access to Alaska miles through MBNA.
In the case of the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard, there are a number of features that weren’t previously available on its Alaska Airlines co-branded counterpart.
For example, it comes with $1,000 of mobile device insurance, which covers you for damage or loss as long as you charge the entirety of your mobile device to the card, or have recurring payments on a phone contract setup on your new card.
On top of this improved insurance is the fact that the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard earns 5 MBNA Rewards points per dollar spent on each of the following categories:
- Restaurants
- Groceries
- Digital Media
- Memberships
- Household utilities
What makes these categories particularly interesting is that the 5x limit is up to a maximum of $50,000 spent per category. For example, if you manage to hit the $50,000 limit on grocery spending, your restaurant spending could very well have tens of thousands of dollars of 5x bonus space remaining!
On top of all this is a 10% annual birthday bonus, which grants cardholders a boost of 10% of all points earned in a year, up to a maximum of 15,000 MBNA Rewards points per year.
Coming Soon: Transfer MBNA Rewards to Alaska Miles
Perhaps the most interesting development in the relationship between MBNA and Alaska Airlines is that you’ll soon be able to transfer MBNA Rewards to Alaska miles at a 1:1 ratio.
At the time of writing, it isn’t yet clear if all MBNA Rewards points accounts will be able to transfer points into Alaska miles at a 1:1 ratio, or if this is something that’s exclusive to legacy cardholders of Alaska Airlines co-branded credit cards. This information should become available in the coming days, and we’ll be sure to update this article in due course.
On the other hand, there are some indications that MBNA Rewards may become Canada’s newest transferable points currency, as inferred from the FAQ section of the upcoming transition to MBNA Rewards credit cards.
If the above holds true, then just think of the possibilities that could be at your disposal if you can earn 5 MBNA Rewards points per dollar spent with an MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard at the aforementioned categories, which you could then convert to Alaska miles at a 1:1 ratio. This is surely an intriguing possibility, and hopefully it holds to be true.
Alaska miles are revered for providing easy access to high-value partner redemptions for aspirational products such as Cathay Pacific First Class and Japan Airlines First Class, amongst others.
However, in Canada, Alaska miles have been particularly difficult to come by ever since the MBNA Alaska Airlines co-branded Mastercards were closed off to new applications.
This could no longer be the case if MBNA Rewards points become transferable to Alaska miles at a 1:1 ratio.
Conclusion
As of September 1, 2023, the MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite Mastercard and the MBNA Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus Mastercard will cease to exist in Canada. Existing cardholders will be transitioned to the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard and the MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus Mastercard, respectively.
While it’s indeed a shame that Canadians will no longer be able to earn Alaska miles directly with everyday spending, there are indications that MBNA Rewards points will soon be able to be transferred to Alaska miles at a 1:1 ratio.
If this is the case, there are many exciting possibilities that will follow, including essentially being able to earn 5 Alaska miles per dollar spent with the MBNA Rewards World Elite Mastercard. We’ll be sure to update this article as new information about these changes becomes available,
