Dreaming of an Alaskan adventure but worried about the cost? Good news: you don’t need to drain your savings to experience the breathtaking beauty of the Last Frontier. Whether you’re planning to hike in Denali National Park, watch glaciers calve into the sea, or witness the northern lights dance across the sky, you can make it happen for free—or at least very cheap! Let’s chat about how to travel to alaska for free with credit card points.

In this post, we’ll share insider tips on how to travel to Alaska for free by strategically opening and using the right credit cards. From flights to Alaska’s major cities like Anchorage and Fairbanks to hopping between its remote gems like Juneau and Ketchikan, we’ll break down the best cards for earning airline miles, how to maximize travel perks, and which airlines to target for the best deals.

Depending on how many people you have coming and how many points you need, this can be a long game—but the points aren’t hard to earn! The key is staying organized and keeping track of your progress. If you’re totally new to opening credit cards for travel, we’ve explained how to get started here with more universally accepted travel cards and points.

But if you’re looking specifically at traveling to Alaska, this guide is for you. With a little planning and the right strategy, your Alaskan adventure can become more affordable than you ever thought possible. Let’s dive in and start turning your travel dreams into reality—without spending a fortune!

P.S. If you do end up wanting to open a card, I can email you a personal referral. That way you get the 70,000 bonus, and I also get a referral bonus! Message me before you try to open a card, our family appreciates it!

Step 1:

• Open an Alaska Airlines Bank of America Credit Card
• Details:
  • $95 annual fee.
  • Spend $3,000 in 90 days get 70,000 points. Once you get your card- only use this card until you’ve hit your $3,000 spend. Then, pay it off like you would normally, and then stop using the card.

Step 2:

• Once you hit the minimum spend for that card, you are rewarded the 70,000 points!
• That might be enough for some free travel for you! Flights range from 5K-50K points depending on the time of year and destinations!

Step 3:

• Refer your partner (or whoever you want to travel with) to open their own card.
• You get a bonus for referring (10,000 points).
• They also can earn the 70,000 points for travel!
• If you do these two things, you’ve hit 150,000 points. 
  • This means you’ve earned (potentially) $1,500 worth of travel for less than $200 (remember you’ll have paid two annual fees).

Step 4:

• Need more points of have a larger family? Us too!
• Open a Hawaiian Airlines Mastercard (Barclay) Credit Card
  • Details:
  • Hawaii Air and Alaska Air recently merged! You can now transfer points between your accounts!
  • $99 annual fee
  • Spend $2,000 in 90 days and get 70,000 points!

Step 5

• Once you hit your minimum spend on your Hawaiian Airlines card, you’ll be awarded the 70,000 points! Then, you can transfer those points to Alaska Airlines to have all of your points on one mileage account.
• If just one of you in the house gets a Hawaii Air card, as a family you are still looking at 220,000 points!

How Much Are Flights in Points?

Let’s look at a few examples!

• Phoenix to Fairbanks Roundtrip per Person: 25,000 points + $12
• Chicago to Ketchikan Roundtrip per Person: 32,500 points + $12
• Detroit to Anchorage Roundtrip per Person: 32,500 points + $12

Incase you’re also wondering, how much is that flight in dollar amount? Well, for the exact same Detroit to Anchorage flight, it would cost you $627.91 per person.

To see if Alaska Airlines flys from a hub by you, you can look at their Route Map here.

The Red Flags:

• Writing this out it sounds like a lot, but travel is important to us, and for it to be within our budget for a family of 5, this is an incredible way to get it paid for!
• You cannot (at least not that I’ve found) transfer points from Person 1 to Person 2. So when booking, you will have to make two separate bookings to use ALL of the points at one time.
• These cards both have relatively low spends ($2,000 or $3,000 minimum), but you still need to be able to pay it off. You do not want to open cards, not be able to pay them off, and then get hit with interest.
• These cards are through Bank of America and Barclay. I do not find their apps or websites to be as user friendly as Chase or Amex. It’s annoying to set up all new banking information and log into multiple bank accounts.
• But, the payoff is worth it for getting free travel to alaska!

What if you get a card and don’t use all of the points for more Alaska trips?

You can use it for booking ANY hotels as well. The Alaska Airlines website allows you to book hotels and travel powdered through Expedia, so for example, here is a hotel in Orlando I could book with my Alaska Airlines miles.