Alaska Airlines has changed how elite status will be earned in 2021. Alaska used to require more miles flown if you include miles on partner airlines than if you’re using miles flown exclusively on Alaska. That’s gone.

Starting in 2021, Alaska and partner flights will count the same towards elite status, and the lower “Alaska-only” status requirements apply.

		MVP		MVP Gold		MVP Gold 75K
Miles or		20,000		40,000		75,000
Segments		30		60		90
Minimum		2		4		6
Alaska Segments

There’s no reduction in status requirements for 2021, except that with partner airlines counting the same as Alaska flights status will be easier to earn – especially with Alaska’s American Airlines partnership, and membership in oneworld launching at the end of March.

And Alaska Airlines still has no minimum spending requirement for elite status, which seemed out of step with the industry (but working uniquely well for Alaska) before the pandemic – and now makes more sense than ever with business travel near-zero and fares at uniquely low levels.

One thing Alaska has done, however, is to require a minimum number of segments flown on Alaska to earn Alaska status. You cannot, for instance, just credit American Airlines flights to Alaska and earn Alaska status without ever flying Alaska.

Crediting American flights to Alaska can make a lot of sense, especially with access to reciprocal upgrades and extra legroom seats for each airline’s elite members, and with Alasks’s status potentially easier to earn and miles that are currently worth more – although before the pandemic I expected the American Airlines partnership to mean a devaluation of Mileage Plan miles, though there are now headwinds against this.

(HT: Zach Griff)