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Alaska Airlines is in the process of adding Virgin America into its airline family. A lot of work has been done, and needs to be done before the task is completed.
The deal as already gone through a prolonged DOJ approval process, which was completed on December 6th, 2016. The corporate transaction was completed on December 14th, 2016 and immediately Alaska went to work on integrating the two different airline loyalty programs; Alaska Airline’s Mileage Plan and Virgin America’s Elevate programs.
Alaska Airline’s CEO Brad Tilden has also publicly stated that they are going to decide on the fate of the Virgin America brand by March 29th, 2017 (the date of Alaska Airline’s Investor Day). It will probably be earlier than the 29th. One thing that can be said of this deal, it has moved relatively fast in regards to past Airline mergers.
One item that has been strongly hinted at is the direction of the two loyalty programs. Only one will survive and that’s Alaska Airline’s Mileage Plan. Although not explicitly stated, it is also generally agreed that the Mileage Plan’s credit card, the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® Card by Bank of America will be the surviving credit card of the combined airline. That means that the days are numbered for the Virgin America Visa Signature Card by Comenity Capital Bank.
Virgin America’s credit card comes in two flavors; the Visa Signature Card and Premium Signature Card. Looking at the two cards her are the differences:
Virgin America Visa Signature Card
Sign up Bonus 10,000 points after $1,000 spend in 90 days
Earn up to 3 reward points per $1 spent on Virgin America Flights
Earn up to 1 reward points per $1 spent on all other purchases
Free first checked bag on Virgin America Flights
Get $150 off a companion ticket every year
Priority boarding on Virgin America Flights
Points don’t expire as long as you’re a cardholder
Save 20% on RED™ in-flight purchases
$49.00 annual fee
Virgin America Premium Visa Signature Card
Sign up Bonus 15,000 points after $1,000 spend in 90 days
Earn up to 3 reward points per $1 spent on Virgin America Flights
Earn up to 1 reward points per $1 spent on all other purchases
Free first checked bag on flights
Get $150 off a companion ticket
Priority boarding on Virgin America Flights
Points don’t expire as long as you’re a cardholder
Save 20% on RED™ in-flight purchases
Unique to the Premium Card is:
No change or cancel fees on flights
Earn up to 15,000 status points
Carry forward up to 10,000 status points
No foreign transaction fees
$149.00 annual fee
Should you get one of these two credit cards? If you fly Alaska Airlines or Virgin America for more than one time a year, the answer is Absolutely Yes. Which card should you get? A good case can be made for either, or even both, cards depending on the amount of travel you do.
Virgin America Visa Signature Card: Looking at the numbers on this card it’s hard to imagine why you wouldn’t want to get it. The sign-up bonus is 10,000-points (also a $1,000 in spend within 90 days) with an annual fee of $49.00 per year. That equates to 11,000 points at less than half a cent per point. That’s Virgin America points. Convert those points to Alaska Airline miles at 1 Virgin America points to 1.3 Alaska Airline miles and your cost per Alaska Airline mile goes down to 3/10ths of a cent per mile. This is a very lucrative way to pick up 14,300 Alaska Airline miles. If you look at the other benefits of this card like the free checked bag, and especially the $150.00 companion credit, and this card becomes a solid addition to your travel credit cards.
Virgin America Premium Visa Signature Card: This card is the deluxe model of the two Virgin America offerings, but the Premium version has a different value proposition than its little brother. The Premium Visa Signature Card has a sign-up bonus of 15,000 Virgin America points (after $1,000 in spend within 90 days). That equates for 16,000 points an annual fee of $149.00, or 9/10ths a cent per point. Converted into Alaska Miles and that’s 20,800 miles at 7/10ths of cent per mile. These are certainly good prices to pick up Virgin America points, just not as good as the standard Visa Signature Card.
Where the Premium Visa Signature Card becomes interesting is on the additional and unique benefits it offers for elite Elevate members. Virgin America’s Elevate program is revenue based and achieving elite status depends on the dollars you spend with the airline. Silver level requires 20,000 status points which equates into $4,000 airline spend. Gold level requires 50,000 status points which equates into $10,000 airline spend. Those are series dollars either way (Silver can also be reached with 15 segments and 30 segments for Gold). The premium card gives you the opportunity to earn status points with credit card spend.
- $10,000 in credit card spend gives you 5,000 status points
$20,000 in credit card spend gives you 10,000 status points
$30,000 in credit card spend gives you 15,000 status points
At the highest level, 15,000 status points knocks off $3,000 in airline spend which is significant for either the silver or gold levels. The Premium Card also allows you to carry forward up to 10,000 status points left over (and above) the tier level you have achieved. This is similar to Delta’s rollover feature, which is really useful in planning and attaining elite levels.
One other very valuable feature unique to the Premium Card is there are no cancel or change fees for Virgin America flight purchases if done with the card. Remaining funds are credited to your airline account for use during the next year. If you’re someone who has a need to change travel plans, this benefit could easily save you hundreds to thousands of dollars in change fees.
In Summary:
Both the Virgin America Visa Signature Card and Virgin America Premium Visa Signature Card’s will be going away sometime in the future. The Visa Signature Card is a valuable card and makes sense even if you only fly a couple times a year on Virgin America (especially if you fly with a companion once a year). The Premium Visa Signature Card has a higher annual fee, but has several unique benefits that becomes very valuable to the elite Elevate flyer. We don’t know how long Alaska Airlines will continue to offer these products with Virgin America, but with the speed that Alaska Airlines is integrating both programs, sooner is better when choosing to sign up. Either one or both cards could be very valuable if their benefits are ported over to Alaska Airline’s Mileage Plan.
