What’s going on with MBNA Alaska Airlines MasterCard?
UPDATE- (June 26, 8:15am PST) Spoke to Alaska Airlines representative. Seems like they were unaware of the issue and letting their IT section know about it now. They mentioned that applications are still available over the phone and in person on their airplanes.
(June 26 8:15pm PST) The consistent message that I am hearing they are working on the correct hyperlinks. Rewards Canada mentions on our Twitter account that the 30,000 sign up bonus link was released prematurely and should be back up at some point.
(June 27, 1:00pm PST) The links seem to have been updated.
Note that I will provide any updates that I receive in the next day or two at the top of this post.
There seems to be so much uncertainty surrounding the MBNA Alaska Airlines World Elite MasterCard. A few day ago, there was an increase in the sign up bonus from 25,000 to 30,000 bonus miles. A few issues have surfaced since then:
- The MBNA website no longer lists this credit card on their website.
- GreatCanadianRebates also de-listed the credit card for their website.
- Any existing application links are broken.
I have since spoke with MBNA and they said that they have pulled all links from the website and said that you have to apply directly with Alaska Airlines. The reason is because MBNA has been having a lot of trouble crediting miles earned, so Alaska Airlines decided to take over information collection. Once they collect the information, they will pass it on to MBNA for credit review and approval.
When you visit the Alaska Airlines website, you do see the MBNA card still listed. However, when you click the Apply Now button, it redirects me to the MBNA website with a broken link.
MBNA told me to contact Alaska Airlines directly to find out more. At the moment, their customer service centre is closed until 8am PST. However, I did try to use the self-service option to inquire about the credit card. The machine said to contact Bank of American directly, with no mention of MBNA.
I will give Alaska Airlines a call when their offices open to find out more. In the meantime, please feel free to share any updates in the comment section below!
Thanks for looking into this and following up with Alaska. Once this is sorted, I’d like to apply for this card.
I accidentally overpaid my Alaska account, plus cancelling my card, due to their totally inefficient web site re billing, etc. Phoned and was forced to talk to 3 persons asking same dumb question? Why overpayment? A mistake! It was my monies, almost 2 years later, no account, they deducting service charges, ignoring me totally. Dealing with Alaska earlier thru their American bank, absolutely never problems, My advice, stay away from this incompetent bank !
I sent a note to GCR about this and following is their response.
MBNA is updating the Alaska offer today. It is better than the old one. We are waiting for the new links to go live. It should be available sometime this morning.
Based on the picture from this post, it did say 30K bonus but annual fee is $99 instead of $75. It’s that why they needed to update the new annual fee?
Here’s the update: https://pointshogger.boardingarea.com/updated-mbna-alaska-airlines-credit-card-links
Thanks for the update.
Here is another update! https://pointshogger.boardingarea.com/updated-mbna-alaska-airlines-credit-card-links
I had this card for approximately ten years and got tremendous value out of it. Alaska Airlines was my preferred way to fly from YVR to PSP and also YVR to PHL. I even earned status with them and could use the lounge. I was looking forward to the Virgin purchase because that would open up more US West/East paths for me. I closed my Alaska account a few months ago as I found the ticket prices had increased after the Virgin purchase and were no longer competitive with WestJet or AirCanada. I also found there were fewer choices on reward tickets than there had been before the Virgin purchase – really didn’t see the same number of American Airlines reward seats. I just redeemed Alaska points for a YVR/MEL trip on Premium Economy which was quite a bit less than AC premium economy, so the rewards program still has some very good perks. However, Alaska is no longer in my wallet, I’ve now got a MBNA Best Western card for no yearly fee as my wallet’s Mastercard, and I can transfer the BW points to any airline.
Thanks for sharing your experience Alex. Glad you are getting value from this card!
Converting BW points to airline reward points is extremely poor value. It may be only useful for keeping an account from expiring.
Agreed, it is poor value. I would only do it to top up a specific upcoming/imminent reward redemption where you do not have other easier options.