Alaska MVP Gold status offers several valuable benefits to Alaska frequent flyers, including priority boarding, bonus miles and complimentary upgrades.

Below we’ll dive into how to get Alaska MVP Gold status, Alaska MVP Gold status benefits and whether MVP Gold on Alaska is worth it.

How to get MVP Gold on Alaska

There are two ways to get Alaska MVP Gold status: Qualify through flying or qualify through credit card spending (when available).

Qualifying for Alaska MVP Gold status through flying

To qualify for Alaska MVP Gold status through flying, you’ll need to do one of the following:

Earn 40,000 elite-qualifying miles in a calendar year. The 40,000 elite-qualifying miles can be earned through flights taken on Alaska Airlines or its Oneworld or global partner airlines, including American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, and others.

Fly at least 60 eligible segments. The eligible segments can be on Alaska Airlines or its Oneworld or global partners, though keep in mind that award tickets do not count toward the eligible mileage requirements.

In addition to either earning the 40,000 elite-qualifying miles or flying 60 eligible segments, at least six segments flown in the same calendar year must be marketed and operated by Alaska Airlines.

This means you can’t earn Alaska MVP Gold status solely by flying on Alaska partner airlines.

For Alaska Airlines flights, the number of elite-qualifying miles you’ll earn is mileage-based and depends on the cabin and fare class purchased.

Elite-qualifying miles earned per flight can vary from 50% to 200%, depending on the flight distance, cabin, airline flown and fare class purchased.

For example, if you fly one way from Los Angeles to Seattle in economy on an Alaska-operated flight, you’ll earn 954 elite-qualifying miles, which is the same as the flight distance from LAX to SEA.

The number of Alaska elite-qualifying miles you’ll earn on partner airlines is based on a combination of fare class and distance flown, but the exact number of elite-qualifying miles earned varies by airline.

For example, when flying on Singapore Airlines, you can earn from 50% to 150% elite-qualifying miles.

You can find the most up-to-date partner mileage information on Alaska’s website.

Very frequent Alaska flyers — those who fly 1,000,000 miles or more on Alaska — will qualify for Alaska MVP Gold status for life.

Qualifying for Alaska MVP Gold status through credit card spending

Alaska Airlines sometimes offers opportunities to earn MVP Gold status through credit card spending.

For instance, a recent promotion allowed Alaska credit card holders to earn 2,000 elite-qualifying miles for every $10,000 spent on their Alaska credit card.

When these promotions are offered, you’ll usually need to register for the promotion on Alaska’s website.