I was just approved for the Alaska Business card which comes with 40k points after $2k spend. In the old days, before a man couldn’t keep secrets (see The Deal Killer Strikes Again), I used to apply for a few Alaska cards, collect the points, and then fly Emirates First (see see Sheikh Dubai’s Chariot: First Class on Emirates Airlines A380 and see Emirates Shower Class JFK-DXB: One More Time). Then Alaska rudely devalued that flight and my sheikh lifestyle came to an abrupt halt. Now, thanks to applying for Alaska cards here and there (and without buying Alaska miles), my balance is approaching 200k. The question is whether I should get over the old days when mile high showers were readily available and burn my new found wealth for one more splurge of Dom and DJing (see Emirates A380 Silent Disco!). The alternative is to save them for long-haul on Cathay as I did last December which had me sitting pretty all the way to Sydney (see Cathay Pacific First Class JFK-HKG: 15.5 Hours of Bliss).
Would you burn your Alaska on Emirates?
I’ve still done EK after the devaluation, but not as much. I’ve also tried JL F as a result.
I don’t have the appetite to burn that much.
You are the funniest blogger in this business. Please post more! Love it.
Thank you! I nominate you for reader of the year lol.
Living Large! Congrats!
I’d love to fly Emirates first, but between the super steep prices and surprisingly poor availability when I last checked, it’s probably not gonna happen.
I was faced with a similar decision last week and ended up burning 360k Alaska miles for my wife and I. To wring out the most value we are doing Emirates First SFO to DXB with a stopover and then on to Milan for the main part of our trip. The pain of burning that many miles was tempered by the absolute bargain of Air France business class home from MXP to SEA for 86k Amex rewards total for both of us. Took advantage of Amex transfer bonus.