Alaska Airlines Visa Business Card benefits

The Alaska Airlines Visa® Business credit card is an extremely valuable small business card, and one of the best airline credit cards for flying with a travel partner.

With a low annual fee and solid travel benefits, it could save you thousands on travel each year — even without the generous 40,000-mile welcome bonus and $99 Companion Fare (with taxes & fees from $22) after meeting minimum spending requirements.

You can apply for the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card here.

Here’s a rundown of the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card benefits. You can read our full Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card review for all the details.

Alaska Airlines Visa Business Card benefits and perks

The Alaska Airlines Visa Business card comes with 40,000 Alaska Airlines miles and a Companion Fare from $121 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $22) after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first 90 days of opening your account. The card has a $75 annual fee ($50 for the company, plus $25 per card), but the card’s perks more than cover it. In fact, using a single benefit once per year can completely offset the Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card annual fee.

Here are the top benefits you’ll get with the card.

Alaska Airlines companion fare

The Alaska Airlines Companion Fare is my favorite benefit of the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card. It allows you to bring a companion on an Alaska Airlines flight of your choice for just $99 plus taxes and fees. Those taxes and fees start at $22, which means you can bring a companion to fly for as little as $121 on any Alaska Airlines flight.

The card not only comes with a 40,000-mile welcome bonus, but you will also earn a Companion Fare when you apply under the current offer and complete the spending requirements. Even better, each year you have the card, you get another companion fare upon payment of the annual fee. This benefit can be very valuable.

One of our team members found you could potentially save over $1,300 with the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare. We found a multi-city flight from Orlando to Hawaii, then on to Portland and finally returning to Orlando. The Companion Fare rate would have saved ~$1,390 on those flights.

Remember, Companion Fare tickets must be booked in coach, but all tickets are eligible for upgrades to premium class or first class.

Free checked bag

Checked baggage fees are industry standard at this point. Alaska Airlines charges $30 for the first checked bag, but you won’t have to pay to check a bag with the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card.

I only check a bag on rare occasions. But when I do, I never pay checked luggage fees. And when I’m traveling with a friend or a family member, they don’t have to pay for their bag either because the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card covers checked bag fees for you and up to six travelers on the same reservation. That means you could save up to $180 for a one-way trip, or $360 round-trip.

If you travel round-trip on Alaska Airlines with a companion just once per year, you will save $120 thanks to the card. And that more than covers the annual fee.

Access to discounted hotel award redemptions

Another great benefit of the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card is access to discounted mileage award rates through Alaska Airlines Hotels, which is a booking portal that allows members to book stays at more than 400,000 properties worldwide.

Program members can use their miles for stays booked via Alaska Airlines Hotels. But you can only receive access to discounted mileage redemption rates if you have an Alaska Airlines credit card. This can potentially save you tens of thousands of miles annually.

Built-in travel coverage

The Alaska Airlines Visa Business card comes with travel insurance. When you use your card for purchases like airfare, hotel reservations, ground transportation and rental cars, you may be able to cover your trip if you encounter the unexpected. It includes up to $1,000,000 in travel accident insurance and auto rental insurance. The card also covers emergency ticket replacement, lost luggage assistance, and extended coverage for purchases.

Small business benefits

Many small business owners take on a great deal of responsibility when they issue credit cards to employees. There’s always the possibility of misuse of the company card or fraud. Luckily, the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card offers fraud protection.

Here are the benefits for small business owners with the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card:

• You can set spending limits for individual employees
• Protection against unauthorized card use by employees
• Zero liability for unauthorized purchases made with company cards
• No foreign transaction fees

There’s a $25 charge for each additional card you add to your account.

Overall value

We find that Alaska Airlines miles value generally is worth at least 1.25 cents each for domestic flights, so you can expect to receive $500 or more in value from a 40,000 point welcome bonus. However, if you know the best ways to redeem Alaska Airlines miles, you know that they can be worth north of eight cents each — especially when you’re redeeming your miles for business or first class seats on partner airlines like Cathay Pacific. For example, you can fly one-way in business class from San Francisco to Australia for just 60,000 Alaska Airlines miles (a ticket that regularly costs $3,500).

Here’s the value you can expect from the card the first year:

• $500 (40,000 point welcome bonus)
• $120 (free checked bags for two round-trip flights each year)
• $300 (the money you’ll save when using the companion fare each year)

Above is a very subjective and very conservative estimate — you’ll have a hard time receiving less than $920 in value the first year you have the card. And you can easily receive $420 or more each year you renew it.

Bottom line

The Alaska Airlines Visa Business card is fantastic for small businesses, freelancers or travelers with a side gig. You’ll get solid benefits that easily justify the low $75 annual fee, especially the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare and being able to check a bag for $0.

Plus, you can earn Alaska Airlines miles quickly with the card’s 40,000-mile welcome bonus after meeting minimum spending requirements. You’ll receive enough miles for premium-cabin award flights on Alaska Airlines and their partners.

You can apply for the Alaska Airlines Visa Business card here.