Calling all frequent West Coast fliers: Alaska Airlines’ recently launched Flight Pass program, an annual subscription service that allows members to take up to 24 round-trip flights a year for a fixed monthly fee, now includes a new destination: Salt Lake City, Utah.
Flight Pass subscribers can fly between Salt Lake City and San Francisco or San Diego, in addition to 18 other routes throughout California as well as between California, Phoenix, and Las Vegas.
The carrier also announced this week that it is offering a 12-month complimentary Mileage Plan MVP member status upgrade to those who sign up for Flight Pass between now and November 30. Flight Pass Pro subscribers will automatically earn MVP Gold status. Existing subscribers will get the complimentary MVP or MVP Gold status upgrades as well, good through 2023.
Where the Alaska Airlines Flight Pass will take you
Courtesy of Alaska Airlines
Here’s how the Alaska Airlines Flight Pass works
- For $49 a month, members will have access to one round-trip flight every two months—or six flights per year, which will each only cost the additional taxes and fees (typically around $14 per flight).
- For $99 a month, members will have access to one round-trip flight every month—or 12 flights per year, which will each only cost the additional taxes and fees.
- For $189 a month, members will have access to two round-trip flights every month—or 24 flights per year, which will each only cost the additional taxes and fees.
Flight Pass flights must be booked at least 14 days prior to travel and can be booked as much as 90 days in advance.
For those who want more last-minute booking flexibility, you can opt for a Flight Pass Pro, which has the same 6-, 12 -, and 24-flight options but starts at $199 per month (versus $49) and goes up from there. Flight Pass Pro allows same-day booking up to two hours before departure.
Breakdown of the Flight Pass’s pricing:
Note the cost per trip.
Courtesy of Alaska Airlines
With Flight Pass, travelers must commit to a full-year subscription, but after that they can either opt to renew or opt out of the subscription service.
“What we know is, consumers have changed during COVID and subscription models have surged,” Alaska Airlines spokesperson Alex Corey told AFAR. “Inside of our own data, we also see this work from anywhere, remote, safe exploration outdoors [trend] it’s on the rise. We’ve seen as business traffic went down during the pandemic, that this segment [has grown].”
Alaska reports that many Americans are continuing to plan domestic travel, “particularly to warm-weather and beach destinations”—hence, the emphasis on the West Coast, where the carrier sees potential to court California residents flying to destinations within the state and nearby.
How to get the Flight Pass
Interested users can sign up by creating an account online, where they will then choose their preferred plan.
This story was originally published in February 2022, and was updated on November 3, 2022, to include current information.
