For a long time, it was easy to get approved for multiple Alaska Airlines cards in a day until Bank of America recently started cracking down on that. Even better was that you could usually find a direct link for the card that had a $100 statement credit so Bank of America would literally be paying you to acquire 25k Alaska Airline miles. The $100 statement credit offer was suppose to be for those who purchased an Alaska Airlines flight but it was possible to attempt a dummy booking and you would usually see the offer right before you would have to pay for the flight. It has come to my attention that that Bank of America might be cracking down on those who signed up for the card with the $100 statement credit without purchasing a flight as I know of at least one report now that Bank of America refused to issue the $100 statement credit.

PointsCentric reader Kenny recently commented on this post how he was refused the $100 statement credit after spending $1,000 on the Alaska Airlines credit card. He disputed this with Bank of America who in turn sent him a letter officially denying him the $100 statement credit. Kenny has allowed me to share a snapshot of that letter below.

This is the first I’ve heard about this so I don’t know yet if this is an outlier case or the new trend. It could also be possible the reader thought he signed up via a link with the $100 statement credit but actually didn’t (it did say in the letter he signed up via the Alaska Airlines homepage). Personally I think that’s unlikely – it’s very obvious when you signup for the card whether there is a $100 statement credit or not. 

The timing of this is quite interesting as I recently got 2x Alaska cards with the $100 statement credit back in May. I met the $1,000 spend requirement on one card early in May and got my $100 statement credit. However for the other card I actually just met the spend requirement this past weekend. I will keep you updated if that $100 credit posts. 

There are several things to take away from this:

• Alaska Airlines must be providing BofA this information as BofA would not be able to tell if you actually purchased a flight.
• If this is indeed a new policy, does it impact any card that has not met the minimum spend yet? I should be able to determine this if the credit posts to my second card.  
• Unless it does post and that leasd to this question – Does it affect cards that were applied for after a certain date? I need to ask the reader who shared this when he applied for the card. 
• At the very least, there is now some risk you would be wasting a $1,000 of spend on this card. Since your return is about 10% (little less unless you spend exactly $1,000), I would still chance it for now until I see other reports confirming this. 
• Lastly, even if the $100 statement credit never posts, I’d still be happy earning 25k Alaska miles for a $79 annual fee. 

Let this serve as a reminder that the Hobby (corrected link to the Rolling Stone Article) is always changing and evolving. What works today, may not work tomorrow.

Has anyone else run into this issue? 

(HT to Kenny for alerting me of this issue)