Alaska Airlines has restored functionality that allows Mileage Plan members to apply wallet funds toward the taxes and fees on Companion Fare bookings, reversing a restriction that had been in place for a period. The Companion Fare benefit, earned annually by holders of the Alaska Airlines Visa credit card, allows a companion to fly for a base fare of $121 plus taxes and fees. The restoration of wallet fund applicability changes the effective cost equation for Companion Fare redemptions. For frequent flyers who hold the Alaska Visa and who accumulate Mileage Plan wallet funds through elite mileage bonuses, credit card spending, or promotions, the update provides additional flexibility in how the Companion Fare’s taxes and fees are paid.
The Alaska Airlines Visa credit card, issued by Bank of America, includes an annual Companion Fare benefit that is issued to the cardholder’s Mileage Plan account each year after the account anniversary. The Companion Fare allows the cardholder to book a companion ticket on a paid Alaska Airlines itinerary for a base fare of $121 plus applicable taxes and fees, which typically range from approximately $23 to $60 depending on the route.
The Companion Fare is not an award ticket; it is a discounted paid fare that earns miles on both the primary ticket and the companion ticket, and it counts toward elite status qualification. The Companion Fare can be applied to any Alaska Airlines-operated flight and can be booked in any fare class for which paid seats are available, including first class. A Companion Fare used on a first-class ticket from the West Coast to Hawaii can easily save $500 or more compared to buying two separate first-class tickets.
The benefit is broadly considered one of the most valuable annual credit card perks in the airline co-branded card market, partly because it is not capped at a maximum discount and partly because it applies to first class. A Companion Fare used on a $1,200 first-class transcontinental ticket saves approximately $1,079 minus the card’s annual fee, making the card an easy keep for Alaska flyers who take at least one domestic trip per year with a companion.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members accumulate wallet funds through several channels. Elite members earn bonus miles that are credited to the wallet as redeemable miles, credit card spending earns miles that accumulate in the wallet, and periodic promotions may add wallet balances. Wallet funds can be used toward award ticket taxes and fees, paid ticket purchases on the Alaska website, and other Mileage Plan transactions.
For a period preceding the restoration, Alaska had restricted the use of wallet funds specifically for Companion Fare taxes and fees, requiring those charges to be paid with a credit card. The practical effect was that a Companion Fare booking of $121 plus $45 in taxes required a credit card payment of $166, even if the traveler had thousands of miles sitting in their wallet that they would prefer to use.
With the restoration, wallet funds can again be applied to the taxes and fees portion of the Companion Fare. The $121 base fare may still require a separate payment method depending on how Alaska’s system processes the transaction, but the taxes and fees component, which is the variable and sometimes substantial portion of the Companion Fare cost, can be covered with wallet miles. For a traveler with a large wallet balance and limited plans to redeem for award flights, this provides a way to extract value from miles that might otherwise sit unused.
The Companion Fare value equation depends on the fare difference between two tickets purchased separately and one ticket plus the $121 Companion Fare plus taxes. On a transcontinental route where a first-class ticket costs $1,200 and the taxes on the Companion Fare are approximately $35, the Companion Fare costs $156 and saves $1,044 compared to buying two first-class tickets. The value of the Companion Fare benefit on this booking is $1,044, minus the $95 annual fee on the Alaska Visa, for a net benefit of $949.
On shorter routes or in economy, the savings are smaller but still material. A roundtrip economy ticket from Seattle to Los Angeles that costs $250 yields a Companion Fare savings of approximately $129 after subtracting the $121 base fare and taxes. That still more than covers the card’s $95 annual fee, but the value is far less dramatic than on long-haul first-class redemptions.
The wallet funds restoration adds a tax-layer optimization to the equation. If a traveler pays the $35 in taxes with wallet miles, and those miles would otherwise have been redeemed at 1 cent per mile for an award booking that the traveler does not actually want, the effective out-of-pocket cost of the Companion Fare drops from $156 to $121, increasing the net benefit by $35. The optimization is small in absolute dollars but is consistent with the marginal-gains mindset that frequent flyers apply to other points-and-miles decisions.
Alaska’s Mileage Plan award chart, while undergoing changes in recent years, still offers some of the best partner award values among U.S. airline programs. A traveler who has enough Mileage Plan miles for a partner business class award to Asia might prefer to save those miles for the partner award and use the Companion Fare for domestic travel instead.
The Companion Fare is particularly valuable on routes where Alaska’s paid fares are high but award availability is also scarce, such as peak-season Hawaii flights. During winter or summer holidays, Alaska’s Hawaii award space may be non-existent in first class, and economy award tickets may be priced at a premium. A paid first-class ticket booked with the Companion Fare guarantees a confirmed seat and earns elite-qualifying miles, while an award ticket may not be available at all.
The earning aspect is often overlooked. Both the primary ticket and the companion ticket on a Companion Fare booking earn Mileage Plan miles based on the fare paid and the traveler’s elite status. A first-class Companion Fare booking from the West Coast to Hawaii generates several thousand redeemable miles and elite-qualifying miles on both tickets, effectively returning some value through the earning side of the transaction.
Mileage Plan wallet funds are most valuable when redeemed for partner award flights at outsized value, such as Cathay Pacific first class or Japan Airlines business class. Using wallet funds to cover Companion Fare taxes is a lower-value redemption but may be the best use of wallet balances for travelers who do not anticipate booking high-value partner awards in the near future.
A traveler who is saving Alaska miles for a specific aspirational award should not spend wallet funds on Companion Fare taxes, because every mile spent on taxes is a mile not available for the aspirational redemption. A traveler who accumulates Alaska miles through credit card spending and elite bonuses faster than they can redeem them for awards may find that using wallet funds for Companion Fare taxes effectively moves idle miles into active, high-value use.
The decision to use wallet funds for Companion Fare taxes should be weighed against the opportunity cost of those miles for other redemptions. At 1 cent per mile, a $35 tax payment consumes 3,500 miles. If those miles could be used toward a Cathay Pacific first-class award that delivers 6 cents per mile in value, the opportunity cost is $175 in foregone value for a $35 tax payment, a clearly negative trade. If the alternative use is an economy award at 1.2 cents per mile, the opportunity cost is $42 and the trade is slightly negative or break-even.
This article is based on publicly available information about the Alaska Airlines Visa Companion Fare benefit, Mileage Plan wallet fund policies, and Alaska Airlines fare structures as of July 2026. The restoration of wallet fund applicability for Companion Fare taxes is based on reports from travelers and may have specific terms and conditions that vary by booking channel and fare class. Confirm current Companion Fare terms and wallet fund policies on the Alaska Airlines website before booking.
Q: Can I use wallet funds for the entire Companion Fare cost including the $121 base fare? A: The wallet fund restoration applies specifically to taxes and fees. The $121 base fare component typically requires a separate payment method. Confirm the current payment options for the base fare on the Alaska Airlines booking page when applying the Companion Fare.
Q: Does the Companion Fare expire? A: The Companion Fare certificate issued each card anniversary year must be used for travel completed within 12 months of the certificate issue date. Check the expiration date on your Mileage Plan account and plan your companion travel accordingly.
Q: Can the Companion Fare be used on Alaska partner airlines? A: The Companion Fare is valid only on flights operated and marketed by Alaska Airlines. It cannot be used on codeshare flights operated by partner airlines or on partner-operated flights booked through Alaska.
Q: How many Companion Fares can I earn per year? A: Each Alaska Airlines Visa card account earns one Companion Fare per card anniversary year. If you hold both a personal and a business Alaska Visa, you can earn two Companion Fares annually, subject to each card’s anniversary and annual fee payment.