Alaska Airlines has blocked customers in Australia from bulk-buying frequent flyer miles to redeem for free flights with partner airlines Qantas, Emirates and Cathay Pacific.
The Seattle-based airline is limiting purchases in its Mileage Plan scheme to members with a North American credit card and billing address, locking out Mileage Plan members in the rest of the world.
"In an attempt to reduce fraudulent transactions, we are limiting purchases to credits cards issued in North America (Canada, United States and Mexico) only", said Komal Ram, Alaska Airlines’ director of loyalty programs, during an interview with Australian Business Traveller.
Alaska Airlines allows travellers to buy frequent flyer miles to boost their account and trade for free flights or upgrades.
The root of the problem, Ram said, is people buying miles with stolen credit cards.
According to Australian Business Traveller, bulk-buying miles – especially from US airlines during ‘bonus miles’ promotions – is a favourite trick of frequent flyers, as it’s often cheaper to buy and subsequently redeem them for travel than actually paying the regular airfare.
