To the point
MBNA has announced that Alaska Airlines credit cards will soon be converted to MBNA Rewards credit cards.
Alaska Airlines credit cards - Conversion to MBNA Rewards Cards
A few months ago, we learned of the withdrawal of co-branded credit cards issued by MBNA in Canada:
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan credit cards (Alaska Airlines World Elite® Mastercard® and Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus® Mastercard®)
- the Best Western Rewards® Mastercard credit card.
Today, MBNA announced to existing Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan credit cardholders that they would be converted to MBNA Rewards credit cards effective September 1, 2023.
| Old Card | New Card |
| Alaska Airlines World Elite® Mastercard® | MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® credit cardholders |
| Alaska Airlines Platinum Plus® Mastercard® | MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard® |
If you currently hold an Alaska Airlines credit card, here’s what’s not changing:
- Any Miles you’ve earned up to and including August 31, 2023, will continue to be available at Alaska Airlines, in accordance with the terms of the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Program.
- Your credit card number, PIN and credit limit will remain the same.
- No change to your Interest Rates.
- There are no changes to your statement closing date, Minimum Payment due date or purchases enrolled in Payment Plans.
- If you have the optional balance protection insurance coverage on your credit card, it will transfer in accordance with your certificate of insurance over to your replacement card and your insurance premium will continue to be charged monthly to your replacement card.
And as of September 1, 2023, once your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan credit card has been converted to an MBNA Rewards credit card, you’ll get all the features of your new credit card. And you will be able to convert your MBNA Rewards points to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan (more on that at the end of the article).
Here are the features of these two MBNA Rewards credit cards:
MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard®
With the MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard®, you can earn 5 points per dollar of purchases for:
- Dining purchases
- Grocery purchases
- Digital media purchases (Netflix, Spotify, etc.)
- Memberships
- Household utility purchases (electricity, etc.)
Everywhere else, you will get 1 point per dollar.
Enough to make the MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® the best MBNA credit card for restaurants, groceries, digital media, subscriptions and household utilities.
Knowing that Mastercard recognizes Walmart Supercenters as grocery stores, this is the best credit card for Walmart customers!
Plus, depending on your province of residence, you’ll get a welcome bonus of between 20,000 and 30,000 points, a value of $200 to $300!
And each year, you will receive Birthday Bonus Points equal to 10% of the total number of Points the Account earned in the 12 months before the month of your birthday, to a maximum Birthday Bonus each year of 15,000 Points.
MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard®
The MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard® is one of Canada’s best no-annual-fee credit cards.
With this card, you can earn 2 points per dollar on:
- Dining purchases
- Grocery purchases
- Digital media purchases (Netflix, Spotify, etc.)
- Memberships
- Household utility purchases (electricity, etc.)
And 1 point per dollar everywhere else. This is the best MBNA credit card with no annual fee.
For a limited time, you can get 10,000 welcome bonus points, a $100 value on travel purchases charged to your Card.
Coming soon: Convert MBNA Rewards points to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
There’s a big surprise in this announcement: it will soon be possible to convert MBNA Rewards points to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan on a one-to-one basis (1 MBNA Rewards Point = 1 Alaska Airlines Mile).
This means that MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® credit cardholders will be able to earn up to 5.5 Alaska Miles per dollar spent – taking into account the 10% annual bonus – (and holders of the MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard® can earn up to 2 Alaska Miles per dollar spent)!
And MBNA has confirmed that this possibility of converting MBNA Rewards points to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan will be open to all cardholders of the MBNA Rewards World Elite® Mastercard® credit card or the MBNA Rewards Platinum Plus® Mastercard®once an agreement has been reached between the two companies.
Bottom line
It is regrettable to see travel rewards credit cards disappear from the Canadian market, as was the case with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Best Western Rewards. A decision no doubt taken by both companies given the low volume of customers in our market, compared with the USA.
On the other hand, it’s interesting to see that institutions like MBNA are thinking about alternative solutions, such as transferring MBNA Rewards points to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
This would make MBNA Rewards a new hybrid rewards program, like American Express Membership Rewards, RBC Avion Rewards and HSBC Rewards (currently the only programs in Canada allowing customers to convert points to other programs).
And to allow us to dream of other programs like TD Rewards or CIBC Aventura offering this, for example, towards… Aeroplan (which would make sense since CIBC and TD are both issuers of Aeroplan credit cards).
Read all about it on the MBNA website:
Come to discuss that topic in our Facebook Group!
