A few months ago, I wrote about a 5,000 mile retention offer I received from Bank of America for keeping my Alaska Airlines business card open. They never gave me a timeframe for when the miles would post to my account, so after a few months of waiting, I figured it was time to call.
I started by calling Bank of America and they were able to confirm they sent the request to Alaska, and the miles should have posted on the first statement after I received the offer. I also should have received a letter in the mail with a confirmation number, but that never arrived. The Bank of America agent did try to call Alaska Airlines with me still on the line, but their offices don’t open until 10am Eastern time. They advised I call Alaska Airlines Customer Service myself later that day.
My first call to Alaska Airlines was unsuccessful. The customer service rep submitted a request to the banking relations department and said they would follow-up with me by email in a few days. After two weeks of nothing, I called back and went through the same process. This time, the customer service rep gave me a reference number that I could use in case I needed to call back. She said I should receive an email update within 3-5 business days. To my surprise, the miles had been added to my account that same day! Even though I called in November, the activity date for the miles was listed as September.
Final Thoughts
If you are waiting for Alaska Airlines miles to post from Bank of America, I think it’s worth calling Alaska Airlines directly. Always ask for a reference number. You can also ask the customer service rep to add notes about your conversation to your account. With any luck, someone will eventually be able to track down what went wrong and add the miles to your account.
