Just 4 U Alaska Airlines redemptions work, for what it's worth
/A few months back a number of bloggers reported that Just 4 U rewards (the rewards program of Albertsons grocery stores and its countless sub-brands) could be redeemed for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.
How it works
The basic mechanism is simple. When a Just 4 U account has a store in Alaska designated as your “preferred store,” then you’ll see the following redemption options:
1 Reward: 100 Mileage Plan miles.
2 Rewards: 250 miles.
3 Rewards: 400 miles.
4 Rewards: 600 miles.
5 Rewards: 850 miles.
7 Rewards: 1300 miles.
Thus, you can redeem a total of up to 22 Rewards per week per Just 4 U account for a total of up to 3,500 Mileage Plan miles.
As a reminder, you earn 1 Reward each time you earn 100 Just 4 U points. Just 4 U points expire at the end of each month, but Rewards expire at the end of the month after they’re earned. Paid FreshPass membership keeps your Rewards from expiring indefinitely.
Mileage Plan Miles Versus Grocery Rewards
If you have access to unlimited Just 4 U points, then the “grocery rewards” double dip is the most valuable option because it allows you to stack multiple grocery rewards redemptions on a single purchase, even to the point of generating a negative balance (although since this will invariably raise suspicion, I recommend spending the negative balance instead, for example by buying a prepaid debit card).
That technique lets you redeem 44 Rewards for $64 off your bill when you buy $20 in groceries (leaving you with $44 to spend on dairy, alcohol, gift cards, or anything else that isn’t usually eligible for Rewards).
Note that the grocery rewards option is only more valuable because of the double dip. If you could not double dip grocery rewards, then redeeming 7 Rewards for 1,300 Mileage Plan miles instead of a $10 grocery reward looks a lot more attractive. Lots of people would be willing to buy Mileage Plan miles for 0.77 cents each, at least at the margin.
What this means is that while double dipping grocery rewards may be the best combination of Just 4 U redemptions, single dipping Mileage Plan redemptions at the 7-Reward level is a solid alternative after you’ve redeemed those and have Rewards left over each week. And this is, in fact, more common than you might think.
Leftover Just 4 U Rewards
Take, for example, last week’s offer for 10 Just 4 U points per dollar spent on Google Play cards. Since you can buy cards up to $500 in value, the maximum earning per card is 5,000 Just 4 U points, or 50 Rewards. After redeeming 44 Rewards through the grocery rewards double dip, you’re left with 6 Rewards. By earning a single additional Reward (or using a leftover Reward from a previous week), you can also redeem for the highest-value Mileage Plan reward the same week, before repeating the process the next week.
I don’t engage in much gift card reselling anymore, but when very high earning rates are offered on high-value cards (or even cards you plan to use yourself), you may be able to break even or turn a profit on Just 4 U rewards in addition to the credit card rewards you earn on the original purchase.
