"Transfer" timeline for Just 4 U Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan redemptions

Last month I wrote about the option of redeeming Albertsons (and their subsidiaries) Just 4 U rewards for Alaska Airline Mileage Plan miles. The option of redeeming, for example, 7 Just 4 U rewards for 1,300 Mileage Plan miles instead of a $10 grocery reward is the functional equivalent of buying Mileage Plan miles for 0.77 cents each.

If you can generate (or have stockpiled; more on that below) more Just 4 U points than you can use for actual groceries, that's a perfectly sensible redemption, especially if you’re saving up miles for a premium award on one of Alaska’s partners.

My April Alaska Airlines redemptions posted in one batch on May 1

What I could not answer in that earlier post is how long it takes miles to appear in your Mileage Plan account after you’ve ordered a redemption. That’s because one or both of the programs backdates your miles to the date of the Just 4 U redemption, not the date they become available for Alaska Airlines awards.

In April I could see that I had placed an order for 100 Mileage Plan miles on January 27, and I could see 100 Mileage Plan miles dated January 27, but I could not see when the miles actually became available.

[Note: I say I could see the order “in April” because Just 4 U only shows your order history for 90 days, so when I wrote that post on April 6 I could still see my January 27 order, but I cannot see it in my Just 4 U order history any more.]

That being the case, over the course of April I made four additional Just 4 U redemptions, on the 6th, 14th, 19th, and 29th, and made it a point to check my Mileage Plan account every morning to see if anything had posted. That way, while I might not catch the exact moment the miles became available, I would know within a pretty narrow window.

That’s how I found out that all four of my Just 4 U redemptions (three for 100 miles and one for 250 miles) all posted on May 1, 2023.

Obviously one datapoint is neither dispositive nor permanent. For all I know they post miles every 45 days and May 1 just happened to be 45 days after the last batch posted in March. But that seems less likely than all of each month’s mile redemptions posting sometime on or around the first day of the following month.

There’s no point redeeming aggressively but there’s no point waiting

Batched posting like this means, on the one hand, you don’t need to immediately redeem each reward as you earn it (as a reminder, you earn one reward for every 100 points you earn in the Just 4 U program, and larger redemptions give better value) since if you get your redemption in by (near) the end of the month you’ll receive the miles on the same day as you would have, had you redeemed earlier in the month.

On the other hand, each Just 4 U account’s redemption inventory resets every week so if you are earning more rewards than you know what to do with, you don’t want to miss a redemption opportunity by sitting on your hands either.

About that stockpiling strategy

Normally, “rump” Just 4 U points expire at the end of the month they’re earned and rewards expire at the end of the month after they’re earned. Back when it was trivial to amass unlimited Just 4 U points alongside credit card rewards a number of people pointed out that these rewards could be extended indefinitely by signing up for a paid FreshPass subscription. I’m sure there are plenty of people still eating for free on the rewards they earned back then!

This naturally raises the question: if another opportunity for unlimited Just 4 U points comes along, should you pay for a FreshPass subscription in order to redeem 22 rewards per week for Alaska Airlines miles? How many subscriptions? One for every member of your family? One for your dog?

This is not, fortunately, a question I can answer for you because it goes to the heart of how you choose to play the game. I chose not to get a FreshPass subscription and stockpile rewards back then simply because that’s who I am: after I’d filled up my fridge, and my freezer, and my cupboards, and my linen closet, and my local free pantry, I just stopped. Paying $99 per year to buy groceries I didn’t want or need for the rest of my life or until the program was devalued simply didn’t have any appeal for me. I wrote it up for my Subscribers-Only Newsletter and moved on.

On the other hand, I know lots of people who stockpile every currency under the sun on the off chance they find an opportunity to score the perfect luxury redemption. The thrill of finding first class award availability or consecutive exotic award nights with one currency is simply more exciting than seeing the value of another hoard whittled away by devaluations, mergers, or bankruptcies is discouraging.

And if you’re one of those people, then why not add Just 4 U into the mix? Of course, I don’t need to tell you that: you probably already have!