Catch flights, not feelings with Alaska’s 2-day ‘Booking for Love’ sale

Instead of catching feelings this Valentine’s Day, why not book a flight instead? Speaking for myself, I’ll be taking advantage of Alaska Airlines‘ “Booking for Love” sale, with one-way flights starting as low as $49.

As a part of its spring sale, Alaska has cheap one-way flights for various routes across its U.S. network. You can fly to cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle at a discount. If you’re on the West Coast, you can book cheap flights to Hawaii and Mexico.

Travel is not restricted to specific dates within this deal, but you must purchase by Feb. 16 to get this deal for low fares between February and May — specific travel dates vary by route.

Since there aren’t set travel dates or a deadline to book these tickets, we suggest purchasing your flights quickly as fares can change frequently and seats can fill up.

Deal basics

Airline: Alaska Airlines.
Routes: Los Angeles, New York, Austin, San Francisco, Seattle and other cities across Alaska’s network.
How to book: Directly through the sale page.
Travel dates: February through May.
Book by: As soon as possible.

Sample flights

While low fares are available from February through May, March generally has the cheapest fares. There are also some good discounts for cross-country flights and flights from the West Coast to Hawaii.

The below one-way routes were available, as priced, at the time of publication:

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), starting at $49.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to SFO and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), starting at $59.
Portland International Airport (PDX) to San Diego International Airport (SAN), starting at $79.
SAN to Los Cabos International Airport (SJD), starting at $119.
LAX to Kahului Airport (OGG), starting at $129.
Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to SFO, starting at $139.

To book this deal, play around with Alaska’s fare calendar to find the lowest possible round-trip fares. For example, a trip from Newark to San Francisco in March starts at $139.

The total cost for this round-trip flight would be $278.

This fare and all the other fares shown here are for the airline’s Saver class, which does not include seat selection or changes but does permit passengers a full-size carry-on item.

Maximize your purchase

For flight bookings, use a credit card that earns bonus points on airfare purchases, such as The Platinum Card® from American Express (5 points per dollar on airfare booked directly with the airline or through American Express Travel, on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year), Citi Prestige® Card (5 points per dollar on airfare), Citi Premier® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve (3 points per dollar on airfare), American Express® Gold Card (3 points per dollar on airfare when booked directly with the airline or through Amex Travel) or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (2 points per dollar on travel). Check out this post for more on maximizing airfare purchases.

The information for the Citi Prestige Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Bottom line

Whether you are spending this Valentine’s Day alone, in a relationship or with your friends, nothing beats the love one finds through travel.

Do yourself a favor and book yourself (and your loved ones, if you so choose) a flight this year.

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Additional reporting by Meghna Maharishi.