Bank of America Alaska Airlines debit card to be discontinued?

Note: The Alaska Debit card will be discontinued on May 31, 2014.

The Alaska Airlines debit card from Bank of America is a useful mile-earning tool. It’s great for buying money orders at Walmart, loading Bluebird (if you can’t find Vanilla Reload or Visa/Mastercard gift cards), and buying miles cheaply using Square Cash. Overall, it presents many easy ways to generate miles cheaply. I’ve had mine for a couple of years now and the annual fee is well worth the miles I earn.

The card hasn’t had a landing page for a while. Still, customers have been able to call and request the card over the phone. However, according to this MilePoint thread, that is going to change on November 10, 2013, when the card will be discontinued. I certainly hope this is just a case of a misinformed employee or a regional change. However I would prepare just in case it happens. If you have a card, start loading up on miles while you can. If you don’t, it might be worth a shot to get one now. Just in case existing cardholders get a few more months of use before their cards are converted to regular debit cards.

If the Alaska debit card does get discontinued, there are a few other options, including the UFB Direct Airline checking account (which earns American AAdvantage miles), Suntrust Skymiles debit, and the Hawaiian Airlines check card from Bank of Hawaii.

What are your thoughts on the Alaska debit card potentially being discontinued?