In today’s podcast episode, we unlock the LifeMiles mystery, look at Etihad’s magical mystery refund policy, and examine 7 surprising oddities of Alaska’s new rewards program, “Atmos”.
7 Big Atmos Oddities (Alaska’s new rewards program)
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Giant Mailbag
(02:02) – LifeMiles cancellations
Card News
(11:23) – Chase will be ending the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards Points to Emirates Skywards as of 10/16/25.
(15:20) – 400 properties added to Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection
Awards, Points, and More
(18:20) – Nick: Canceling Etihad awards
(29:38) – Accessing the Admirals Club with Strata Elite passes
(32:36) – Frontier Gold for $69 through 2026 (maybe available through 9/9/25)
Main Event: 7 Big Atmos Oddities (Alaska’s new rewards program)
(35:15) – Alaska MileagePlan is now Atmos Rewards
(37:18) – The big picture
(42:37) – Choose how you earn (coming in 2026)
(53:29) – Top status (Titanium) will offer complimentary international business class upgrades
(57:02) – Summit Visa Infinite Surprises/Oddities: Global Companion Awards
Learn more about Alaska’s Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® card here: https://frequentmiler.com/alaskas-atmos-rewards-summit-visa-infinite-card-review/
(1:05:39) – Summit Visa Infinite Surprises/Oddities: Free Points sharing
(1:07:52) – Summit Visa Infinite Surprises/Oddities: $50 Instant Travel Delay Credit
(1:11:13) – Summit Visa Infinite Surprises/Oddities: Exclusive Lounge Bar Program: 2 complimentary signature cocktails or a selection from the elevated bar menu upon showing your Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® card
(1:13:07) – Summit Visa Infinite Surprises/Oddities: 3x International spend
Question of the Week
(1:17:20) – Are Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card holders getting charnged more for The Edit by Chase Travel℠ bookings than Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card holders?
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Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
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The official pronunciation of Atmos is Cuh-tar
I don’t get how you’re able to talk about how wonderful and innovative the new earning options are without saying clearly that the new distance-based earning option is a lot less valuable than AS’s and HA’s current distance-based earning structures. Letting customers choose which devaluation hurts them the least may be better than what AA, UA, and DL have done, but it’s still a big devaluation from the existing AS and HA plans due to the loss of 500 mile/segment minimums and class of service bonuses.
We didn’t know that the class of service bonus had been removed when we recorded this. We’ll update next week.
Thanks. AS has done a good job with marketing but it doesn’t look nearly as good when you start running numbers