Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards Complete Guide (2025)

Atmos Rewards (previously Alaska Mileage Plan) will soon be the combined loyalty program for Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines. The old Mileage Plan was long considered to be one of the best loyalty programs around, and Alaska miles were coveted throughout the world of points and miles. Even though it was an independent carrier, Alaska developed a compelling coterie of direct partnerships that created some very interesting opportunities, especially to Asia and Oceania.

When Alaska announced that it was going to unveil a new, combined program with Hawaiian Airlines, we assumed that chicanery was afoot…especially once we found out that the name would be “Atmos.” Would Alaska follow the rest of its domestic counterparts by ditching its cherished distance-based earning model for one that’s revenue-based? Would it be devaluing its excellent award chart for something that gives you “Atmos” one cent per point value?

When the new program was unveiled, we were, for the most part, pleasantly surprised. There are some terrific new perks coming: earning method choice, global top-tier upgrades, free wifi for all members, etc. The ability to choose your earning method, in particular, is a novel feature that gives the impression that Alaska wasn’t kidding when it said it was listening to customers.

Some things haven’t changed, though. For many of us, earnings when flying Alaska are arguably the best among US carriers, meaningful elite status is easier to achieve than in other domestic programs, and there are still excellent sweet spots to be had. For many folks, especially those on the West Coast, Atmos Rewards is a program worth paying attention to.

What to expect from Atmos Rewards in 2025-26

This is going to be an exciting year for Atmos Rewards:

• Starting in 2026, Atmos members will be able to earn points and status points based on either flight distance, segments flown, OR amount spent.
• Alaska Companion Fares and upgrade certificates will be applicable to all North American Alaska and Hawaiian flights.
• Atmos will be the only program that will give its top-tier elites day-of-departure, space-available upgrades to business class on international flights.
• Alaska has stated that there are no plans to increase award chart prices.
• Alaska has announced that it will begin installing high-speed Starlink wifi on all of its aircraft in 2026.
• Supposedly, the ability to book multi-partner award tickets will continue to expand until it includes all partners.

Atmos Rewards Pros and Cons

Pros

• Alaska offers very good return on domestic paid regular economy fares, primarily because its program still awards points based on distance flown, as opposed to dollars spent.
• In contrast to all other domestic carriers, in 2026, it will allow customers to choose revenue-based earning or keep earning both points and status points based on the distance flown.
• Overall, it’s relatively easy to acquire elite status.
• Meaningful elite benefits start at lower thresholds than many programs.
• Unique among US carriers, it offers a free stopover on most one-way awards.
• Award changes are free and easy.
• There are still excellent sweet spots on the award chart (short-haul US, US- Oceania/Asia/South America; intra-Alaska).
• Points from multiple accounts can be used towards the same reservation.
• Award flights booked through Alaska earn status points based on distance flown, including partner awards

Cons

• Although Alaska has an extensive set of international partners, it is just starting to offer flights outside of North America, so it has a much less robust route network than competitors like Delta, United, and American.
• Alaska’s domestic first-class seats lag behind many other domestic carriers, which have begun introducing lie-flat seating on transcontinental flights. That is changing now that Alaska has access to Hawaiian’s fleet.
• Alaska doesn’t partner with any major transferable programs except for Bilt Rewards, making its points harder to come by.
• It still doesn’t allow awards with multiple partners outside of American, British Airways, and Finnair (although more are expected to be added this year).

How to earn Atmos Rewards Points

Earning on Alaska and Hawaiian flights (2025)

Alaska is somewhat of a unicorn amongst US-based programs, as it still awards points based on distance flown. On Alaska and Hawaiian flights, members earn:

• 1 point per actual flight mile on all main cabin fares except basic and full-fare economy
• 1.25-1.5 points per flight mile on economy flights booked in full-fare economy
• 1.5-2 points per flight mile on first-class flights (depending on fare type)
• 0.3 points per flight mile on Alaska and Hawaiian basic economy flights

In addition, elite members receive the following bonuses on paid fares:

• Silver – 25% of actual flight miles
• Gold – 50% of actual flight miles
• Platinum – 100% of actual flight miles
• Titanium – 150% of actual flight miles

This can be quite lucrative on some flights, especially for elite members on discounted fares. Let’s say that I’m a Titanium member taking a flight to New York City that costs around $300 round-trip. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll count the total round-trip distance as 5,000 miles. I’ll earn 5,000 base points, plus a 150% bonus (7,500) for a total of 12,500 points. We value the redemption of Alaska miles at 1.5 cents each, so for this theoretical $300 flight, I got back ~$185 worth of redeemable points.

This can be made even better when you use Alaska as your chosen airline for the Amex Business Platinum, as you then receive a 35% discount when using Amex Membership Rewards points to book Alaska flights via the Amex Travel portal.

In the East Coast example above, the price of booking the flight with Membership Rewards would go from the normal 30,000 points (at 1 cent each) to 19,500 points after the 35% discount. So, by using Membership Rewards, I end up spending 19,500 points and get back 12,500 Alaska points for a net cost of ~7,000 points. Oh yeah, and I get a round-trip flight to New York as well.

Obviously, it doesn’t always work like this, but Alaska’s distance-based program creates opportunities for outsized earnings on economy (and first class) flights that no longer exist in the more common revenue-based programs.

Earning on Alaska and Hawaiian flights (2026)

Starting in 2026, Atmos members will be able to earn points based on either flight distance, segments flown, OR amount spent. It breaks down as follows:

• Earning by Distance: If you choose to earn points based on distance flown, you’ll continue to earn one point per mile flown, with bonuses for elite status. Class of service bonuses will not be offered, however.
• Earning by Spend: If you choose to earn points based on how much you spend, you’ll earn 5 points per dollar spent.
• Earning by Segments: Folks who take lots of short-hop flights (like inter-Hawaiian Island, inter-Alaska, or inter-California) can choose to earn a flat 500 points for every segment that they fly, regardless of distance. Class of service bonuses will not be offered.

Fly lots of expensive paid fares? Choose revenue-based earnings. If you’re like me and fly lots of miles at cheaper economy fares, then choose distance-based. You can even change your preference once per year.

We really, really like this, and can’t believe that we’ve never seen it before. Allowing each customer to decide how they would most be rewarded, rather than simply shoehorning everyone into the same structure regardless of travel habits, is about as customer-friendly as it gets. It’s going to be a step down for some folks because of the program’s current ability to earn 500-mile minimums and class of service bonuses, but those of us expecting a forced move to 100% revenue-based earnings are breathing a sigh of relief.

Atmos Rewards earnings on partner flights

Alaska is a member of the oneworld alliance, but also has some appealing partnerships with airlines that aren’t oneworld members. These partnerships fall under two categories: those that allow you to both earn AND redeem points, and those that allow you to earn points when purchasing a codeshare flight through Alaska but aren’t open for redemptions:

Alaska used to have different earn charts for all of their partner airlines that varied tremendously depending on the partner that you were flying. Paid British Airways premium flights were famously lucrative, offering up to 500% earnings in redeemable miles.

As part of Alaska’s 2025 updates, the partner earning chart was drastically simplified based on whether you bought your ticket through Alaska or not. Spoiler alert…tickets purchased via Alaska (which are often more expensive) still can earn you a plane-full of points. Those that are purchased through other channels? Less so.

The earnings on partner flights when purchasing through Alaska are terrific. Even discount business flights, which can sometimes be had for “reasonable” prices between Europe and the US, receive 250% redeemable and status points…and that’s without any elite status factored in. A Platinum member earns a 100% bonus on miles flown, so that would take redeemable points earned up to 350%.

Unfortunately, that’s only when buying a ticket through Alaska. The vast majority of partner flights will most likely be purchased elsewhere, when the earnings become much closer to other programs (although still based on distance flown, which is nice).

Atmos Rewards credit cards

There are three credit cards that directly earn redeemable Atmos Points. A quick summary is below

Card Offer and Details

Alaska Airlines Visa Signature ⓘ $846 1st Yr Value EstimateCompanion ticket for $99+taxes and fees valued at $150 Click to learn about first year value estimates 65K miles + Companion Fare Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 65k miles + companion fare after $3K spend in 90 days $95 Annual Fee Learn more Alternate Offer: Alternate offer for 60k miles + 30% flight discount code valid for one person Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 75K miles + companion fare after $3k in spend (expired 6/5/25) FM Mini Review: Alaska miles are quite valuable so this offer is better than it appears Earning rate: 3X Alaska Airlines ✦ 2x gas, EV charging, local transit, rideshare, cable, and select streaming services purchases ✦ 1X elsewhere Base: 1X (1.3%) Gas: 2X (2.6%) Brand: 3X (3.9%) Card Info: Visa Signature issued by Bank of America. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: $121 companion pass every year after $6K spend. Noteworthy perks: ✦ Free first checked bag for you and up to six other passengers on your reservation on both Hawaiian and Alaska flights ✦ Priority Boarding ✦ 10% bonus on earned miles with eligible BOA account ✦ During 2025, earn 1 EQM/$3 spend, up to a maximum of 30K EQMs. See also: Alaska Airlines Companion Fare Complete Guide

Card Offer and Details

Alaska Airlines Visa Business Card ⓘ $763 1st Yr Value EstimateCompanion ticket for $99+taxes and fees valued at $150 Click to learn about first year value estimates 60K miles + Companion Fare Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 60K miles + Companion Fare ($99 fare + taxes) after $4K spend in 3 months $95 Annual Fee Learn more Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 75K after $4K in 3 months [Expired 6/25] FM Mini Review: Alaska miles are quite valuable so this offer is better than it appears Earning rate: 3X Alaska Airlines ✦ 2x gas, EV charging, shipping and local transit ✦ 1X elsewhere Base: 1X (1.3%) Gas: 2X (2.6%) Brand: 3X (3.9%) Card Info: Visa issued by Bank of America. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: $121 companion pass every year after $6K spend. Noteworthy perks: ✦ Free first checked bag for you and up to six other passengers on your reservation on both Hawaiian and Alaska flights ✦ 10% bonus on earned miles with eligible BOA business account ✦ During 2025, earn 1 EQM/$3 spend, up to a maximum of 30K EQMs. See also: Alaska Airlines Companion Fare Complete Guide

The earning rates and category bonuses on both of these cards won’t be particularly inviting for most folks. The consumer card gets 3x on Alaska purchases, 2x on gas, transit, streaming, and cable as bonus categories. It’s 1x everywhere else. The business card is exactly the same, except it replaces cable/streaming with 2x on shipping. Both cards get an additional 10% bonus on all earned points when the cardholder holds a qualifying Bank of America checking account.

You’ll also earn 1 status point for every $3 you spend across both of these cards. There is a limit of 30,000 total status points in 2025, but that will become unlimited in 2026.

Card Offer and Details

Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Card ⓘ $1047 1st Yr Value Estimate25K Global Companion Fare valued at $250 Click to learn about first year value estimates 100K points + 25K Companion Award Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. 100k points + 25K global companion award after $6K spend in 90 days $395 Annual Fee Learn more Alternate Offer: Those who joined the waitlist can earn an extra 5,000 points by applying through an emailed link. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: None FM Mini Review: Atmos points are quite valuable, and this could be a great option for Alaska / Hawaiian customers and those interested in elite status. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 3X Alaska Airlines ✦ 3x dining ✦ 3x foreign transactions ✦ 1X elsewhere Base: 1X (1.3%) Dine: 3X (3.9%) Brand: 3X (3.9%) Card Info: Visa Infinite issued by Bank of America. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 100K global companion award fare after $60K in cardmember year Noteworthy perks: Annual global 25K companion fare (cardmember year) ✦ 10K status points each cardmember year ✦ free same day changes ✦ 2 full-day lounge passes each calendar quarter (includes up to two children) ✦ 2 wifi passes each calendar quarter ✦ Waived partner booking fees ✦ $50 credit for delays or cancellations of over 2 hrs ✦ Free first checked bag on both Hawaiian and Alaska flights (+ up to six companions) ✦ Priority Boarding (up to six companions) ✦ 10% bonus on earned miles with eligible BOA account ✦ Earn 1 status point/$2 spent ✦ $120 TSA PreCheck/Global Entry credit ✦ 2 free signature cocktails/lounge visit

The new Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® card was launched alongside the new rewards program. It earns 3x on Alaska purchases, dining, and all foreign transactions. After that, it’s 1x everywhere else and receives the same 10% bonus with a qualifying Bank of America checking account as the Ascent and Business cards.

Although the Summit Visa costs $395 per year, it offers several truly innovative perks, including:

• Point sharing with up to ten Atmos Rewards members
• $12.50 partner booking fee waiver
• Global 25K Companion Award every year on your account anniversary.
• Global 100K Companion Award when you spend $60,000 or more on purchases within an anniversary year.
• 10,000 status points each account anniversary year
• Earn 1 status point for every $2 spent on net purchases
• 2 Alaska Airlines single-use flight Wi-Fi passes per calendar quarter
• 2 Alaska Airlines lounge passes per calendar quarter (good all day and includes up to two children per pass)
• Same-day change fee waiver
• $50 instant travel delay credit that can be redeemed at any US merchant location, including but not limited to restaurants, clothing and retail stores, grocery and pharmacy stores, department stores, and more. Requires you to pay with the Summit card and have a delay of 2+ hours.

This is obviously a great card for anyone who flies Alaska often, for anyone who spends a lot outside the United States (thanks to the card earning 3x on foreign spend), or for anyone interested in spending their way to Alaska elite status.

Alaska Companion Fare (Ascent and Business cards only)

Alaska has long offered a companion fare with both of its $95 credit cards. The companion fare allows a companion to travel for $99+taxes. It’s valid on any North American economy fare class on Hawaiian or Alaska, and the companion earns both status and redeemable points while also receiving elite benefits (like the fully-paid traveler).

Officially, the fare is only good for one-way or round-trip travel, but Alaska is very flexible on both definitions, as it allows up to three layovers of longer than a few hours. Thus, in practice, you can book four individual legs and three stopovers on one companion fare, provided they are wrapped around the semblance of a round-trip flight. There’s a lot of hidden value here. (play around with it, or talk to us about it at an FM to Go sometime)

These companion fares used to be no-brainers, as they were automatically awarded at each cardholder’s anniversary. Recently, though, Alaska added a spending requirement of $6K annually for new cardholders to receive one on their anniversary. This spending requirement has come and gone a couple of times and still hasn’t been applied to legacy cardholders. However, my assumption is that it will eventually be here to stay…and it does affect the value proposition of the cards, depending on how much you can optimize the companion fare (and how much of an issue $6K in yearly spend is).

Atmos Global Companion Awards (Summit card only)

Global Companion Awards (GCA) are “certificates” that can be used towards an award booking for a companion. These are significant perks of the Summit Visa card.

• Global 25K Companion Award: Every year on your Atmos Summit Visa account anniversary, you receive a Global 25K Companion Award, worth up to 25,000 points off a published award ticket. Currently, this is also part of the Summit Visa’s welcome offer.
• Global 100K Companion Award: When you spend $60,000 or more on purchases within your Summit Visa cardmember year, you will receive a Global 100K Companion Award, worth up to 100,000 points off a published award ticket.
• Global Companion Award Details:
  • Cardholder does not need to be traveling: You can use your Global Companion Award to book for any two travelers of your choice.
  • Applies to all flight awards bookable online, including partner awards: Global Companion Awards can be applied to any award booking available on AlaskaAir.com, including flights on Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and oneworld® global partners. Award travel space is limited and subject to certain restrictions, including blackout dates and other capacity controls.
  • You must pay award surcharges with your Atmos Rewards Summit card: Taxes, fees, and surcharges must be paid using your Summit Visa Infinite® card.
  • No residual value: If the companion’s award fare is less than the Global Companion Award value (either 25,000 points or 100,000 points), the unused value is forfeited.
  • Unlimited top-off: If the companion ticket costs more than the Global Companion Award value, you pay the additional points beyond the Global Companion Award value at checkout.
  • Max one companion award per booking: You cannot combine multiple Global Companion Awards on a single booking.
  • One year to book, longer to fly: You have one year from issuance to apply your Global Companion Award. You can book travel for later, as long as the booking happens before the expiration date.
  • You can cancel and rebook: If you need to make a change to a booking before travel, you can cancel and get back the Global Companion Award (with its original expiration date) to use for another booking. If the Global Companion Award has expired by this time, you will not be able to use it.

The 25K “standard” version should be very easy to use, either for a lower-cost round-trip itinerary or a higher-priced one-way.

It makes sense that the 100K award is a perk for big spend, since you need to have a fair amount of Atmos Points in the first place to be able to use it. For everything but the longest itineraries, it will probably be necessary to book a round-trip ticket in order to maximize the GCA, since most one-way flights are going to be sub-100K points. That’s a slight downside for me, as I usually prefer to book a one-way award ticket for maximum flexibility.

A couple of important logistical notes about using these awards:

• You can’t stack the 25K and 100K certificates. Only one award can be used per booking.
• You must pay any and all cash components with your Summit Visa.
• Although being a cardholder waives Alaska’s $12.50 per-person partner booking fee, you’re still on the hook for government and carrier-imposed surcharges. Those are what need to be paid with the Summit Visa.
• You can use the awards to book a flight that takes place after the expiration date of the award. However, if you have to cancel that flight after the expiry, you won’t get the award back

These new awards are a terrific feature of the Summit card. They are about as flexible as a companion ticket gets. In fact, the cardholder doesn’t even need to be flying in order to use one. You could book a ticket for two friends or family members with your points and still be able to use the award.

HawaiianMiles credit cards

Card Offer and Details

The Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite MasterCard® issued by Barclays ⓘ $896 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 80K Miles Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 80K miles after $2.5k spend within first 90 days. Appplication requires a six-digit promo code. Any random number will work. $99 Annual Fee Learn more Alternate Offer: Some are targeted by e-mail or mail for an 85K offer Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: 70K miles after one purchase within first 90 days Earning rate: 3X Hawaiian Airlines ✦ 2x gas, dining, and grocery stores ✦ 1x everywhere else Base: 1X (1.3%) Grocery: 2X (2.6%) Dine: 2X (2.6%) Gas: 2X (2.6%) Brand: 3X (3.9%) Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Two free checked bags on Alaska and Hawaiian when flight is booked through Hawaiian Airlines or Alaska ✦ One time 50% off companion ticket ✦ $100 off a companion ticket for roundtrip coach travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines at each account anniversary

Card Offer and Details

The Hawaiian Airlines® Business MasterCard® issued by Barclays ⓘ $479 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 50k Miles Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We always present the best offer even when it means less revenue for Frequent Miler 50k miles after spending $4,000 within the first 90 days $99 Annual Fee Learn more Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Recent better offer: Expired 9/11/22: 80K + $99 statement credit after $2K spend in first 90 days Earning rate: 3X Hawaiian Airlines ✦ 2x gas, dining, and office supply stores ✦ 1x everywhere else Base: 1X (1.3%) Dine: 2X (2.6%) Gas: 2X (2.6%) Office: 2X (2.6%) Brand: 3X (3.9%) Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Barclays. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Earn up to 40,000 annual bonus miles — 20k miles with $50-$99k annual spend or 40k miles with $100k or more annual spend; Noteworthy perks: One-time 50% off a companion discount on roundtrip coach travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines

HawaiianMiles currently has two credit cards that are issued by Barclays. These cards will most likely go away eventually, but in the meantime, they are a viable way to earn more points, since HawaiianMiles can be converted at a 1:1 basis and will eventually become Atmos points. Additionally Hawaiian cardholders also have the ability to share points with other members, a feature that’s otherwise only available with the Summit Visa card.

Transferring from other programs to Atmos Rewards

One of Alaska’s weaknesses as a program is the lack of transfer partners. You can’t move points from any of the major transferable currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Citi ThankYou rewards to Mileage Plan. The only options are Bilt Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy.

Bilt points transfer to Atmos at a 1:1 ratio and can be a great option for those who spend a lot of money on rent and/or have reason to use the Bilt credit card heavily. For the rest of us, the lack of earning ability with Bilt limits the appeal significantly.

The only other loyalty program that allows transfers to Atmos Rewards is Marriott Bonvoy. Alaska is one of Marriott’s many airline transfer partners and allows Marriott members to transfer Bonvoy Points to Atmos at a rate of 3:1 (3 Bonvoy points = 1 Alaska point). If you transfer in chunks of 60,000 Bonvoy points, you get a bonus of 5,000 Alaska points, effectively creating a transfer ratio of 2.4:1.

Is this a good deal? Not really. Our most recent Reasonable Redemption Values peg Alaska points at 1.5 cents each, while we have Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.76 cents each. These numbers represent our estimation of the average value that you can expect to receive from each of these programs without having to cherry-pick awards. Based on these valuations, even in 60,000-point chunks, you’d be giving up ~2.3 cents of value in Bonvoy points to get 1.5 cents of value in Alaska points. That’s obviously not a great return and probably only makes sense if you’ve got a bevy of Bonvoy points and need Atmos Points for a high-value redemption.

Non-flight options for earning points

Atmos has a number of non-airline vehicles for earning points, such as its shopping portal, its dining program, Lyft, and more.

Here’s a quick list of non-air partners:

• Booking travel through Alaska or Hawaiian Vacations. Both Alaska and Hawaiian have portals that you can use to book car rentals, cruises, and vacation packages. When using them,
• Booking Hotels through Atmos. Earn up to 10,000 Atmos points per night by using Alaska’s hotel portal for booking. Make sure this makes sense for you, as often the hotels are more expensive, and you most likely won’t earn points or receive elite benefits.
• Hotel-linked programs. Earn varying amounts of Atmos points per night by booking with Alaska’s hotel partners. Alaska currently partners with Best Western, Coast, Choice, IHG, Marriott, Rocket Miles, and Westmark.
• Rental Car Partners. Earn varying amounts of Alaska miles by using your Alaska Mileage Plan number when making a rental car booking. Again, make sure this makes sense for you, as sometimes the rental cars are slightly more expensive to compensate for the miles earned, and you may not earn points with the car company as well.
• Atmos Rewards Dining. This is the Atmos-branded version of Rewards Network Dining. Link your credit card with the program and earn 3x Atmos Points per dollar spent at participating restaurants, bars, and clubs. Note that you can only link your card to one airline dining program at a time (linking with Alaska will de-link that card from other airline dining programs). The miles earned are in addition to any other credit card rewards that you normally receive.
• Atmos Rewards Shopping Portal. The Atmos shopping portal allows you to earn miles via purchases at a wide range of retailers. In addition, there are regular bonuses that offer a set number of miles for reaching a certain dollar amount of purchases when shopping through the portal. These bonuses are in addition to whatever you earn from a specific retailer. Both types of portal earnings count towards the 3K Status Point threshold.
• Mileage Plan card-linked offers. This is the “in-store” version of the shopping portal.

How to Use Alaska Atmos Points

Alaska points can be used to book awards on both Alaska and Hawaiian, as well as its collection of oneworld and extra-alliance partners. Prior to joining oneworld, each partner had a specific award chart, and there were numerous sweet spots to be had. Alaska now has “unified” award charts for partner awards that are distance-based, and another separate chart for flights on Alaska and Hawaiian “metal” (see below).

Alaska prices awards based on the total distance flown, including connections, as opposed to using point-to-point pricing. In some cases, this will cause an award with separate legs to move to another distance band when compared to a non-stop flight, thus making it more expensive. However, we frequently (and mysteriously) see multi-segment partner flights that should move to a higher distance band price at the same level as a non-stop, which can be very advantageous, especially on flights from the East Coast to Europe.

Alaska is a terrific program for booking flights that are within Alaska, especially given the free stopover. There are some pretty remote places it flies to within the state, and those flights can be hundreds of dollars, often making award prices a bargain. Some of the most valuable Alaska redemptions that I’ve ever made have been these intra-state Alaska flights. It can be amazing the value you can get for 5,000-7,500 points (or for free after a stopover to/from Anchorage or Fairbanks)

One difficulty of using Atmos Points for partner awards is that, currently, you can only book most flights with Alaska/Hawaiian and one partner on a single one-way award (for instance, you can’t have Condor and British Airways on the same one-way award). This is a legacy holdover from Alaska’s history of having individual charts with each program.

However, Alaska has now added the ability to book multi-partner awards with American, British Airways, and Finnair, and is supposed to add that capability to even more partners later this year (although that’s been an ongoing promise for a while now).

Alaska Atmos Rewards Award Charts

Alaska / Hawaiian Flights

Atmos now applies the same pricing bands to flights on both Alaska and Hawaiian.

Americas (partners)

This chart is used for flights wholly within the Americas, including Central, North, and South America, and Caribbean Islands, except when all segments are flown by Alaska or Hawaiian Airlines.

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa

This chart is used for all flights within Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and it includes all flights between the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa as well.

Asia Pacific

This chart includes travel from the US to Asia Pacific, within Asia Pacific, and between Asia Pacific and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Stopovers on award flights

One of Alaska’s benefits when booking awards is that it allows a free stopover on a one-way flight, or two stopovers on a round-trip ticket. This can be used in several ways.

First, you can stop at two destinations on one international trip. For instance, it’s possible to stop in Dublin when using Aer Lingus to fly to Europe, Doha when using Qatar Airways, and so on.

Second, if you don’t need an extra international stop, you can use the stopover policy for a free domestic one-way ticket. For instance, go from Doha to LAX on Qatar, then book a one-way from LAX to New York (or anywhere else Alaska flies) afterwards that youi can use at a later date.

Finally, it’s possible to effectively do an around-the-world trip with three stops by using two one-way tickets with stopovers. In this instance, you could book Condor to Africa from North America, but have a stopover in Frankfurt along the way and see a bit of Europe. Then, you could go from Africa to Doha on Qatar, do another stopover, and then go back to the US via the Pacific

Atmos Rewards sweet spots

There are still some international sweet spots available when spending Alaska points, even though they changed somewhat when Alaska’s new unified award chart went into effect. Here are a few:

• Domestic US flights starting from 4,500 points each way: Alaska is now usually the best way to book domestic AA economy flights that are under 2,000 miles in distance, and is one of the cheapest ways among any program to book short-haul domestic flights because of its 4,500-point band for flights under 700 miles.
• South America in business from the US starting at 35K: This is an often-available redemption that I love. Northern South America is 35,000 points each way, while flights to Chile and Brazil are 50K. Note that LATAM awards, which provide most of Atmos’ space to South America, are going away in October 2025.
• Europe in business from the North/East Coast from 45K: The US East Coast to Western Europe in business is 45K, while flights from the Midwest are 55K each way.
• Middle East and Africa in business from US from 55K: The cheapest way to get to Africa is Royal Air Maroc to Morocco from the East Coast, which can be had for 55K. Qatar and Royal Jordanian are both 70K non-stop to the Middle East.
• Aer Lingus between Dublin and Seattle for 55K: The nonstop route from Seattle to Dublin is ~4500 miles, just below the cutoff for the 70K pricing band. This makes it one of the cheaper ways to get from the West Coast to Europe in a lie-flat seat.
• New Zealand in business class to/from the US for 75K: Flights from the US West Coast to New Zealand fall just inside the 7,000-mile distance band, making them 10,000 points cheaper than business class awards to Australia.
• Intra-Alaska flights: Alaska is a terrific program for booking flights that are within Alaska, especially given the opportunity for a free stopover. There are some pretty remote places it flies to within the state, and those flights can be hundreds of dollars, often making award prices a bargain.

Atmos award booking tips

• Use free stopovers as much as possible, even for a later domestic trip.
• Officially, stopovers are not available on award redemptions within international regions (e.g., intra-Asia or intra-Europe). In practice, this is sometimes “fudgable.”
• Sometimes, the limiting factor in seeing partner availability is that there is no saver domestic connecting space on the relevant Alaska or Hawaiian flight, especially when booking far out. It’s usually better to search from the international gateway you want (ie, LAX-Doha for Qatar). You can then add a positioning flight, or just a better positioning flight, later.
• Alaska will show a mixed cabin business/first award, even if the only leg that’s in first is a domestic flight. Be careful to verify that the leg you want to be in a premium cabin is actually available. This issue makes the mobile site and app sub-optimal for award bookings, as you can’t see which legs are in first/business until you get past the search screen.
• Use the award calendar to easily find spare space around the time that you’re looking for.
• Alaska can strangely have better saver availability on some airlines than the airlines’ alliance partners or even their own program members can see.

Award change & cancellation fees

There is no fee to change or cancel an Atmos award.

There is a non-refundable partner award fee of $12.50 per person each way when booking non-Alaska/Hawaiian flights (waived for Summit Visa cardholders). When cancelling a flight, this fee is not refunded. However, when changing a flight, even to another partner, it is not collected again.

Transferring Atmos Points to hotel programs

Alaska now offers Alaska Summit cardholders the ability to transfer Atmos points to hotel programs. These transfers are generally poor value. Current hotel programs and transfer ratios are:

• Marriott Bonvoy: 1:1
• Wyndham Rewards: 1:1
• Preferred Hotels/I Prefer: 1:2
• Shangri-La Circle: 8:1
• IHG One Rewards: 1:1

Atmos Rewards Unlocked

Alaska has a program called “Atmos Rewards Unlocked.” This gives members an opportunity to book activities and experiences using their points, and the number of available options continues to expand. Soon, you will be able to spend your points on flights (of course), vacation rentals, hotels, experiences, or rental cars.

In addition, some Milestone Rewards can be redeemed for discounted experiences. Some Unlocked redemptions can be a decent deal; we’ve previously seen examples where points can be redeemed for up to 1.5 cents each, and Alaska claims that the value proposition will continue to improve.

Alaska Atmos Rewards Elite Status

How do you earn Atmos Rewards elite status?

Most airlines offer extra benefits to their most valuable customers. This is usually handled via elite status. If you fly (or spend) enough with an airline, you can become an “elite” member. Like most airlines, Alaska has multiple elite tiers, and the best perks are offered to the highest tiers.

Alaska is one of the easier airlines to qualify with, primarily because it still allows you to earn elite status based on either a minimum number of flight segments or by the distance you have actually flown.

Starting in 2026, Atmos members will be able to earn status points based on either flight distance, segments flown, OR amount spent. It breaks down as follows:

• Earning by Distance: If you choose to earn status points based on distance flown, you’ll continue to earn one point and one status point per mile flown, with bonuses for elite status. You’ll also earn one status point per mile flown on award redemptions. Class of service bonuses will not be offered.
• Earning by Spend: If you choose to earn points based on how much you spend, you’ll earn 5 status points per dollar spent and 1 status point per 20 points redeemed on award flights (so, a 20,000-point award flight would earn 1,000 status points).
• Earning by Segments: Folks who take lots of short-hop flights (like inter-Hawaiian Island, inter-Alaska, or inter-California) can choose to earn a flat 500 status points for every segment that they fly, regardless of distance. Class of service bonuses will not be offered.

Unlike most US airlines, there’s no required minimum yearly spend with the airline to achieve elite status. Status Points (SPs) are earned on paid and award flights, including partners.

You earn 1 status point for every $3 you spend on the consumer and business Alaska credit cards, or 1 status point per $2 spent with the Summit Visa. In 2025, there is a limit of 30,000 SPs (i.e. $90,000 of spend) that you can earn with the non-premium cards, but that will become unlimited across all cards in 2026. Additionally, Alaska Summit Visa cardholders receive a yearly 10K status point bonus on their card anniversary.

If you earn Atmos Platinum Status based on activity in 2025, you will get a 5K SP bonus for the 2026 qualification year. If you earn Titanium in 2025, you’ll get a 20K status point bonus for 2026. Both of those are one-time bonuses that won’t be in effect for future years.

Alaska also has a number of non-airline partners through its shopping portal, dining program, Lyft, etc. You earn 1 status point per dollar spent on Lyft rides and for car rentals, hotels, vacations, and cruises booked through Alaska or Hawaiian Vacations. For every 3,000 redeemable points you earn through all other partners, you’ll earn 1,000 status points.

Atmos Rewards elite status requirements

Below are the earning requirements for each Atmos elite tier:

• Silver: 20,000 status points
• Gold: 40,000 status points
• Platinum: 75,000 status points (going up to 80,000 in 2026)
• Titanium: 100,000 status points (going up to 135,000 in 2026)

Atmos Rewards elite status benefits and Milestone Rewards

Below is a summary of the key perks available to Atmos Rewards members. The full suite of Alaska Atmos elite benefits can be found here.

The earning requirements for both Platinum and Titanium status will be changing in 2026, to 80K points for Platinum and 135K for Titanium. We assume that the schedule for Milestone Rewards will change as well, and we will update this post when that happens. For 2025, here’s what’s on offer:

• 10,000 Status Points (choose one of the following benefits)
  • 750 bonus points
  • Free pre-order food item
  • Try Atmos Silver for a trip
  • One complimentary Wi-Fi pass
  • Double points with non-air partners
  • Upgrade your next Avis/Budget rental
  • $10 Sustainable Aviation Fuel contribution
• 30,000 Status Points (choose one of the following benefits)
  • 2,500 bonus points
  • $25 flight discount
  • Four Wi-Fi passes
  • Try Atmos Gold for a trip
  • $100 off an Alaska Lounge membership
  • $25 Sustainable Aviation Fuel contribution
• 55,000 Status Points (choose two of the following benefits)
  • 5,000 bonus points
  • 10,000 points off an Atmos Rewards Unlocked experience
  • Gift Atmos Silver for a trip
  • One complimentary Alaska Lounge day pass
  • Two upgrade certificates
  • $50 Sustainable Aviation Fuel contribution
• 85,000 Status Points (choose two of the following benefits)
  • 15,000 bonus points
  • 25,000 points off an Atmos Rewards Unlocked experience
  • Two complimentary Alaska Lounge day passes
  • Two upgrade certificates
  • Gift Atmos Gold status for a trip
  • Atmos Silver status nomination
  • 10,000 status points rolled over
  • $150 Sustainable Aviation Fuel contribution
• 150,000 Status Points (choose two of the following benefits)
  • 15,000 bonus points
  • 25,000 points off an Atmos Rewards Unlocked experience
  • Two complimentary Alaska Lounge passes
  • Two upgrade certificates
  • 10,000 status points rolled over into the next program year
  • $150 Sustainable Aviation Fuel contribution
• 200,000 Status Points (choose two of the following benefits)
  • 15,000 bonus points
  • 25,000 points off an Atmos Rewards Unlocked experience redemption
  • Two complimentary Alaska Lounge passes
  • Two upgrade certificates
  • 10,000 status points rolled over into the next program year
  • $150 Sustainable Aviation Fuel contribution
• 250,000 Status Points (choose two of the following benefits)
  • 15,000 bonus points
  • 25,000 points off an Atmos Rewards Unlocked experience
  • Two complimentary Alaska Lounge passes
  • Two upgrade certificates
  • 10,000 status points rolled over into the next program year
  • $150 Sustainable Aviation Fuel contribution

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