Just over a year ago, Alaska Airlines and Philippines Airlines launched a partnership. Up until now, that partnership was somewhat limited as it wasn’t possible to redeem Atmos Rewards points to book award flights on Philippine Airlines.
That’s changed as of today. You can now redeem Atmos Rewards points to book flights to Manila and beyond, starting at 75,000 points one way in business class.
You can find award charts for Atmos Rewards here. The pertinent one is the partner award chart for Asia Pacific which you can find below:
Depending on where you’re flying to/from in the US, you’ll be looking at the 5,001-7,000 milage band or the 7,001-10,000 one. That means that in economy you’ll have to redeem 37,500 or 42,500 Atmos points respectively, while for business class it’ll cost you 75,000 or 85,000 points respectively. That’s not a spectacular redemption, but there’s some decent award availability right now to a country that’s not always easy to get to from the US if you’re wanting to fly nonstop in business class.
Philippines Airlines flies nonstop to Manila from Los Angeles, New York JFK, San Francisco, and Seattle. They’ll also return to flying to/from Chicago O’Hare later this year, while other North American options include Honolulu, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Award availability varies depending on which US airport you’re flying to/from. I had a hard time finding nonstop availability out of JFK, but there was a decent amount out of west coast airports. For example, here’s what it looks like out of Los Angeles to Manila in September…
…while here’s availability that same month out of San Francisco. As you might notice, San Francisco is a little closer to the Philippines than Los Angeles is, hence why San Francisco only requires 75,000 Atmos Rewards points, while Los Angeles requires 85,000.
These flights are the nonstop routings, as you can see below:
It’s possible to book flights beyond Manila too. For example, you could fly from San Francisco to Cebu via Manila for 95,000 points.
Sometimes that’ll be entirely in business class, while other times it’ll be a mixed itinerary, with the shorter Manila to Cebu flight being in economy. Considering how cheap flights can be within the Philippines and between the Philippines and other southeast Asian countries, redeeming an additional 20,000 Atmos points might end up being questionable. That said, if you’re traveling with checked baggage, the additional fees that you’d have to pay with low cost carriers could still mean that booking with Atmos points is a worthwhile redemption.
Even though there’s very little business class award availability on the nonstop route from JFK to Manila, that doesn’t mean there are no options from the east coast. While not plentiful, there is better award availability out of Toronto if you can position there easily. For example, here’s availability in September from Toronto to Manila:
The 85K redemption options are nonstop, with that flight blocked at 16.5 hours. If you can get to Toronto easily, that might be a preferable option versus booking positioning flights to somewhere on the west coast like Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Seattle.
Remember that Alaska Airlines now charges a $20 fee per person when booking partner awards, although that’s waived if you have an Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® credit card.
h/t Joseph
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Regarding comments: Comments posted at the bottom of Frequent Miler pages and posts are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I just booked the MNL to Toronto flight, A350-1000, living in Upstate NY it will be easy to get home. I have been looking for some way across the Pacific in March so this worked perfectly.
PR business class on the A350 is probably a pretty good product. Just hope there is no airplane swap to an old 777 (2-3-2 business class). I think PR flies into MNL T1, I prefer flying into T3 where you can walk to many hotels and avoid the traffic congestion.
I booked a business class fare from Kuala Lumpur to DFW in December for 130,000 Alaska points. The leg from Seattle to DFW is coach but I will get upgraded due to my status.
Is there a known timeframe for when booking with other Oneworld partners will be available?
They’re due to join Oneworld in 2027, but I don’t think a specific date has been given.
I booked 3 RT from YYZ over February break. Thanks for the heads up Stephen.
No desire to transit through MNL, hard pass.
Dr. Toboggan, well, that crosses that location off the list. So, SIN, HKG, BKK, DPS, tell me, warmer or colder?
LOL – Gotta be one of the worst airports around. That being said the PAL Terminal 2 is definitely “better” – take that for what you will 😉
I was excited to see PAL as an award partner with Alaska and the wide open inventory with even up to five business class seats for each flight until I read the review reviews.
Suites on PAL’s new a350-1000 are worth it, just remember to eat beforehand.
Do they fly the a350 – 1000 on the SFO to Manila route? The dates I checked, didn’t seem to have that plane.
Boeing planes are used in LAX and SFO
A350-1000 is sometimes on MNL-JFK, YYZ, but not always. SFO is supposed to start in August. It can change. They can swap. It’s like rolling dice.
How bad is it?
Thx
Hey guys. Just wanted to let you know that Tim asked people to say what bonus they got in the comments about buying Hilton points (I got 90%) but comments are actually turned off in Tim’s posting.
Thanks for the heads up. Sometimes when we republish posts the comments get turned off for a reason we’ve not be able to ascertain – I’ve just turned commenting back on that post.