Can Atmos Rewards Compete with the Best Travel Programs?

Alaska Airlines’ recent merger with Hawaiian Airlines gave birth to a new and improved frequent-flyer loyalty program: Atmos Rewards.

Atmos Rewards retains much of what travelers loved about Alaska Mileage Plan, including its lucrative distance-based award charts and companion fares while introducing new innovative earning structures and perks.

While Atmos Rewards may be new, it’s certainly not behind the curve. In fact, with unique features, such as the ability to choose how you earn points, and an expansive partner network combined with lucrative sweet-spot redemption opportunities, Atmos Rewards is one of the most valuable frequent-flyer programs in the United States.

Here’s a breakdown of its features, including its co-branded credit cards.

Atmos Rewards Migration: Alaska and Hawaiian Integration

Although the merger of Alaska and Hawaiian was first announced in late 2023, it took a year for it to be approved and another year for the eventual merger of their two loyalty programs. As of October 2025, Alaska Mileage Plan and HawaiianMiles have unified under the Atmos Rewards program.

Travelers with a previous stash of HawaiianMiles or Alaska Mileage Plan miles have now had their existing miles converted to Atmos Rewards points at a 1:1 rate.

Similarly, flyers with elite status within the HawaiianMiles program have had their status transferred as follows:

• Pualani Gold = Atmos Silver
• Pualani Platinum = Atmos Gold

And those who held elite status with Alaska Mileage Plan have had their status transferred as follows:

• MVP = Atmos Silver
• MVP Gold = Atmos Gold
• MVP Gold 75K = Atmos Platinum
• MVP Gold 100K = Atmos Titanium

Crucially, Alaska has maintained its beloved distance-based award chart and many of the sweet spots it offers within the Atmos Rewards program. These lucrative redemption opportunities make Atmos Rewards an attractive option for all travelers—not only those based on the West Coast.

The unified Atmos Rewards program now combines Alaska’s lucrative redemption opportunities and strong presence across the West Coast, Pacific Northwest and transcontinental markets with Hawaiian’s island-hopping service and Pacific long-haul network. Additionally, the program offers access to Oneworld’s global coverage across Europe, Asia, Oceania and beyond with many sweet spots up for grabs.

This integration has expanded the value proposition for Atmos members. For travelers based in the U.S. and particularly near major Alaska or Hawaiian hubs, Atmos now represents one of the most versatile and lucrative loyalty programs on the market.

Fundamentals of the Atmos Rewards Program

The Atmos Rewards program lets you earn and redeem your points with Alaska, Hawaiian as well as its Oneworld and non-alliance airline partners.

There are a number of ways to earn Atmos Rewards points, including by:

• Flying with Alaska, Hawaiian and partner airlines
• Spending on a co-branded Atmos or Hawaiian Airlines credit card
• Spending through the Atmos Rewards Shopping portal and Atmos Rewards Dining program
• Transferring Points and Marriott Bonvoy points
• Buying points

In addition to Atmos Rewards points, you earn status points on qualifying spending and activities.

When flying with Alaska, Hawaiian or partner airlines, you earn Atmos Rewards points based on a percentage of the total mileage flown. In most cases, you’ll earn one Atmos Rewards base point for every mile flown. This excludes basic economy tickets, which earn 30% of the total mileage flown (valid only for flights booked before June 11, 2026 and on travel through July 31, 2026, after that you won’t earn on basic economy).

Depending on your ticket’s fare class, you may earn bonus points between 25% and 250% of the total mileage flown.

For flights shorter than 500 miles in distance, you’ll earn a minimum of 500 Atmos Rewards points. This is an appreciated boost for travelers who fly ultra-short-haul flights frequently.

This distance-based earning system makes the Atmos Rewards program unique among U.S. airlines, given that most loyalty programs have shifted to awarding miles based on spend.

Later in 2026, the Atmos Rewards system is set to become even more unique because you’re be able to decide how you earn points, based on one of the following methods:

1. Distance traveled: Earn points based on the total distance traveled, including status points on award travel. Note that as of 2026, you’ll no longer earn class of service bonuses or minimum points when selecting this option.
2. Price paid: Earn points based on the price paid for your ticket ($1 spent = 5 points, excluding taxes and fees) and on paid upgrades. You’ll earn status points on award travel with 1X points for every 20 points redeemed.
3. Segments flown: Earn a flat rate of 500 points per segment flown. You’ll earn a flat rate of 500 status points for award travel.

You can select your earning method for all flights through your Atmos Rewards account once per calendar year. This gives travelers of all types the ability to maximize their points.

For instance, passengers who regularly fly long haul will benefit from earning by distance traveled. Alternatively, travelers who fly expensive short- to medium-haul routes will likely benefit from earning by price paid. And those who fly ultra-short-haul routes frequently will earn the most points by earning per segment flown.

On top of Atmos Rewards points, you earn status points equal to the combined total of base and bonus points. So if you earn a total of 150% base and bonus points on the total mileage flown, you’ll also earn the same amount in status points.

These points count toward your elite status within the Atmos Rewards program, enabling you to climb the status ladder.

Unlike Atmos Rewards points that never expire, status points reset at the beginning of each calendar year. However, you’ll be rewarded with milestone perks for roughly every 10,000 status points earned up to 100,000 points. Thereafter, you’ll be rewarded for every additional 50,000 points earned.

Here’s an overview of the number of status points required to earn each level of Atmos Rewards status:

• Atmos Silver – 20,000 points
• Atmos Gold – 40,000 points
• Atmos Platinum – 80,000 points
• Atmos Titanium – 135,000 points

All status holders enjoy complimentary first-class and premium-class upgrades (subject to availability) as well as free checked bags, among other perks. The higher your status, the more premium perks, such as complimentary upgrade certificates and lounge membership, you’ll receive.

Point Transfers to Atmos Rewards

You can transfer your Marriott Bonvoy points and Bilt Points to Atmos Rewards.

Marriott Bonvoy points transfer at a 3:1 ratio, with a boost of 5,000 points for every 60,000 points transferred. In contrast, you can transfer Bilt Points to Atmos Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio, making it the most lucrative option.

So if you have a stash of Bilt Points, there are a ton of ways you can redeem them for maximum value through Atmos Rewards.

Atmos Rewards Credit Card Benefits and Value: Ascent vs. Summit

Atmos Rewards offers three co-branded credit cards issued by Bank of America, including two consumer cards and one business card:

• Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Card
• Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Card
• Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card

Here’s an overview of what each consumer card has on offer.

The Atmos Rewards Summit Card offers premium perks at a mid-tier annual fee, including a Global Companion Award and eight annual Alaska Lounge passes, among other benefits. These perks add up to hundreds of dollars worth of value, making it easy for the frequent traveler to offset the card’s annual fee.

In contrast, the Atmos Rewards Ascent Card offers lucrative bonus spending categories and some key perks, including a $99 companion fare and $100 off an annual Alaska Lounge+ Membership, all for a $95 annual fee.

If you want to maximize the perks with Alaska, the Atmos Rewards Summit card is the go-to choice. If you want a handful of valuable perks with Alaska without going overboard on fees, the Atmos Rewards Ascent card is an economical option. See our comparison of the Summit vs. Ascent cards.

Similarly, Hawaiian Airlines offers a couple cards through which you can earn Atmos Rewards points:

• Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard®
• Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Business Mastercard®

If you fly with Hawaiian more than Alaska, these cards could offer greater value than an Atmos Rewards-branded card.

Earning Points Through Banking and Card Spend

Both the Atmos Rewards Ascent and the Atmos Rewards Summit cards offer lucrative bonus spending categories that can help you accumulate Atmos points faster. Instead of having to rely on flights to build up your stash of points, you can leverage your everyday spending to earn points.

Despite having a lower annual fee, the Atmos Rewards Ascent card offers more valuable everyday spending categories than the Summit card. To recap, you’ll earn rewards at the following rates:

• 3X points on Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines purchases
• 2X points on gas, EV charging station, cable, streaming services and local transit (including ride-hailing services)
• 1X points on all other purchases

Earning 2X points on recurring everyday purchases like gas, EV charging station spending and transit purchases is an easy and lucrative way to rack up thousands of extra Atmos Rewards points. Similarly, earning 3X points per dollar spent on Alaska and Hawaiian flights is a competitive return if you frequently pay cash for these flights.

The Atmos Rewards Summit card doesn’t offer the same 2X points category. Rather, it enables you to earn 3X points on dining and foreign purchases.

If dining represents a significant portion of your expenditure, earning 3X points per dollar spent is a lucrative rate of return. Likewise, if you’re frequently abroad, earning a flat rate of 3X points on all foreign purchases is a significant boost.

Strategies to Maximize Point Earnings

To squeeze the most value out of your Atmos Rewards card—either Summit or Ascent—you’ll want to ensure that you’re using it to cover the purchases it earns the most on. That means keeping it at the front of your wallet when it comes to gas and EV charging station spending as well as for transit, dining, cable and streaming service purchases.

You’ll also want to apply for the card at a time when you can leverage your natural outgoing expenses to earn the card’s welcome offer. By doing so, it won’t cost you anything in additional spending to score yourself thousands of Atmos Rewards points, giving you the greatest return.

Similarly, to capitalize upon your total household expenditure, you can add your family members to your Atmos Rewards card account as authorized users for free. It ensures that every dollar spent counts toward earning you Atmos Rewards points.

In addition to earning you Atmos Rewards points, every dollar spent by both you and your authorized users on the Summit card will count toward earning you status points—1X status points per $2 spent. This way, you’re effectively double-dipping on rewards with every transaction you make using your card.

Atmos Rewards Redemption Options

Despite the merger of the HawaiianMiles and Mileage Plan programs, Atmos Rewards has retained many of the beloved sweet-spot redemptions offered by the old Alaska Airlines rewards chart.

Atmos Rewards is one of the only U.S. airline loyalty program to still publish an award chart, and the sheer number of partner airlines opens up a wide range of opportunities for outsized value.

The program divides the world into three regions for partner-operated flights with award charts for each as well as separate award charts for Hawaiian- and Alaska-operated flights. Award pricing is then determined by distance and class of service and is also subject to dynamic price fluctuations. However, you can regularly find flights at the Saver level, making it a lucrative program.

Additionally, Atmos Rewards offers the ability to add up to one free stopover per direction in the hub city of the airline you’re flying with. This is a generous policy that can allow you to see two or even three cities for the price of one.

High-Value Airline Partner Redemptions

Some of the most popular Atmos Rewards redemptions include:

• U.S. to Tokyo (HND and NRT) with Japan Airlines for 75,000 points in business class each way
• East Coast to Doha, Qatar (DOH), in Qatar Airways QSuites for 70,000 points each way with multiple options to connect onward to Africa and Asia
• East Coast to Western Europe for 45,000 points in business class with Aer Lingus
• West Coast to Taipei, Taiwan (TPE), with Starlux Airlines for 75,000 points in business class each way
• Ultra-short-haul flights within North America with American Airlines for 4,500 points in economy each way
• West Coast to Nadi, Fiji (NAN), with Fiji Airways for 75,000 points in business class each way

These are just a handful of the ways you can use your Atmos Rewards points while getting as much as 10 cents per point redeemed.

Pitfalls and Limitations of Atmos Rewards

The main pitfall of the Atmos Rewards program is its lack of current credit card transfer partners. As of now, you can transfer only Bilt Points and Marriott Bonvoy points to Atmos Rewards.

This leaves many of the major transferable points currencies out of the loop, making it difficult for travelers who don’t often fly with Alaska or Hawaiian to leverage the Atmos Rewards program.

That said, signing up for and spending with an Atmos Rewards credit card is a lucrative option that enables you to utilize your everyday spending to rack up points. So if you’re seldom on Alaska or Hawaiian metal, credit card spending is your best bet for earning Atmos Rewards points.

Strategic Integration with Other Rewards Programs

The Atmos Rewards program shines brightest when integrated with other U.S.-based frequent-flyer programs.

Atmos Rewards offers lucrative redemptions within the Oneworld alliance. Combining Atmos with a second program, such as Delta SkyMiles for SkyTeam redemptions or United MileagePlus for Star Alliance redemptions, ensures that you cover all bases when it comes to earning and redeeming points.

Using Atmos in combination with one of these programs also allows you to use your credit card points when booking flights through Delta Air Lines or United Airlines.

So ensure that you diversify your credit card portfolio and loyalty points to maximize your options come redemption time.

Program Updates and Outlook

As 2026 rolls in, Atmos Rewards is set to introduce a few notable updates, including:

• The ability to choose how you earn Atmos Rewards—by distance flown, price paid or per segment flown
• Class of service earning-bonuses won’t apply if you select distance flown as your earning method.
• The number of status points required for Atmos Platinum and Titanium status will increase; 80,000 status points will be required for Atmos Platinum and 135,000 points will be required for Atmos Titanium status.
• The 85K milestone has increased to a 95,000-point requirement, and the 100K milestone has gone up to a 125,000-point requirement.
• Partner business-class and first-class flights will earn a greater number of points due to increased earning bonuses.
• Starlink Wi-Fi will continue to roll out across Hawaiian and Alaska’s fleet.

While some of these changes are less welcome than others, the general direction of the Atmos Rewards program seems promising with a focus on making it easier to rack up thousands of points.

Atmos Rewards and Its Place in the Future of Travel Programs

As Alaska and Hawaiian fully merge their loyalty ecosystems, Atmos Rewards is emerging as a forward-thinking model for what loyalty programs can be.

Between flexible earning options, a robust partner network and a commitment to maintaining value-rich award opportunities, Atmos Rewards positions itself as a standout choice.

If this trajectory continues, Atmos Rewards will be one of the defining travel currencies of the years ahead.