5 Best Ways to Use Atmos Points (Formerly Alaska Airlines Miles)

Though Alaska Airlines is based on the West Coast and in Alaska, its new combined loyalty program with Hawaiian Airlines — Atmos Rewards — is worth the attention of frequent flyers nationwide.

With its roster of airline partners, you can use Atmos points to fly to more than 1,000 destinations worldwide. Even better, the program offers advantageous routing rules and competitive award pricing you can leverage for added value.

1. Fly business class to South America and Europe

Business class awards between the U.S. and Europe start at 45,000 points for flight distances between 1,501 and 3,500 miles.

Alaska’s partners fly several routes that fall within that range, such as Philadelphia-Dublin (on Aer Lingus), Boston-Madrid (on Iberia) or New York-London (on American Airlines and British Airways, though the latter involves hefty carrier-imposed charges). Flights between 3,501 and 5,000 miles cost 55,000 points each way, which fits routes like Dallas-Paris, Seattle-Helsinki and Minneapolis-Frankfurt.

The award chart also offers favorable rates for business class awards to South America on American and LATAM. For as few as 35,000 Atmos points, you can book business class itineraries covering from 2,101 to 4,000 miles, such as New York-Lima.

Starting from 50,000 points each way, you can book business class awards between 4,001 and 6,000 miles, such as Dallas-São Paulo or Los Angeles-Santiago.

2. Fly to Hawaii and Mexico on Alaska Airlines

Alaska maintains a separate award chart for flights on its aircraft, and like its partner award charts, most itineraries are priced according to the distance flown.

However, award flights from the contiguous U.S. (including Alaska and Canada) to Alaska Airlines destinations in Hawaii, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean are priced independent of distance in economy and first class.

You could fly from Boston to Honolulu for as few as 15,000 points or Anchorage to Nassau, Bahamas, for as few as 10,000 points in economy.

Since these rates apply exclusively to flights on Alaska, they’re most useful to those who can transit easily through a West Coast hub like Seattle or San Francisco. Depending on your other options, however, you may find prices are good enough to justify flying out of your way.

3. Book inexpensive short-haul flights

Starting from 7,500 points, you can book one-way partner economy awards covering distances up to 1,500 miles (1,400 miles in the Americas). That covers city pairs like Hong Kong-Seoul, London-Marrakech and Tel Aviv-Vienna. Those same flights are available in business class for 15,000 points each way, presenting opportunities to try out premium cabins at relatively low prices.

Within the Americas, you’ll find an even lower partner award rate of 4,500 points for flights covering distances up to 700 miles. That’s handy for booking short hops around the American Airlines domestic route network, like Phoenix to Salt Lake City; Charlotte to New Orleans; or Miami to Kingston, Jamaica.

Finally, short-haul economy awards on Alaska flights cost 5,000 points for distances up to 700 miles and 7,500 points for distances up to 1,400 miles. From Alaska hubs like Seattle, Anchorage and Portland, you can reach dozens of destinations across the Western U.S., Alaska and Canada at those rates.

4. Add a stopover to an international trip

Atmos' favorable stopover policy remains intact after the recent program changes, allowing members to visit multiple destinations on eligible itineraries. You’re allowed a single stopover on each eligible one-way itinerary, so you could book one in each direction when flying round-trip.

Stopovers are permitted at international airline partner hubs (like Tokyo for Japan Airlines or London for British Airways) and only when transiting between international regions.

For example, you could stop in Hong Kong (the hub for partner Cathay Pacific) on the way to Thailand, or in Madrid (the hub for partner Iberia) on the way back from Europe. However, you couldn’t add a stop in Singapore on the way from Jakarta to Bangkok since you’d be traveling within a single international region.

5. Book multicity awards on Alaska Airlines

Much like the stopovers on international partner awards described above, Atmos Rewards lets you build stopovers into multicity awards booked on Alaska. Awards are priced according to the total distance flown across all flights on your itinerary, with saver awards topping out at 12,500 points for itineraries covering more than 2,100 miles in the air.

Since Alaska’s hubs are all on the West Coast, that’s where you’ll find it easiest to book multicity itineraries. For example, you could book this trip from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco (for a week) and Seattle for 12,500 points plus taxes:

That deal looks even better considering you’d pay the same number of points for the one-way from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco alone:

You can book multicity awards on eligible itineraries across Alaska’s route network, including destinations in Alaska, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. That provides even more opportunities to book two trips in one.

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How to earn Atmos points

Before you can book these sweet spot awards, you’ll need to bank enough points in your Atmos account. You can earn Atmos points in a variety of ways, such as flying on Alaska and its partners, booking additional travel through Alaska’s hotel and rental car partners and making purchases through the Atmos shopping portal.

One reliable way to accumulate Atmos points is by using the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® credit card, which earns 3 points per $1 on purchases made directly with Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines, 2 points per $1 on gas, EV charging, cable, streaming services and local transit, and 1 point per $1 elsewhere.

There's also the new premium Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® credit card, which has an annual fee of $395. In addition to rich benefits, the card gets you 3 points per $1 spent on purchases made directly with Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines, all eligible foreign transactions (including those made in a foreign currency) and eligible dining purchases. Other purchases earn 1 point per $1 spent.