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What’s the Value of Alaska Airlines Points?
Atmos points are worth about 1.2 cents each when used for award flights.
Craig Joseph is a NerdWallet credit cards and travel rewards expert. He has degrees in geology from West Virginia University and oceanography from Oregon State University and has published in academic journals, newspapers and blogs. Craig is passionate about personal finance and wants to enhance the financial literacy of everyone he meets. He'll probably also try to convince you why rocks are cool.
Meghan Coyle is an editor on the Travel Rewards team and the co-host of the Smart Travel podcast. She covers travel credit cards, airline and hotel loyalty programs, and how to travel on points. Meghan is based in Los Angeles and has a love-hate relationship with LAX.
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If you have a bunch of points from Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines' joint loyalty program Atmos Rewards, you’re probably curious how much those points are actually worth.
The short answer is this: We peg the value of Alaska's Atmos points at 1.2 cents each. This value is drawn from real-world data on hundreds of economy routes, not a maximized value. In other words, you should aim for reward redemptions that offer 1.2 cents or more in value from your Alaska points.
Our estimated value of 1.2 cents per Atmos point provides a median value you can use to determine the relative value of your own redemptions. It is based on comparing main cabin fares using both cash and points, across several dates and destinations.
In other words, this is the value you can expect to get from your Atmos points without seeking particularly high-value redemptions. This means you can get more value by looking for sweet spots and using more advanced award techniques. It also means you can end up getting lower value than this if you’re not careful and book the first award ticket you find.
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Earning Atmos points with credit cards
Alaska offers flyers two co-branded consumer credit cards:
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account the type of card being reviewed (such as cash back, travel or balance transfer) and the card's rates, fees, rewards and other features.
NerdWallet's ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account the type of card being reviewed (such as cash back, travel or balance transfer) and the card's rates, fees, rewards and other features.
Earn 80,000 bonus points and a 25,000-point Global Companion Award with this offer. To qualify, spend $4,000 or more on purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.
Get 70,000 bonus points and a $99 Companion Fare (plus taxes and fees from $23) with this offer. To qualify, spend $3,000 or more on purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.
Rewards
3 points per $1 spent on Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines purchases.
3 points per $1 spent on foreign purchases, including purchases made in a foreign currency.
3 points per $1 spent on dining, which includes restaurants, bars, fast food and catering.
1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
3 points per $1 spent on eligible Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines purchases.
2 points per $1 spent on eligible gas, EV charging, cable, streaming services and local transit, which includes ridesharing, trains, tolls and ferries.
1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
Benefits
Global Companion Award: Each year, cardholders receive one Global Companion Award of 25,000 points or less. Cardholders can get another Global Companion Award of 100,000 points or less by spending $60,000 in an anniversary year. This award is applied as a discount on the points price of a flight and may be redeemed for any service class on any flight in Alaska's full network, including eligible international partners. Terms apply.
Companion Fare: Get a Companion Fare (good for Alaska economy flights) from $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) each account anniversary after you spend $6,000 or more on purchases within the prior anniversary year. Terms apply.
Calculator: Convert Atmos points to dollars
Use this calculator to determine the value of any number of Atmos points, based on our valuation.
How do Atmos points compare to other airlines?
Atmos points have an average value compared to other airlines.
Simply put, Alaska has some of the best and most diverse global partners of any major U.S. airline, including its Oneworld partner airlines. Some partners to target with your award searches include:
We collected hundreds of data points comparing the cash value to award (point) value for the same routes and dates. That is, we compared the cost of a given ticket in either cash or points, across many tickets.
This method differs from others in that it looks at actual redemptions rather than hypothetical, maximized redemptions. The advantage of this approach is that it provides a real-world indication of how much these points are worth, on average. That said, it doesn’t take into account the high-value redemptions that points enthusiasts seek.
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