Alaska Airways introduced a variety of adjustments final month when it unveiled its new Atmos Rewards loyalty program. However one of many largest wins for frequent vacationers was the factor the airline did not change in any respect: its common award chart.
Going ahead, redemptions by way of Atmos Rewards will look very similar to they did with the provider’s former Alaska Airways Mileage Plan program.
That information was welcome to the scores of loyalists who’ve lengthy prized Alaska’s mounted, predictable redemption costs — a construction that persistently unlocks a number of the best award deals of any U.S. airline, each on Alaska and its community of companions.
As we speak, utilizing Atmos Rewards factors (previously Alaska miles), you possibly can guide a brief home flight on Oneworld alliance companions like American Airways for as little as 4,500 factors one-way — a deal that personally saved me a whole bunch of {dollars}, hundreds of factors and quite a lot of hours sitting in site visitors on Interstate 95 this summer time.
You can even use Atmos Rewards factors to guide a transatlantic flight from the U.S. to Europe for as little as 22,500 factors, together with on days when competitor award pricing can run tens of hundreds of factors pricier.
Alaska’s program can unlock the swankier seats, too: Earlier this 12 months, some TPG staffers used Alaska’s program to fly to London for 55,000 points in American’s new Flagship Business suites.
Bucking an business development
Alaska’s award pricing edge comes, in no small half, from its award chart — a distance-based system that costs flights by miles flown, not by unpredictable components like demand or journey dates.
That strategy, as soon as extra widespread all through the business, makes Atmos Rewards a little bit of an outlier. Many airways have moved to dynamic award pricing, the place the factors or miles you want can fluctuate very similar to a money fare — and take a chunk out of your frequent flyer account stability within the course of.
Trade pundits and factors and miles lovers feared Alaska would possibly do the identical because it launched a brand new loyalty program with merger associate Hawaiian. These fears lingered even after the provider final 12 months promised it would not devalue its miles (now factors) — a pledge that helped secure Biden administration approval of the acquisition.
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Then got here Aug. 20, when Alaska Air Group unveiled Atmos Rewards and executives made it clear that the corporate would maintain its promise — and its award chart.
“I get that, as an business, we have conditioned friends to anticipate the worst anytime there is a loyalty program change,” Alaska’s prime loyalty government Brett Catlin advised me, alluding to the myriad of airline (and resort) program pivots that, all too typically, have led to prospects needing extra factors for a flight or resort evening than earlier than. “That is not the best way we’re wired.”
Companion award charts obtained a refresh in 2024
Past that ethos, we also needs to level out: Alaska just refreshed its partner award chart in April 2024, a couple of 12 months and a half in the past.
Since then, the airline’s setup has routinely led to its loyalty forex rating among the many most beneficial of any U.S. provider in TPG’s data-driven factors and miles valuations up to date every month (although American Airlines AAdvantage miles narrowly led the best way in September 2025).
The worth of these factors — and the rising quantity of award house Alaska provides on companions — has, in flip, raised the profile of this system, from its credit card lineup to its 1:1 transfer partnership with Bilt Rewards. And that is even amongst East Coast flyers who seldom fly with the Seattle-based provider.
“We have created a proposition that resonates with friends. We have seen [program] utilization go up dramatically over the previous 12 months,” Catlin mentioned.
Lingering considerations?
After all, how strongly Atmos Rewards resonates with vacationers in the long run will rely closely on the airline’s future plans for its factors. And whereas executives aren’t making pricing guarantees (no provider or … firm … ever would), Catlin provided this broad assurance:
“We now have no plans, at this level,” he mentioned, “to seriously change how we’re structuring redemptions.”
These assurances have not fairly erased all considerations; my colleague, TPG senior author Zach Griff, nonetheless fears pricing hikes may in the end be on the horizon — no less than, for some flights.
“If I had been a betting man, I would say that Alaska’s current award charges aren’t right here to remain for the lengthy haul,” he wrote in his analysis of the new Atmos Rewards program. “They’re already decrease in lots of circumstances than the competitors; Alaska seemingly cannot maintain these charges ceaselessly.”
The airline is not ruling out some pricing changes down the road. That features potential adjustments to its personal (nonpartner) award chart to account for its increasingly global route network.
“And there is at all times nuances, and you must revisit now and again,” Catlin added.
Greater-picture, although?
“We’re not making an attempt to hoodwink anyone,” he mentioned. “And so I believe that mentality continues.”
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