Are we all (mainly) winners? My thoughts on Alaska’s new unified atmospheric rewards program

The rebirth of loyalty programs is not common, and most of the changes are rare, mostly appearing positive without much devaluation.

The last thing that happened to this scale was that Air Canada brought its Aeroplan loyalty program internally and made a comprehensive revision from basically (basically) from scratch.

Five years later, we are here, Atmos Rewards, the long-awaited new loyalty program for Alaska Airlines. The program combines previous mileage plans with the Hawaiian Mills plan. With this comes a new premium credit card (Atmos™ Rewards Summit VisaInfinite® credit card) and a series of changes from existing members of the two old plans.

We’ve covered the basics of Atmos Rewards (connecting their accounts to the mileage plan in Wednesday’s Mileage Plan members and Hawaii Flyer and on October 1 for everyone else), but it’s time to get a deeper look at the change and why there seems to be a lot of people who like it.

Win points and status

This is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the new Atmos rewards program: Starting next year, you will have the option to earn tracks that earn both points (formerly Miles) and status points.

These three tracks are distance flight, price payment and paragraph.

You can only change the track once a year, so you need to predict the flight pattern at a time to determine which one is best for you. Of course, the devil will be in the details and specific circumstances.

Distance orbits grant 1 point and 1 state point per mile flight. (It is not clear whether there will be rewards for premium carbines bookings.)

The paid track offers 5 points and 5 status points per dollar spent on a base ticket, including upgrades purchased for premium cabins, but it does not include other auxiliary charges such as checked baggage.

Meanwhile, the tracks of the paragraph provide 500 and 500 state points for each paragraph – perfect for those who often travel on cheap flights, such as within California, Alaska and between the Hawaiian Islands.

This is an unprecedented move for American Airlines’ loyalty programs, allowing flyers to choose a track that earns miles and status. Even better, keeping the track long distance in 2026 brings memories of the glorious period of strategic miles in major U.S. airlines.

Alaska will be the only American airline that provides distance for status and mileage revenue, and the maximiser (including myself) should be grateful.

Win identity through reward travel

Received status credit for reward travel is a reward first introduced by Alaska in 2025 and will also be part of the remodeled Atmos Rewards Program.

You will earn status points based on the track you selected.

• Distance: 1 status point issued per mile
• Expenditure: Status Points per $1 per $1 per $1 per $1 per $1
• Market segment: 500 status points issued per issue

This is good news for those who often redeem Miles with Atmos rewards. Delta and United also offer this revitalization (but sadly, Americans don’t). Even if you get status from income tickets faster, at least when redeeming, you will at least put your mileage into practice when rewarding the flight itself and help make future loyalty to Alaska.

Valuable premium cards

Alaska has already laughed at the launch of new premium cards this summer, and the final product (Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite) is primarily in line with the hype.

The card is designed for global travel and I love its unique spending multiplier and profitable global companion award.

The Global Companion Award comes in two versions: new account spending and 25,000 points awards received on card anniversary year, and 100,000 points awards received after spending $60,000 or more during the card anniversary year.

These certificates can be used to discount redemption of peer reward tickets based on the value of the certificate. For example, if you are booking a 120,000 reward for you and your companions, you can redeem a 25,000 reward to turn the second ticket into a 95,000 redemption.

These certificates are available in any category of services in Alaska, Hawaiian and Alaska’s global network of partners. As a regular redeemer for long-distance business-grade awards with Alaska, this allowance alone is worth picking up the card.

Additionally, one of the bonus multipliers of this card is 3 points per dollar in foreign purchases – making it the only card with such a profitable foreign transaction multiplier. For this reason alone, I might pick up the card while traveling just to use it.

The card also includes a nasty $25 round trip partner booking fee waiver that I incur every time I make a non-Alaska or non-hawaiian redemption. (I’ve charged hundreds of dollars in these fees over the years.) While it would be great if Alaska gave up on these fees altogether, at least using the card would do it for me.

There are many other privileges for the card. The best aspect of this card for me is that it is designed for both people flying in Alaska, as well as for everyone else who may not be based on the West Coast but enjoys the money and redemption of the carrier.

I live in New York City and only have a few flights a year for Alaska, but I will definitely sign up for the card. It was a big win for the executives who designed it.

Localization and globalization

One of the biggest problems with Hawaiian Airlines taking over for a long time is how Alaska maintains Hawaiian status among the combined carriers.

We started to understand this through aircraft deployment strategies, new materials, and now loyalty programs.

Although Atmos rewards will combine both programs, Alaska will still provide a talent for localization through a community called Atmos. I like the concept and think it’s a great way to loyalty programs to make sure they are not limited to all models to a certain extent.

The Atmos community will include groups unique to members within a specific residential area, such as Hawaiian Hawaiian residents, and Alaska residents’ clubs 49; it also forms new interest-based groups for those traveling with family, embracing health, etc.

Four new communities coming in 2026 include:

• Global locals: designed for those who live abroad and want a faster position
• Food Tour: Designed for gourmets who want to earn bonus points to visit food destinations
• Active Escape: Designed for members who want to earn bonus points for extra outdoor destinations
• Family on the Go: Designed for families who want “thinking extra features” to make family travel more affordable

The plan is not fully fulfilled except for existing existing communities. That said, I’m glad to see what Alaska does here, especially because the commitment to interest-based benefits is a unique and innovative new way to add personalization to loyalty programs.

Free global upgrades

Alaska announced that its top Atmospheric Titanium members will provide them with free, development-day upgrades without points or certificates to upgrade to global business class. Additionally, next spring, status holders and a companion can take advantage of the free upgrade of Hawaii flights in North America.

Alaska is spinning it into a unique privilege of first-class status (no other American airlines allow for free global upgrades without any certificates), and some aviation industry insiders will quickly praise the move.

I prefer to confirm my long-distance upgrade before departure day – so much that unless my standby upgrade is a shoo-In, I’m working on alternate options.

This is good news for top-ranked members who are willing to take risks, but not much for me. I want to get certified and confirmed upgrades from senior elite members.

Free Starlink Wi-Fi

Alaska announced that it’ll bring free Starlink Wi-Fi across both the Alaska and Hawaiian fleet throughout 2026 and into early 2027. Hawaiian’s Airbus jets already feature Starlink, but it’ll be great to see the carrier outfit the rest of the Hawaiian fleet (sans Boeing 717) and all of the Alaska fleet, including regional jets, with Starlink.

Atmos Rewards members will grant free access – no elite identity is required.

Starlink is already one of the best in-flight internet providers, so it’s nice to see Alaska pay more extensively with the launch of Atmos Rewards.

Partner booking fee

One of the most frustrating parts of the Alaska loyalty program is the annoying partner redemption fee, with round trip tickets purchased on non-Alaska or Hawaiian metals totaling $25.

Partner Awards are certainly expensive for Alaska, but Alaska is also the only major airline in the United States to charge additional fees (in government-mandated taxes) to partner redemptions.

Although this is not a technical devaluation, as these fees exist in previous plans, the Atmos reward will be through the same partner booking fee as before. The good news is that the Atmos Rewards Summit card includes a partner booking fee, and as a heavy redeemer for Alaska mileage, I will easily make up for the $395 annual fee on the partner booking waiver only.

Difficult to obtain identity

This is undoubtedly a depreciation. In 2026, the thresholds for obtaining top atmospheric platinum (formerly MVP Gold 75K) and Atmos Titanium (formerly MVP Gold 100K) will increase. The former will require 80,000 state points, above the existing 75,000, while the latter will jump to 135,000 state points, above 100,000.

Alaska will win status in 2025 and the elite members of Platinum and Titanium will start losing hits in 2026. The former will receive 5,000 status points, while the latter will receive 20,000 status points bonuses.

Of course, it is frustrating to make winning positions more difficult. But the good news is that spending on the new Atmos Rewards Summit will earn at an accelerated rate compared to the existing Alaska visa card. I think most top elite members want to pick up the card to help close the status gap.

However, higher thresholds are never interesting, so be aware.

Wildcard: Redemption Rate

Let’s face it: Alaska has been a West Coast-centric airline so far, with a above-average loyalty program that helped the airline attract many of us in the perspective and the world of miles. With the help of Hawaiians, the airline (literally) spreads its wings globally, and one might expect to achieve this coverage and correlation with less profitable redemption rates.

Fortunately, Alaska noted: “The value of points will not change, and points will not expire.” Alaska executives told TPG that the airline is also committed to maintaining the structure of the Partner Awards through the new program. “Broadly speaking, how we structure [award charts] Around distance, it works. “Loyalty, Vice President of Alliances and Sales Brett Catlin explained.

On the surface, this sounds great,,,,, Especially for those who transfer a large number of AMEX points to Hawaii (and then Alaska) before the vulnerability ends.

But, as we see from the loyalty program time and time again, the Partner Awards in particular are the most popular redemptions for the maximizers and the most expensive redemption for the reward program.

I don’t have internal information to tell me, but if I were a bet person, I would say that the existing reward rate in Alaska is here soon. In many cases, they are already lower than competition. If Alaska wants to maximize revenue from its loyalty program and minimize unfulfilled liability (in the form of unredeemed points), it may never be able to maintain these rates.

Even Catlin said: “There will always be nuances.” [in pricing]you must revisit from time to time. ”

For now, I think this is developed – but at least there is a lot of other good news in the Atmos rewards.

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