We’ll mark this as “developing” for now, as it remains to be seen whether this is a massive devaluation, or just a glitch.
In this post:
Alaska Atmos Rewards greatly increases award costs
The Alaska Atmos Rewards program publishes award charts, a practice that many of us appreciate, thanks to the transparency it provides. The award charts show the “starting at” price when redeeming points, but the intent is that for travel on partner airlines, that’s the pricing that should apply if there’s saver award space (you’ll sometimes find higher priced awards, for situations where there’s non-saver availability).
However, something very strange is going on at the moment, whereby many partner awards with connections have higher pricing than you’d expect (this was flagged on FlyerTalk). Let me explain with a couple of examples. Below is Atmos Rewards’ Europe, Middle East, and Africa award chart, which is relevant for this example.
For example, if you want to fly from Dallas (DFW) to Helsinki (HEL) on Finnair, you’ll find pricing is 35,000 points in economy, or 70,000 points in business class, which is what you’d expect, based on the distance of 5,001-7,000 miles.
If you add a connection to Stockholm (ARN) to the same itinerary, the number of points required should remain unchanged. However, I’m finding pricing of 55,000 points in economy, or 110,000 points in business class, so that’s way higher than you’d expect.
As another example, if you want to fly from Chicago (ORD) to Madrid (MAD) on Iberia, you’ll find pricing of 27,500 points in economy, or 55,000 points in business class, based on the distance of 3,501-5,000 miles.
If you add a connection to Barcelona (BCN) to the same itinerary, the number of points required should remain unchanged. However, I’m finding pricing of 35,000 points in economy, or 70,000 points in business class.
Is this a devaluation, glitch, or something else?
I’m trying to get an answer as to what’s going on here, and will report back once I learn more. As I see it, there are two most likely explanations.
One explanation is that this is in fact a devaluation. Some people might point out that as a condition of Alaska’s takeover of Hawaiian, the airline had to agree to not devalue its points. However, per the terms of the agreement, that specifically excludes partner award flights.
That being said, I wouldn’t expect Atmos Rewards management to devalue points in this way, since they care about running a competitive program, and I’d also expect them to communicate this more clearly. Transparency and member trust is something they value.
The other explanation is that this is a glitch, or at least wasn’t supposed to be rolled out yet. If it was a glitch, what could the explanation be? Could it be that a devaluation is planned, but it was accidentally rolled out too early, and perhaps not exactly as intended? Or could it be that the airline is updating its software in preparation of rolling out more multi-partner awards (which is long overdue)?
Like I said, I’ll provide an update once I know more, because this is not great…
Bottom line
Alaska Atmos Rewards appears to have greatly increased award costs in many markets. Specifically, many partner awards with connections are pricing much higher than before, and aren’t following the award chart. I hope this is a glitch and not an intentional devaluation, but I guess we’ll see…
What do you make of this very high Atmos Rewards award pricing?
I don’t believe this is very new, perhaps just that it has been rolled out further. I flew Condor on an Alaska award in February, booked in December. SEA-FRA was priced at 70K. Adding a connection to ZRH or BER, which is frustratingly only ever available in Y for Condor European connections even though they have a J cabin, raised the price to 85K, despite still being within the same distance band. I don’t think...
I don’t believe this is very new, perhaps just that it has been rolled out further. I flew Condor on an Alaska award in February, booked in December. SEA-FRA was priced at 70K. Adding a connection to ZRH or BER, which is frustratingly only ever available in Y for Condor European connections even though they have a J cabin, raised the price to 85K, despite still being within the same distance band. I don’t think the program is nearly as focused on user value as it once was.
With United touting lower mileage rates with a United Chase CC starting April second and this pretty brutal deval does this mean the choice between a Chase United or Alaskan CC is simple?
Not significant enough to call it a devaluation, more an adjustment on fares. Which companies do all the time.
Regardless, Alaska pts must and will devalue. Whether it’s thru incremental adjustments (such as this article’s issue) or 1-2 big changes.
Nothing "must" happen if an airline wants to remain remotely passenger-friendly.
For the large number of Alaska customers residing at one of their regional airports (for example those that may be a mere 30-45 min flight from SEA, PDX, HNL, ANC), to add those connections to international flights (on small E175 jets with not even a hint of drink service), Alaska jacks up the redemption price by an ADDITIONAL 40k points. The outrageous pricing is most evident on Alaska's own metal, where they charge an extreme...
For the large number of Alaska customers residing at one of their regional airports (for example those that may be a mere 30-45 min flight from SEA, PDX, HNL, ANC), to add those connections to international flights (on small E175 jets with not even a hint of drink service), Alaska jacks up the redemption price by an ADDITIONAL 40k points. The outrageous pricing is most evident on Alaska's own metal, where they charge an extreme increment in price for planes that remain mostly empty, as they aren't filling from cash sales either. The high prices and lower quality of soft and hard product does not attract customers. Alaska has destroyed shareholder value, with stock prices being at their lowest in the last 18 months. It seems that the ONLY measure of success at Alaska Airlines, is how many customers they can push to Delta and United, and how many Italian suits can be put into Minicucci's closet. The customer experience has been destroyed, and Alaska corporate seems determined to continue to destroy shareholder value and take advantage of loyal customers. At least they have a new generic 787 livery that everyone thinks is WestJet and doesn't stand out at all at foreign airports.
I actually just wrote to Alaska about this. I booked my parents LAX-NAN-AKL for 75k, which is correct, but wanted to change dates and DFW-NAN-AKL recent came available for 2 seats in business class on the day I was looking for, but it was at 130k, when it should be at 85k for that distance. And all other partners got the same 2 seats at their lowest award price for that routing, so I don’t...
I actually just wrote to Alaska about this. I booked my parents LAX-NAN-AKL for 75k, which is correct, but wanted to change dates and DFW-NAN-AKL recent came available for 2 seats in business class on the day I was looking for, but it was at 130k, when it should be at 85k for that distance. And all other partners got the same 2 seats at their lowest award price for that routing, so I don’t think it was variable pricing. Really hoping it’s just a glitch. Assuming it was, since 130k is the next jump in pricing in terms of their distance bands. If this is the devaluation they’re going for then I would be worried we’ve lost all sweet spots that make Alaska worth prioritizing. Fingers crossed it was just a fluke!
Thank you for looking into this! I wrote a comment about this in your other article this morning. Hopefully it's just a glitch. Condor pricing is really weird for multiple segments award tix both for Asia-N. America and Africa- N. America. Asia-N. America is supposed to start FROM 85K in business (according to award chart) but it's showing 130K (which is the starting price for first class). Also, they had a system update on Friday...
Thank you for looking into this! I wrote a comment about this in your other article this morning. Hopefully it's just a glitch. Condor pricing is really weird for multiple segments award tix both for Asia-N. America and Africa- N. America. Asia-N. America is supposed to start FROM 85K in business (according to award chart) but it's showing 130K (which is the starting price for first class). Also, they had a system update on Friday night/ Saturday morning. I noticed the price change right away since I was in the middle of booking a return flight.
I still see FCO-LHR-IAD for 55k looking early 2027, which is what the price should be. Horrible surcharges of course but pricing doesn't seem deflated
The whole promise not to devalue for condition of merger was and still is one of the dumbest conditions I’ve seen.
Devalue on a basis of what? If the cost of airfare continues to rise, can the ‘value’ of points be devalued at the rate of inflation, or the rate of airfare increases, or truly not at all? The last is what most people interpreted but any court would agree that is unreasonable. Imagine, in...
The whole promise not to devalue for condition of merger was and still is one of the dumbest conditions I’ve seen.
Devalue on a basis of what? If the cost of airfare continues to rise, can the ‘value’ of points be devalued at the rate of inflation, or the rate of airfare increases, or truly not at all? The last is what most people interpreted but any court would agree that is unreasonable. Imagine, in 30 years, the cost of J to Europe is still 70,000 atmos points, but with inflation you now earn 70,000 miles on a one way SEA-SAN flight in economy. Sounds sustainable to me.
Whole thing is just dumb. Yet people put so much value on that clause.
Something is going on for sure. It shows HYD-CMB-KUL for 130,000 in J on 2/5/27. However, if I book the two segments separately, they are 15,000 each.
When the "amazing" Atmos credit cards were launched, I commented on this blog predicting this outcome. @Ben you replied saying you thought I was wrong. It gives me no pleasure to say i think it looks like I was right. :(
"It gives me no pleasure to say i think it looks like I was right. :("
Then why did you say it?
wah
I am trying to burn all my miles and consider frequent flyer programs to be only of minimal value in the future, with a few rare exceptions, such as an employer paid international business class trip earning some miles.
That's pretty foolish. But you do you.
There's no more foolish statement than "you do you".
Oh I dunno I think "I'll try swallowing that arsenic, how much could it hurt?" is probably higher on the foolish level than 'you do you.'
:D
Those 100k companion certificates from the Summit card must be costing more than they were expected to...
I can't imaging why anyone would desire getting those, when Alaska artificially restricts most seats to "1 Available", rendering them useless.
Way to go - push “amazing” “to good to be true” credit cards, then silently devalue the program…
Probably an AI-written change was rolled out incorrectly tbh, I’d mark this as Developing for now
'wouldn't expect to devalue this way' and "transparency is something they value?" Not the first time they've done this recently. They already silently increased partner award pricing in the same way for some partners in April 2025.
Adding a segment increased pricing depending on the route, e.g. from 75k to 95k for JL metal between east coast and TYO with a domestic segment within Japan on either end. Which was the only way to...
'wouldn't expect to devalue this way' and "transparency is something they value?" Not the first time they've done this recently. They already silently increased partner award pricing in the same way for some partners in April 2025.
Adding a segment increased pricing depending on the route, e.g. from 75k to 95k for JL metal between east coast and TYO with a domestic segment within Japan on either end. Which was the only way to find avail most of the time. Although that was already a pipe dream back then and is hopeless now.
The pricing even for Y and PY has become comical. And their IT is still horrible.
BONVOYED!!!
Well, considering how every blog has been incessantly hyping Alaska's program beyond belief, this is how they all respond to surges in interest. This is what you get - why all the shock?