It’s common for airlines to offer some sort of status challenge or status match program, in order to lure frequent flyers who are loyal to competing airlines, but are considering a switch. In the United States, most major airlines offer some sort of a status match challenge opportunity, including American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, and United.
In this post, I want to take a look at the program offered by Alaska Airlines for 2025, especially with the recent introduction of the Atmos Rewards program (replacing the former Mileage Plan program).
In this post:
Alaska Atmos Rewards status match as of October 2025
Alaska Atmos Rewards has a published status match challenge program. With this program, you can have your status matched from a competing airline for a period of 90 days, and then you can have your status extended by flying a certain amount on Alaska Airlines and/or Hawaiian Airlines within that period.
Alaska Atmos Rewards offers status match challenges for Silver, Gold, and Platinum (there’s no status match challenge for the Titanium tier).
What status will Alaska match?
Alaska Atmos Rewards will match status with any of the following major frequent flyer programs:
- Aeromexico Club Premier
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Delta SkyMiles
- Frontier Miles
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Southwest Rapid Rewards
- United MileagePlus
As you can see, the major airlines in the markets that Alaska Airlines serves are covered by this status match challenge, and elite status maps over as you’d expect, all the way to Platinum. However, American AAdvantage is a major exclusion, presumably because the airlines partner so closely.
Once you’ve successfully enrolled in an Alaska Atmos Rewards status match challenge, your status will be valid for 90 days, and then you can maintain your status with further qualifying activity.
How do you maintain Alaska status?
You can maintain your status with Alaska Airlines beyond the 90 day period based on how much you fly with the airline. Specifically, you can maintain the status by flying the following number of miles on Alaska Airlines and/or Hawaiian Airlines:
- Maintain Atmos Rewards Silver status by flying 5,000 miles
- Maintain Atmos Rewards Gold status by flying 10,000 miles
- Maintain Atmos Rewards Platinum status by flying 20,000 miles
Only flights on Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines qualify toward this requirement, and this is truly based on revenue “butt-in-seat” miles, and not based on status points (in other words, you’d still need to fly this number of miles in paid first class).
Just to be perfectly clear, status points earned through award flights and through credit card spending don’t count toward this total. So while the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card (review), Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card (review), and Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card (review), can be great for earning status under normal circumstances, they’re not useful for this status challenge.
For context, these status requirements are roughly one-quarter of the standard annual elite requirements, so that makes sense when you consider that you have about one-quarter of a year to complete the flying requirements.
However, the status challenge is based on actual flown miles, while elite status is ordinarily earned based on status points (you earn bonus status points for premium cabin tickets, can earn them on partner airlines, can earn them for award flights, can earn them for credit card spending, etc.).
How long is matched Alaska status valid for?
If you successfully complete an Alaska status challenge, how long is the status valid for?
- If a status challenge is initiated between January 1 and June 30 of a year, you only maintain your status through the end of that calendar year
- If a status challenge is initiated between July 1 and December 31 of a year, you maintain your status through the end of the following calendar year
In other words, you’ll maximize the value of an Alaska Airlines status challenge if you initiate it in July or later, since your status will potentially be valid for up to 18 months.
How do you request an Alaska status match?
You can request an Alaska status challenge directly on this webpage. You’ll need to share which status you’re trying to match, along with a screenshot of your online account with that program showing your name, status, and how many miles you flew with that airline the prior year.
A few more important things to note about Alaska status challenges:
- Status match challenges are only offered “once in a lifetime,” so you can’t repeat this if you’ve already taken advantage of it
- Status match challenges are only valid for those who have achieved elite status through actual flight miles or segments in another program, and not those who have achieved status through credit card activity, transferred points, or other promotional offers
- Status match challenges are only available to residents of the United States and Canada
- Allow up to four weeks for verification of your status match challenge request and approval
- While the status challenge unlocks the status benefits, it doesn’t the milestone perks benefits offered by the program
What are the benefits of Alaska elite status?
What are Alaska Atmos Rewards status perks like?
Some of the most popular benefits of Atmos Rewards Silver status include:
- Complimentary upgrades to first class up to 48 hours before departure
- Complimentary upgrades to Premium Class (extra legroom economy) up to 48 hours before departure
- Priority check-in, security, and boarding
- Two complimentary checked bags
- A 25% points bonus
Some of the most popular benefits of Atmos Rewards Gold status include:
- Complimentary upgrades to first class up to 72 hours before departure
- Complimentary upgrades to Premium Class up to 72 hours before departure
- Priority check-in, boarding, and security
- Two complimentary checked bags
- A 50% points bonus
- oneworld Sapphire status
Some of the most popular benefits of Atmos Rewards Platinum status include:
- Complimentary upgrades to first class up to 120 hours before departure
- Complimentary upgrades to Premium Class at time of booking
- Priority check-in, boarding, and security
- Three complimentary checked bags
- A 100% points bonus
- oneworld Emerald status
Upgrades are arguably the most valuable benefit, and those are prioritized by status. The higher your status, the better the odds of those clearing. While it’s route dependent, it’s important to be realistic, as you’re much more likely to clear as a Titanium member than a Silver member, for example.
Is an Alaska status challenge worth it?
Alaska Atmos Rewards is a great frequent flyer program, as it’s the only major program in the United States to still award miles based on distance flown rather than dollars spent. On top of that, with Alaska Airlines being a member of oneworld, there are more perks from this status when traveling on other airlines, thanks to oneworld Sapphire and oneworld Emerald benefits. Alaska elite members can even receive reciprocal upgrades on American, offering lots of flexibility.
Being loyal to Alaska Airlines could make a lot of sense, though before you request a status challenge, just remember that it’s “once in a lifetime.” So you’ll want to be strategic about when you apply for this, since you can’t just take part in a status match challenge every few years. I’d also recommend generally applying in the second half of the year, so that you can take advantage of status perks for the longest time possible.
I think Atmos Rewards is becoming an increasingly valuable program to consider, even for those who frequently fly American. Given the general value of Atmos Rewards points, plus the program offering status points for award flights, this is kind of a dream for those who redeem frequently.
Bottom line
Alaska Airlines’ Atmos Rewards program offers a lucrative status match challenge program, whereby you can receive status for a period of 90 days, and can then extend that status based on flying a certain number of revenue miles on Alaska and/or Hawaiian within that period. The biggest catch is that a status match challenge is only available to each member once, so you’ll want to save it for when you can really use it.
If you’re interested in being loyal to Atmos Rewards — and there are lots of reasons to consider doing so — this is a great opportunity.
Have any OMAAT readers taken part in an Alaska status challenge? If so, what was your experience like?
I used to be gold with alaska back when they were partners with Northwest (anyone else remember the paper upgrade certificates we’d get to use on NWA? - they seemed to clear every time!). I then remember when their relationship with DL was similar to what they have now with AA. I then switched to DL but am now considering a status match back to AS. My question is… if we match to their platinum...
I used to be gold with alaska back when they were partners with Northwest (anyone else remember the paper upgrade certificates we’d get to use on NWA? - they seemed to clear every time!). I then remember when their relationship with DL was similar to what they have now with AA. I then switched to DL but am now considering a status match back to AS. My question is… if we match to their platinum level, but then only fly enough for stay gold during the 3 months, will they give us gold or will they consider it a failed match and give us nothing as we didn’t meet the level we were coming from?
What is frustrating is that these status matches are basically limited to US airlines. When you are elite on an alliance via an overseas partner you almost never qualify to participate in the status match.
I don’t find it weird. Why would they let someone overseas status match to them only to (presumably) almost never fly on their metal? There seems to be limited benefit to the airline to let someone status match if their sole engagement with a program will be to fly other airlines but credit miles to the matching airline. At the end of the day the goal of the status match is for the passenger to...
I don’t find it weird. Why would they let someone overseas status match to them only to (presumably) almost never fly on their metal? There seems to be limited benefit to the airline to let someone status match if their sole engagement with a program will be to fly other airlines but credit miles to the matching airline. At the end of the day the goal of the status match is for the passenger to spend more money with them, right? Honest questions, I’m not trying to be patronizing or rude.
I’m sure there is a “no-poach” agreement in the original agreement between AA/AS before they joined OneWorld, and probably a further such agreement in the overall OW contract. Before Atmos that wasn’t a big deal but with all the (positive) changes they’ve made lately it really has me on the fence about starting to credit towards them. I’ve already met the status requirement for AA PLT for next year and doubt I’ll make PPro, so...
I’m sure there is a “no-poach” agreement in the original agreement between AA/AS before they joined OneWorld, and probably a further such agreement in the overall OW contract. Before Atmos that wasn’t a big deal but with all the (positive) changes they’ve made lately it really has me on the fence about starting to credit towards them. I’ve already met the status requirement for AA PLT for next year and doubt I’ll make PPro, so it’s tempting to make the switch. If I could do a challenge it would be a done deal and I know I’m not alone.
If someone has matched mileageplan before but never with atmos, does the "once per lifetime" still apply?
@ Amritpal Singh -- It does, for those purposes it's considered the same program, unfortunately.
@ Amritpal Singh -- As Ben mentioned in the article, it is "once in a lifetime," not once in a lifetime. If it has been a few years (at least 5-7 years) since you last matched, you could always give it a try. I definitely have known people who have been matched a second time after matching years beforehand. The worst they can say is no.
Gee Alaska has some really dated looking seating or did One Mile at a Time mess up with their choice of image stock?
My Alaska flights have never looked like this except maybe 15 years ago. Confused as I am by this?
@ KlimaBXsst -- Those pictures were taken on a 2023 flight, so not 15 years old. :-)
@Ben — was that one of the hops along the west coast? Some of the workhorse planes that do shorter hops like LAX-SFO or PDX-SEA are beat up like this image but in my experience the transcons have nice modern looking fresh seats
@ Amritpal Singh -- It was SEA-MIA, so definitely not a short hop. :-)
@Ben Schlappig
Ok guess I have been very lucky with new airplane smell at Alaska, and you might have been very unlucky getting a beater.
I definitely can say I have not seen Alaska’s first class seats to look like that, or in even that style of seat a good many years.
Not that I get upgraded to fly in them too often.
If those images impressed you, wait until you experience Alaska's/Atmos' "updated" website and app. For a company headquartered in Seattle, one might expect their digital presence to be... less reminiscent of 2008. But here we are.
"For a company headquartered in Seattle, one might expect their digital presence to be... less reminiscent of 2008. But here we are."
Considering Sony pioneered civilian transistor technology and once ruled personal technology, you'd think Japanese websites would be the most user-friendly on Earth. Behold JAL and ANA's websites. Straight 1990s.