Often buying points strategically can be a good value, and Alaska Atmos Rewards is one of my favorite programs to buy points from, both thanks to the frequency with which the program sells points, and what a good deal award redemptions can be.
Atmos Rewards has just launched its newest offer on purchased points. It’s the third offer that we’ve seen since the program was rebranded (from Alaska Mileage Plan). With this, we’ve seen the program greatly increase the standard cost to purchase points, though we’ve also seen the program increase the percentage bonus available when there is a promotion.
This has the potential to be a good deal, and with a short term use in mind, this offer could be worth taking advantage of.
In this post:
Promotion on purchased Alaska Atmos Rewards points
Between November 20 and December 23, 2025, the Alaska Atmos Rewards program is offering a bonus on purchased points. Different members may be eligible for different offers. The best version of the promotion seems to be for up to a 100% bonus, structured as follows:
- Buy 3,000-9,000 points, get a 80% bonus
- Buy 10,000-19,000 points, get a 90% bonus
- Buy 20,000-100,000 points, get a 100% bonus
Of course you’ll want to check your account to see what you’re eligible for.
How much does it cost to buy Alaska Atmos Rewards points?
Ordinarily you can buy Alaska Atmos Rewards points for 3.5 cents each pre-tax, before any discounts or bonuses (the cost used to be 2.75 cents per point). If you were eligible for the 100% bonus and purchased 100,000 Atmos Rewards points pre-bonus, you’d receive a total of 200,000 Atmos Rewards points at a cost of $3,762.50, which is a rate of 1.88 cents per Atmos Rewards point.
How many Atmos Rewards points can you purchase?
The number of Atmos Rewards points you can buy depends on your status:
- Alaska Atmos Rewards elite members can purchase an unlimited number of points
- Alaska Atmos Rewards non-elite members can purchase up to 150,000 points per calendar year; that limit doesn’t include the bonus points
Note that in all cases you’re limited to purchasing 100,000 Atmos Rewards points per transaction (pre-bonus), though you can always make multiple transactions. Furthermore, you can only purchase points if you’ve been a member of Atmos Rewards for at least 10 days.
Which credit card should you buy Atmos Rewards points with?
Alaska Atmos Rewards points purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as an airfare purchase for the purposes of credit card spending.
Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach a minimum spending requirement, or otherwise, a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spending. See this post for more on which credit cards are best for buying points.
Is buying Alaska Atmos Rewards points worth it?
There’s lots of merit to collecting Alaska Atmos Rewards points:
- Alaska Atmos Rewards has attractive award redemption rates, especially when you’re traveling shorter distances; there’s not a better value program for short haul premium cabin awards
- Alaska Atmos Rewards has a unique array of airline partners — the airline belongs to the oneworld alliance, so has lots of partners within the alliance, but also has several non-oneworld partners, ranging from Condor to Icelandair
- Alaska Atmos Rewards allows stopovers on award tickets, which most programs don’t allow nowadays; this can stretch your points a lot further
- Points are sold at a reasonable price and can be bought in large quantities, making this a great program for “starting from scratch” and saving money on a premium international ticket
- When you redeem Atmos Rewards points, those flights count toward elite status in the program, and you earn one status point per mile flown; this is a major incentive to be loyal to the program, even if you’re ordinarily an American flyer
So yes, I think there are many situations where there’s huge value in buying Atmos Rewards points, especially if you find premium cabin award space on airlines like Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Qantas, etc.
On what airlines can you redeem Alaska Atmos Rewards points?
Currently it’s possible to redeem Alaska Atmos Rewards points on the following partner airlines:
- Aer Lingus
- Air Tahiti Nui
- American Airlines
- British Airways
- Cathay Pacific
- Condor
- EL AL
- Fiji Airways
- Finnair
- Hainan Airlines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Iberia
- Icelandair
- Japan Airlines
- Korean Air
- Malaysia Airlines
- Oman Air
- Porter Airlines
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Air Maroc
- Royal Jordanian
- SriLankan Airlines
- Starlux Airlines
What are good uses of Alaska Atmos Rewards points?
See my guide with the best uses of Alaska Atmos Rewards points. As you can see, there’s lots of value to be had for partner redemptions, especially on shorter trips. In many ways, Atmos Rewards is a competitor to things like British Airways’ program, which have lucrative distance based pricing.
Tip: Take advantage of Alaska’s stopover policy
One of my favorite aspects of Alaska Atmos Rewards points is that you’re allowed a stopover on a partner award ticket without paying additional points. Since you’re allowed a stopover even on a one-way, this means you could have two stopovers on a roundtrip award.
Nowadays most airline loyalty programs have eliminated free stopovers on award tickets, so this is something that really sets the program apart. The only exception is that stopovers aren’t allowed if your award is exclusively for travel within Asia.
Are there fuel surcharges on Alaska Atmos Rewards awards?
Many consumers are frustrated by the practice of airlines adding carrier imposed surcharges to award tickets. In the case of Atmos Rewards, most partners don’t have these surcharges. However, there are surcharges for travel on British Airways, Hainan Airlines, and Icelandair, which is something to keep in mind.
How much are Alaska Atmos Rewards points worth?
Everyone will value points currencies differently, but personally I value Alaska Atmos Rewards points at ~1.5 cents each, which is in line with the highest I value any single airline points currency. I tend to value points pretty conservatively, and there are many ways to get more value from Atmos Rewards points than that (as I’ve hopefully demonstrated above).
Do Alaska Atmos Rewards points expire?
Alaska Atmos Rewards points don’t expire as long as you have at least some account activity once every 24 months. Account activity could include earning or redeeming points.
What other ways can you earn Alaska Atmos Rewards points?
There are several ways to earn Alaska Atmos Rewards points, both through flying and non-flying means. The easiest way to earn Alaska points is with one of the co-branded Bank of America credit cards, which include the following:
- The Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card (review) has a $395 annual fee, and there are so many reasons to get this lucrative card, ranging from the fastest pathway to earning status, to Global Companion Awards, to great bonus categories, and much more
- The Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card (review) has a $95 annual fee, and it offers valuable basic perks for travel on Alaska & Hawaiian, including the ability to earn a $99 companion fare
- The Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card (review) has a minimum of a $95 annual fee ($70 for the company and $25 per user), and offers useful benefits for travel on Alaska & Hawaiian
On top of that, of the major transferable points currencies, Alaska Atmos Rewards partners with Bilt Rewards. That means that points earned with the Bilt Mastercard® (review) can be transferred to Alaska Atmos Rewards, which is quite useful.
Bottom line
Alaska Atmos Rewards is one of the most lucrative loyalty programs to buy points from, thanks to the excellent redemption rates, stopovers on one-way awards, and variety of partners.
Atmos Rewards is offering a bonus on purchased points, and it appears that the best offer is for a bonus of up to 100%, which is an opportunity to buy points for 1.88 cents each. There’s lots of value to be had with this offer if you’re being strategic, including for travel on American within the United States. Everyone should crunch the numbers for themselves, and I’d only make a purchase with a specific use in mind.
Do you plan on purchasing Alaska Atmos Rewards points with this promotion?
Ben,
Qatar Airways award seats no longer seem bookable through Alaska. We’ve tried multiple cities and routes, and each attempt returns the same message that partner space isn’t available. I called Qatar Airways directly, and they confirmed there’s no issue on their end.
Only worth on short haul AA flights for 4500 miles, for all other redemptions paying cash price is cheaper. Long haul in J have disappeared long time ago.
elal no longer a partner
250K points needed to go to Europe one way?
My Atmos point purchase bonus reveal in an email today was less. 60%/70%/80% tiers. YMMV
If you have an Atmos credit card, one way to think about whether it is worth it:
Assuming you have a card like the Venture X, Double Cash or Amex Blue Business Plus, that gives 2% on otherwise unbonused spend, you can put that spend on your Atmos card and essentially give up 1 point per dollar. Those other currencies are worth about 1.5 cents per point, and that is your "cost" for putting...
If you have an Atmos credit card, one way to think about whether it is worth it:
Assuming you have a card like the Venture X, Double Cash or Amex Blue Business Plus, that gives 2% on otherwise unbonused spend, you can put that spend on your Atmos card and essentially give up 1 point per dollar. Those other currencies are worth about 1.5 cents per point, and that is your "cost" for putting that spend on the Atmos card. So while you can't rack up 100K+ points in one transaction like you can with a points purchase, shifiting spend to an Atmos card results in a cost of $.015 vs $.0188 for purchase.
So no, this is not an attractive deal
No, it’s not worth it. Obviously.