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 actually the first 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
Through Friday, October 10, 2025, the Alaska Atmos Rewards program is offering a bonus on purchased points. Different members appear to be eligible for different offers. While my account is eligible for up to a 90% bonus, it’s my understanding that some accounts are eligible for up to a 110% bonus. For what it’s worth, the 90% bonus is structured as follows:
- Buy 3,000-9,000 points, get a 70% bonus
- Buy 10,000-19,000 points, get a 80% bonus
- Buy 20,000-100,000 points, get a 90% bonus
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 90% bonus and purchased 100,000 Atmos Rewards points pre-bonus, you’d receive a total of 190,000 Atmos Rewards points at a cost of $3,762.50, which is a rate of 1.98 cents per Atmos Rewards point.
If you were eligible for a 110% bonus, you’d receive a total of 210,000 points for $3,762.50, which is a cost of 1.79 cents per 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
Note that LATAM and Singapore Airlines are still currently redemption partners, but that will end as of October 1, 2025, sadly. That’s unfortunate, because both are useful partners.
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 (these cards all have excellent welcome bonuses with limited eligibility restrictions):
- 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 lowest cost to purchase points is 1.78 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?
Hard to get excited when they just raised the selling price, and when the price after bonus is still so much higher than your fair value estimate.
Only reason to pay 2 cents per mile is if you truly believe you can snag a business class award redemption on a carrier that does not charge YQ. BUT it is so hard to get these awards now for a family now when it was doable...
Hard to get excited when they just raised the selling price, and when the price after bonus is still so much higher than your fair value estimate.
Only reason to pay 2 cents per mile is if you truly believe you can snag a business class award redemption on a carrier that does not charge YQ. BUT it is so hard to get these awards now for a family now when it was doable for many years. Sigh. For economy class redemptions, it's very difficult to justify paying anything north of 1.25 cents (give or take) per mile on the Big Three carriers.
As someone mentioned earlier, would be great if you add a column showing the lowest effective cost per mile for each bonus promotion.
Elal is no longer a partner
Hi Lucky, something that would be helpful to add into your ongoing tables about buying bonus/discounted points that is at the top of the page is a column for the lowest cost per mile for each offer. So that as airlines raise prices we see not just the discount or bonus % but also the actual lowest cost. I always look at that historical data and appreciate that you keep it up there, and this...
Hi Lucky, something that would be helpful to add into your ongoing tables about buying bonus/discounted points that is at the top of the page is a column for the lowest cost per mile for each offer. So that as airlines raise prices we see not just the discount or bonus % but also the actual lowest cost. I always look at that historical data and appreciate that you keep it up there, and this additional data point would be really helpful.
I just checked here are our maxes:
dad (Gold): 90%
Mum (silver): 80%
Me (not elite): 110%
Wife (not elite): no bonus
I’ve definitely bought points for my parents probably once a year. I haven’t been as active on alaska in years, but used to be elite with them and still use the miles occasionally and my wife is not active within alaska. Wonder how all that plays into the algorithm.
Right now a good way to burn miles is to buy porter flights using Alaska. Awards are wide open even on holidays. PE awards are cheap. This won’t last however. So burn quickly.
I wish you hadn't mentioned this here. Somethings need to stay under the wraps for this hobby to continue to make sense.
How about applying for the credit card and purchasing miles to help meet the minimum spend?
@ DavidW -- That's a good strategy as well!
Hmmm. No bonus at all for my account? Perhaps because I'm in Canada?
Same, but I'm in the U.S.
I'm in the U.S. and I don't seem to have a bonus either. That's unfortunate. :-(
“Redeem Alaska points for Japan Airlines first class.”
This is false.
It's worth noting they raised the base cost of their miles since they redid their program, so the 110% only looks higher, but is pretty comparable to the same cents per mile as the previous bonuses.
Yea i feel like this was a pretty important point to put in the article i dont know how this is not included
@ Jay -- It's literally mentioned in the introduction:
"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."