Link: Learn more about the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card
The $395 annual fee Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card (review) is the premium credit card of Atmos Rewards, which is the combined loyalty program of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.
I’d argue that this is one of the best airline credit cards we’ve seen in a long time, and there are many reasons to pick up this card, from the ability to earn 3x points on foreign purchases, to the Global Companion Awards offered by the card.
Perhaps the most obvious reason to get the card is that it’s offering a massive limited time welcome bonus, which in and of itself is a reason to apply. Specifically, you can receive a 50% flight discount code for a qualifying future flight after account opening. On top of that, you can earn 100,000 Atmos Rewards bonus points plus a 25,000-point Global Companion Award after spending $6,500 within the first 90 days.
In this post:
Basic Atmos Rewards Summit Card application restrictions
The Atmos Rewards Summit Card is issued by Bank of America. The good news is that eligibility for this card is unrelated to having any other card from Bank of America, Atmos Rewards, Alaska, or Hawaiian. So you’re eligible for this card (including the welcome bonus) if you have any other card in the portfolio.
For example, if you look at the terms of the application, you’ll see the following:
This one-time promotion is limited to customers opening a new Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite consumer credit card account in response to this offer. This offer is valid for a limited time by invitation only. This offer will not apply to requests to convert existing accounts.
That’s great, because it means that anyone who doesn’t yet have this card should be eligible for the bonus. Beyond that, what general restrictions does Bank of America have when it comes to approving people for cards? Here are a couple of common Bank of America restrictions that are often discussed, though let me emphasize that enforcement seems really inconsistent:
- There’s a 2/3/4 rule, meaning you can open at most two Bank of America cards every two months, at most three Bank of America cards every 12 months, and at most four Bank of America cards every 24 months
- There’s a 3/12 rule, meaning you may not be approved for a card if you’ve opened three or more new cards with any card issuer in the past 12 months
Both of these rules are specific to personal cards, and not business cards. Beyond that, neither of those rules seem to be totally consistently enforced, and in particular, that latter policy doesn’t seem consistent at all. For example, I’ve opened more than three new cards in the past 12 months, and I still applied.
Bank of America can sometimes be quirky in terms of approvals. I find that with Bank of America, I often get instant approvals with massive credit lines, and then every once in a while, I get random, inexplicable denials. So make of that what you will. If you’re interested in picking up more than one Atmos Rewards card in a day, it’s worth pointing out that you can potentially be approved for two in one day.
Atmos Rewards Summit Card application & approval experience
What’s the application process like when applying for the Atmos Rewards Summit Card? The online application process is really straightforward, and consists of just one page.
It just asks for personal details — name, date of birth, social security number, address, phone number, income, etc. You’ll also be asked for your Atmos Rewards number, so you’ll want to include that, so that your points are credited to the right account.
The process is even simpler if you already have a Bank of America account, as you’ll be asked to log-in with your account, and then you only have to provide updated income information.
For example, I applied for the card when it launched several months ago, and was instantly approved, with a pretty big credit line, no less!
My long term Atmos Rewards Summit Card strategy
Now that I have the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, what’s my strategy? I think the first thing to acknowledge is that the welcome bonus on this card is significant — I value Atmos Rewards points at 1.5 cents each, so the current 100,000 points plus a 25,000-point Global Companion Award are worth around $1,875 to me, and that doesn’t factor in the 50% discount code. There’s no reason not to give this card a try, and see how it works out.
What about beyond that, though? At a minimum, I suspect that this is a card that I’ll keep, even if I don’t spend much on it. The annual 25,000-point Global Companion Award plus waived partner award booking fees will more than justify the annual fee for me, given how many awards I book through the Atmos Rewards program, particularly for travel on American (you also get great travel protection with this card, which is useful).
Beyond that, though, there’s a strong argument to be made for going all-in on the Atmos Rewards program, and being loyal to that instead of American AAdvantage:
- Spending $60,000 on the card every anniversary year earns you a 100,000-point Global Companion Award, which is a great reward
- The card offers 3x points on all foreign purchases, so this is a card that could be worth consistently using abroad
- Since the card offers one status point per $2 spent, elite status can also be earned pretty quickly at that point, and this might be the most compelling way to go for oneworld elite status, whether it’s oneworld Sapphire or oneworld Emerald
Bottom line
The Atmos Rewards Summit Card is Bank of America’s premium credit card in the Alaska & Hawaiian Atmos Rewards ecosystem. It’s an incredibly compelling card — it’s worth signing up for given the huge welcome bonus, it’s worth keeping for the ongoing perks, and for many people, it’ll be worth spending money on.
Bank of America can be quirky with approving people for cards, but the good news is that many people should be eligible for this product, given that it’s quite new, and eligibility is unrelated to having other Atmos Rewards, Alaska, or Hawaiian cards. I applied for the card several months ago, and was instantly approved. I’ve had a good experience so far with this card, and don’t see myself canceling it any time soon.
I’d highly recommend giving this card a try and applying with the current bonus, given the value it offers.
If you’ve applied for the Atmos Rewards Summit Card, what was your experience like?
@ben: do we now if non AA one world elites (for example through Atmos) will be able to still assign seats free and assign upgraded seats on basic economy fares?
To me that would be a compelling reason to have non AA one world status.
They must hate me then... I only opened the FB card with them last Jun and Bilt this Feb for the past 12 months. I've been trying Summit since launch and the Atmos Business card last month. They kept denying me for already having enough credit or have had a new card too recently. The annoying thing is that they no longer have a real reconsideration process.
@jnrfalcon, your experience is not unique. Despite excellent credit, being in middle-age with good income, and a seven-year relationship with BofA (Ascent/Predecessor in good standing), I was denied twice with no satisfactory explanation. I've decided to replace the Ascent's credit limit (multiple 10s of ks) with another card and close my BofA relationship.
I'd give up on these clowns, too.
@jnrfalcon I had a similar experience when it first came out. Was denied in August, and tried again a little over 2 months later before the original 100k bonus went away, with a second denial for reasons similar to yours. However, I was just approved for the Summit at the beginning of this month, so it can happen!
I applied twice when it first came out. Horrible customer service. The site said I was declined both times. Turns out I wasn’t actually declined, but they just needed to verify my identity. After getting the letter (anyone heard on an online form over at BoA??) I sent in everything they asked for and I got back a standard letter saying I was declined because they couldn’t confirm my identity, which made no sense. I...
I applied twice when it first came out. Horrible customer service. The site said I was declined both times. Turns out I wasn’t actually declined, but they just needed to verify my identity. After getting the letter (anyone heard on an online form over at BoA??) I sent in everything they asked for and I got back a standard letter saying I was declined because they couldn’t confirm my identity, which made no sense. I replied to that with even more details, a cover letter and 6 forms of identification… and received the same response.
I spent hours and hours trying to call, go into branches trying to find someone who could help. No real people could. I applied again a few months later and got the same need to confirm identity letter even though I had set up a BoA investment account (to get that bonus) earlier hoping that it would help confirm my identity. So it’s absolute bullocks that they couldn’t identify me especially with the 6 forms of identification I sent in… I simply wanted a real human explanation or to have a real human help me verify.
I’m tempted to try again, but god, I wish AS didn’t use BoA. It’s so bad.
By all means get this card, but the easiest way to earn OWS/OWE is a combo of the AA Executive Card and AA Hotels (plus having at least AA Gold status). With AA Hotels I'm frequently getting 15k miles/LPs on 2 night or more stays plus 10x on spend with the AA Exec card. You may pay $100-200 more than direct but the miles you get back makes it worth it.
So for instance assume...
By all means get this card, but the easiest way to earn OWS/OWE is a combo of the AA Executive Card and AA Hotels (plus having at least AA Gold status). With AA Hotels I'm frequently getting 15k miles/LPs on 2 night or more stays plus 10x on spend with the AA Exec card. You may pay $100-200 more than direct but the miles you get back makes it worth it.
So for instance assume a 2 night stay would cost $1000 direct or $1200 with AA Hotels but you get 15k miles/LPs plus 10x on spend so another 12k miles plus 1200 LPs. So that's 27k miles at 1.5cpm = $405 in value ($205 after accounting for the $200 upcharge) plus 16,200 LPs.
You only need 75k LPs for OWS and you get 10k LPs once you earn 50k LPs with the AA Exec Card. And once you hit 60k LPs you get 25% bonus LPs for the next 6 months (registration for the promo required). So in the above example would be 18.75k LPs plus 1.2k on spend = 19,950 LPs.
So literally all of 4 two-night stays in a year (plus the 10k LP AA Exec card bonus plus the 1k LP reward at 15k LPs) can earn you OWS. $4800 of spend versus $4000 direct, perhaps. Sure you're paying ~$800 more than direct bookings in that example, but you're earning ~$1600 in value back. After accounting for the AA Exec card ($600) it's net $200 in value. Basically, it's a push and you get OWS.
Or spend $60k on the Atmos card. Whatever works for folks! But if you're not spending $60k on a card, and might otherwise spend $1000 on a nice hotel for the weekend 4x a year, AA Hotels is a great pathway.
I thought you already got this card when it came out? Did you apply for a second one, or is this just a re-write the first application experience?
Probably a re-write to explain the application process and highlight the new bonus. But you're right, it's a little odd.
Was wondering the same things @Ryan/ Some reheated post?
Does it mean you are holding the same card twice? If I was approved for the card a few months ago I am eligible for the bonus - again?
Yay! Glad it worked out! (Does it ever not work out for you, Ben?) Got any '*gasp* they reject me!' posts? Atmos Summit is a beast 3.1x foreign purchases; 3x rent up to $50K; great SUB; 25K and 100K certificates (if you do it right). Winner, winner, chicken, dinner.