I’ve written in the past about the case to be made for American AAdvantage loyalists switching their business to Alaska Atmos Rewards, especially in light of changes that we saw to the Atmos Rewards program in 2025. As I explained at the time, this is a strategy I was considering, but not one I followed through on in 2025, since I was already most of the way to earning status with American, so a mid-year switch didn’t make sense.
Well, I now have an update. It looks like for 2026 I’ll be earning zero status with American AAdvantage, and a pretty high status tier with Alaska Atmos Rewards. To be honest, I hadn’t fully processed this until today, since I wasn’t really focused on earning status with either program. Let me explain.
In this post:
Going for oneworld Emerald status with Atmos Rewards
I’ll let my frequent flyer account summaries speak for themselves. I currently have AAdvantage Executive Platinum status, and have a total of 811 Loyalty Points for the year. No, not 81,000 or 811,000, but 811.
When it comes to earning Loyalty Points with AAdvantage, as an Executive Platinum member that correlates to either $811 in co-branded credit card spending, or $74 in eligible airfare spending. Given that you need 200,000 Loyalty Points to requalify for Executive Platinum status, I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be downgraded this year. 😉
Let me be clear, I fly American a fair bit, but almost entirely using points, particularly using Alaska Atmos Rewards points. So that doesn’t earn me any status with American, but award flights do count toward Atmos Rewards status (at the rate of one status point per mile flown).
Meanwhile with Alaska Atmos Rewards, I’ve earned 66,125 status points. That means I’ve already earned Atmos Rewards Gold status, and I’ll certainly earn Atmos Rewards Platinum status, which requires 80,000 status points.
Honestly, that’s “good enough” for me in terms of the value of status, since Atmos Rewards Platinum unlocks oneworld Emerald status, and that’s the elite perk I value most. I suppose I could try to go for Atmos Rewards Titanium status, but that requires 135,000 status points.
Yes, if I actually flew on Alaska or Hawaiian frequently I’d value it for the upgrades, particularly the unlimited complimentary day of departure global upgrades. But for me the juice just doesn’t seem worth the squeeze, because I barely fly with Alaska Air Group, given where I live.
This is nothing against American… it’s just basic math
Living in Miami, American is my primary airline for domestic and short haul international flights (though I’ll book whatever airline offers the best value, factoring in schedule, price, and product). As you can see above, a vast majority of my travel on American is using points, since the carrier is actually pretty good about making award seats available.
As I make the switch from American AAdvantage to Alaska Atmos Rewards, it’s absolutely nothing against American, as my travel patterns aren’t changing. I barely fly Alaska or Hawaiian, and that won’t change. It’s just that one status can be earned with limited opportunity cost, while the other has quite a bit of opportunity cost, in terms of credit card spending.
For one, I redeem a lot of Atmos Rewards points, and I can even transfer those over from Bilt, to replenish my balance. I do value oneworld Emerald status, especially for the lounge access perks it offers. If the goal is to earn oneworld Emerald status, the math here is pretty simple.
If I were to go for American AAdvantage Platinum Pro status, that would require 125,000 Loyalty Points, and I’d need to spend around $125,000 on a co-branded credit card (or potentially a little less, if I have the most premium version of the card). For the most part, I’d be earning just 1x miles per dollar spent, so there would be an opportunity cost to that spending.
Meanwhile Alaska Atmos Rewards Platinum status requires 80,000 status points, and the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card (learn more) really makes it easy to unlock that:
- The card offers 10,000 status points on your account anniversary every year
- The card offers one status point for every $2 spent, but there are some major advantages, as the card is actually lucrative to spend money on — you earn a 100,000-point Global Companion Award if you spend $60,000 on the card in a cardmember year, and you also earn 3x points on all foreign purchases, which is a useful category for me
To crunch the numbers, I earned 10,000 status points just for having the card, plus 30,000 status points for spending $60,000, which earned me a Global Companion Award that’s incredibly valuable. So it was the best card for that spending, not even accounting for the elite status aspect.
Then when you add in that I earn one status point for every mile flown on an award booked through Atmos Rewards, I’m inching closer to Atmos Rewards Platinum status. Basically if I fly another 14,000 “butt in seat” award miles using Atmos Rewards points, that’ll get me there, even with no more credit card spending. How can I say no to that?!
Both Alaska and American belong to oneworld, and I struggle to find any material difference in terms of the status between the two programs, at least for my purposes. It’s not like I clear many upgrades, or find Executive Platinum status to be much more useful in terms of handling during irregular operations (in those situations, just having Admirals Club access and being nice is the best “tool”).
Let me of course acknowledge that my strategy could evolve over time, because nothing with loyalty programs is permanent. We could see AAdvantage start to award Loyalty Points for award flights, we could see Atmos Rewards get access to less American award space, etc.
Ultimately loyalty is nothing long term nowadays — it’s transactional, both literally and figuratively. So I’ll play the game each year to the best of my ability, based on circumstances.
Bottom line
It wasn’t even terribly deliberate, but it looks like 2026 will be the year where I switch my loyalty from American AAdvantage to Alaska Atmos Rewards. I picked up the Atmos Rewards Summit Card last year, and I’ve been spending on it to earn the 100,000-point Global Companion Award, since that’s “efficient” even without status considerations.
Add in a good number of award flights, plus the 10,000 bonus status points just having the card, and I’m getting very close to Atmos Rewards Platinum status, which unlocks oneworld Emerald status. Meanwhile I’m 0.4% of the way to requalifying for AAdvantage Executive Platinum status.
Am I crazy for switching programs? Should I make the effort of going for Atmos Rewards Titanium?
Same Here-- I was Platinum Pro last year with 130k loyalty points. This year, I have 10 and that's only because I forgot to change an auto renewal on my credit card.
I never got upgrades, and even the MCE seating was a little difficult to come by on some planes out of PHL. I've switched all my purchases to BILT or Citi Premier (because there are still good AAdvantage mile deals AS doesn't...
Same Here-- I was Platinum Pro last year with 130k loyalty points. This year, I have 10 and that's only because I forgot to change an auto renewal on my credit card.
I never got upgrades, and even the MCE seating was a little difficult to come by on some planes out of PHL. I've switched all my purchases to BILT or Citi Premier (because there are still good AAdvantage mile deals AS doesn't have). I use the Amex Plat incidental fee reimbursements for when I want a better seat or checked bag.
As someone who lives in Hawaii, I'm happy to hear that your strategy matches what I've been doing for a while.
When I book an AA flight using my ATMOS points, I pay the service charge (e.g $5.60) using my AA Credit Card. When I go to the AA website to confirm my seat assignments, I also see that I have my first free checked bag (domestic). Using my ATMOS credit card doesn't give...
As someone who lives in Hawaii, I'm happy to hear that your strategy matches what I've been doing for a while.
When I book an AA flight using my ATMOS points, I pay the service charge (e.g $5.60) using my AA Credit Card. When I go to the AA website to confirm my seat assignments, I also see that I have my first free checked bag (domestic). Using my ATMOS credit card doesn't give me the free checked bag, even if I add the checked bag in the AA app and use my credit card to pay the full charge. I thought they would refund the money when they see I'm using an AA credit card, but no, they need the AA credit card to be used to pay for the ticket, not the checked luggage, even if it's only $5.60.
I was "forced" into being loyal to Alaska when they took over Virgin America (I had been top tier elite with VX since the very beginning), and I've been MVP Gold, Gold 75k/ATMOS Platinum (oneworld Emerald) ever since. So I never had to switch my loyalty from AA to AS, but I did switch my lounge membership from AS to AA via being a Citi AAdvantage Exec cardholder (the AF is less than a paid...
I was "forced" into being loyal to Alaska when they took over Virgin America (I had been top tier elite with VX since the very beginning), and I've been MVP Gold, Gold 75k/ATMOS Platinum (oneworld Emerald) ever since. So I never had to switch my loyalty from AA to AS, but I did switch my lounge membership from AS to AA via being a Citi AAdvantage Exec cardholder (the AF is less than a paid lounge membership with either airline).
I have no "magical powers," and I'm Platinum not Titanium, but I have been upgraded to F about 30% of the time YTD. Several of those trips were with my wife, and she got upgraded as well since we were on the same reservation.
My only complaint -- as @IsaacC mentioned -- is that the number of points now required for award tix in Business on long-haul international flights is ludicrous! If that doesn't change, I may have to flip my current "policy" of paying for domestic and using points for long-haul international award tickets, follow @Ben's practice of using the points for short-haul domestic.
@jbl1776 I came over from VX too.....i actually really like alaska in general. They took the meals from VX....and i will say i love the lounges with AS that what VX had at LAX....
I agree i use my points more for short haul and long haul Y class awards.....i usually pay for my J class...hence i want the increased earning.....
i do find saver space on J from time to time.....but usually...
@jbl1776 I came over from VX too.....i actually really like alaska in general. They took the meals from VX....and i will say i love the lounges with AS that what VX had at LAX....
I agree i use my points more for short haul and long haul Y class awards.....i usually pay for my J class...hence i want the increased earning.....
i do find saver space on J from time to time.....but usually close in and you have to be persistent on checking. My last one was SFO>>SEA>>HEL>>ARN on AS/AY....70k oneway.....i got the upgrade on the AS segment....
Ive been an AS 100k / Titanium from the start of that tier.
I am overall happy with AS and the upgrades still do come through from time to time...but generally they are being monetized.
The issue is that award pricing is like DL now....insane prices.
The IT is terrible and the promised full roll out of the Atmos program is still not completed "Later in 2026" should be a hashtag of shame with AS. They promise and never really deliver on time....
Issac, given what some of the proposed and/leaked. changes coming "later in 2026," I hope the delay will last into 2028. . .
You didnt didn’t factor in BILT’s “reverse Midas touch. Regardless, there will be a lot more people with Atmos status, and a lot more people redeeming Atmos points.
And Alaska’s value is still primarily access to AA, meaning they’re at the mercy of AA’s executive decisions…and AA isn’t doing so well. In fact, AA is cooked. Yall just don’t know it yet.
No I don’t want to joint BILT rewards. Stop trying to sell me.
Mostly makes sense to me. Ben, don’t you have some sort of lifetime AA status after all the years of flying with them?
Wonder how long until AA finds a way to close this loophole. They are probably hemorrhaging loyalty revenue to Alaska
I've switched my loyalty from BA to Alaska for similar reasons. Since I am a part-time digital nomad, lots of my spend is abroad making the Atmos card ideal.
You’re not crazy. I made this switch last year, don’t regret it at all. The Atmos Summit card is a key part of requalifying for Emerald and it’s worked out really well so far (80% of the way there and it’s only September.)
The question is if you fly AA a lot but credit the miles to AS what kind of service do get in irregular operations? Generally if you're EXP/CK and maybe even PP you will find agents willing to help, if only to reticket you on the flights you want with no questions asked/no hesitancy.
Bingo. I'm very curious about this as the IRROPS situation is the main reason why I'm hesitant to switch.
With only taking award flights, along with summit 10k, I’m on track for gold this year. AS system is too good to be true, not sustainable. We enjoy while it lasts.
When even poor folks such as myself can easily earn status with Atmos you know a devalue is right around the corner. Whether it be on the AS side or the AA side or both.
Bob gets it. Anyways, Alaska has already been doing stealth devals so not to look like a liar and cheat. But soon, they will show their face. And AA must deval to make it thru this POTUS (a known PDF) term.
I've found some great redemptions on AA through atmos. However, it would worry me if AA started reducing award availability
Yes, I think you are crazy for switching. You live in Miami - even traveling mostly rewards on AA - there is still an advantage for being EXP. You won't have access to the EXP phone line or possible irrops. Not that hard to get to 125K AA LP. I guess you are still burning off the 7M miles you got for the $30K investment in the Simplymiles charity promo - when LP's started. How...
Yes, I think you are crazy for switching. You live in Miami - even traveling mostly rewards on AA - there is still an advantage for being EXP. You won't have access to the EXP phone line or possible irrops. Not that hard to get to 125K AA LP. I guess you are still burning off the 7M miles you got for the $30K investment in the Simplymiles charity promo - when LP's started. How many of the 7M miles do you have left? Once those are gone you most definitely want to be back at EXP.
My main issue with Atmos Rewards is poor earnings on premium (J/F) travel.
One point that's not mentioned in the article is that you can rake up a lot of Loyalty Points through AA hotels - there's an opportunity cost but still often makes sense.
Yeah until there’s a AS hotels…… I’m staying put.
@Lucky, are you planning on keeping the Citi AA Executive card for domestic lounge access? AFAIK, AA AC members (including Citi) can just show their AC card, so it's not subject to AS's stupid restriction on FF #s on BPs.
@ Tennen -- Yep, absolutely plan on keeping it, and there are no issues accessing as a member even if crediting to another program.
With the new AA Exec card you need 170k LP to get to EP because you'll get 3x10k LP rewards. You can book a vacations package through AA Vacations and with the current offer get 11x miles/LP (there's also a cardholder address to get an extra 10% off hotels/cars). You can stack with AA eshopping for another 5x miles/LP. And pay with the card for 1x mile/LP and to use the $250 credit. That's 17...
With the new AA Exec card you need 170k LP to get to EP because you'll get 3x10k LP rewards. You can book a vacations package through AA Vacations and with the current offer get 11x miles/LP (there's also a cardholder address to get an extra 10% off hotels/cars). You can stack with AA eshopping for another 5x miles/LP. And pay with the card for 1x mile/LP and to use the $250 credit. That's 17 miles/LP per $. So for ~$10k ($9,750 after the credit, and you have to account for taxes not being included, etc...) you're EP and enjoy your trip.
(And if you were in the 25% LP bonus after getting 60k LP and registering, it would be even less. ~$8,529.41 gets you to 145k LP plus 25k LP from the LP bonus plus 30k from the Exec card).
Good angle though I don't think the 5x eshopping stacks - the terms say that's not fulfilled by eshopping, it's just advertising the 'normal' 'up to 5x' when you book at AA vacations. So it's 11x for EXP with the current promo through 9/30 vs 5x normally.
"AAdvantage eShopping® doesn't handle the fulfillment of earned AAdvantage® miles or Loyalty Points for these types of stores. AAdvantage® miles earned with this partner will appear in your...
Good angle though I don't think the 5x eshopping stacks - the terms say that's not fulfilled by eshopping, it's just advertising the 'normal' 'up to 5x' when you book at AA vacations. So it's 11x for EXP with the current promo through 9/30 vs 5x normally.
"AAdvantage eShopping® doesn't handle the fulfillment of earned AAdvantage® miles or Loyalty Points for these types of stores. AAdvantage® miles earned with this partner will appear in your AAdvantage® account directly and do not count towards AAdvantage eShopping® bonus promotions."
Interesting, that doesn't appear on the "button" at all - you just activate it like a regular shopping session. Honestly haven't cared about AA Vacations at all until the card refresh - thanks for flagging, @Greg.
All it says on the button is "Merchant terms:
Special terms: Price exclusions: For car rentals, additional taxes and fees apply. For itineraries that include flights, checked bag fees may apply. For hotel stays, resort fees, incidental fees...
Interesting, that doesn't appear on the "button" at all - you just activate it like a regular shopping session. Honestly haven't cared about AA Vacations at all until the card refresh - thanks for flagging, @Greg.
All it says on the button is "Merchant terms:
Special terms: Price exclusions: For car rentals, additional taxes and fees apply. For itineraries that include flights, checked bag fees may apply. For hotel stays, resort fees, incidental fees and parking fees may apply. Tax exemptions: For some international destinations, you may qualify for a refund of a portion of the air taxes after you've finished booking. To claim an exemption, you may be asked to show proof of residency / citizenship at the airport."
I do see if you go to the main eshopping site and click through that it has the language you are quoting. But far from clear.
I do think the point still holds though - fine, 12x instead of 17x (11x from vacations and 1x card). That's ~$14.2k of spend on AA flights plus hotel and car rental spend (less at least one $250 credit). Who knows if MaximizeMiles 11x promo will continue - but there's some decent incentive to just running some hotel/car rental travel through AA to get 12x miles/LP on spend.
How does one stack the AA vacations together with AA eshopping on the same spend (to get the 11x + 5x + 1x = 17x described) ??
When something is too good to be true, it usually is. Wait for the next set of changes.
"wait for the next set of changes" is a poor strategy when everybody is racing to the bottom. It's not like airline status lasts, so you might as well be flexible and be open to shifting your strategy as programs evolve on a year-by-year basis
But what if you are using a AA biz card and basically earning status for two people by using the AU card to get LP's for both P1 and P2.
Also, I believe that AA has cut off partner access to award seats at 1 week, so that kills last minute bookings where AA is usually king in terms of pricing vs the cash price.
caution if you book a ticket with AA and then creddit to AS the milage credit can be bad. i have booked main cabin and upgraded seats and recieved 25% of the milage flown. never have that problem with alaska
@ enrique -- A good point worth bringing back. As you can see based on my AAdvantage account, there's not a whole lot of revenue travel on American to speak of. :p
As a current Alaska Atmos Titanium member, I want to point out a minor error in the article - it takes 135,000 status points to attain the Titanium tier, and not 125K.
@ JohnRossa -- Whoops, thanks, fixed!
Your plan works as long as AA keeps releasing saver award Y and F award availability to partners. This can change any time without notice.
They can pull a UA where J saver awards are pretty much only available for their own elite or credit card holders.
Or they can behave like CX where it only releases a subset of Y awards to its OneWorld partners and PY/J/F are unicorns particularly on long haul.
@ Edward -- Yep, they definitely, can, and nothing is permanent. I'll adjust my strategy over time as needed, based on how things evolve.
I do see the logic, at least unless American decides to give status points for award tickets on their own metal like UA and DL (or AS on any OneWorld carrier).
Also feel like this makes it an easy call for you to downgrade Strata Elite for the time being since you probably don't need more AA miles at the moment and the Admirals Club passes are obviously redundant if you have and value unlimited access from the AA lounge card.
@ dx -- In fairness, I still value AAdvantage miles immensely, have a huge balance, and continue to use them. Over the years I've very much decoupled my strategy when it comes to points I redeem vs. status I pursue.
Sorry, trying to work my head around your math - you said you'll earn Platinum after the 10k bonus + 30k from $60k spend + flying 14k miles, but that adds up to 54k not 80k for Platinum? I guess that's on top of your current status points and not starting from scratch?
@ SDFlyer -- Sorry for the confusion. It's 10K status points just for having the card, 30K status points for spending, and then I've earned the additional status points primarily through award flights through the program, as you earn one status point per mile flown. The 14K is in reference to the status points I still need, rather than the ones I've earned (I'm currently at around 66K status points for the year).
Major benefit of Atmos is that (at least for now) Alaska gives status points (one per mile flown) on award flights booked using its own miles. (American don't do that. Just sayin... *stink eye*)
@1990_ this is the best as AS actually rewards you to use your miles.....
You just articulated my exact strategy for 2026 ... great minds ... :).
Any update on when the new ways of earning choices will go live other than “later in 2026”?
Not in a hurry. For most of us, this will be another way of chipping away at our benefits. Want premium cabin bonuses AND credit for actual miles flown? Won't get both. Want to keep the 500 mile minimum for that 100 mile flight? Not happening either.
I am in a hurry! For me it’s all about the increased earning rates for direct bookings in premium cabins with partners. That and the status points on award bookings is what’s made me choose Atmos rewards over other programmes for status.
Hopefully never. It's a massive hit.
Not for me! For now at least!
@phillip That is my number 1 gripe! communiites should have been done and extended J/F earning on partners was promised....especially when i have a partner J class fare pending....i lose half of the potential earning
Alaska is quietly chipping away at the once-superior Atmos benefits. For example, my favorite US to Caribbean route on American used to cost a minimum of 7,500 Atmos points for the 1,000 mile voyage until a month or so ago, and now it is never less than 12,500.
But I switched to Alaska a year ago after 2 million butt-in-the-seat American miles (and lifetime AA Platinum) for the reasons that Ben stated.
@ Bobo -- Hmm, I'm curious, which route is this? It sounds to me like a situation where there's not saver level award availability, so there's some "rule buster" availability?
WAS-FPO. Looking out to end of schedule next summer, I don't see any more 7500 mile availability, it is 12,500 minimum. I'm thinking the mileage-based "award chart" is basically gone as it already is with the others.
Makes complete sense. This sort of arbitrage is becoming more and more rare these days, but I have to imagine AA will shut it down in the coming years. Either less awards to partners like UA/DL have done or something else. Great for the time being though
Yaaa!! I love me some good ole 'arbitrage' while it lasts. Get some!
@ Harold -- You're absolutely right, nothing is permanent, and my strategy will likely evolve again in the future. But based on the current state of things, this seems to be the most logical. :-)