Alaska Airlines will let members of its Atmos Rewards program decide how flights earn points beginning January 1: one point per mile flown, five points per dollar of fare, or a flat 500 points for every flight segment. Members can pick a method now for flights on or after that date. Those who never choose stay on distance-based earning, and anyone who joins in 2027 starts on price paid. The catch for current members is that the distance method no longer carries the class-of-service bonuses or the 500-point minimum per segment, so doing nothing is not the same as keeping today’s formula.
Three ways to earn on the same flight
For travelers who fly Alaska, Hawaiian or American, the question is which of the three formulas pays best on the tickets actually bought. The choice applies to both redeemable points and status points, it covers future travel only, and a member can change it once per calendar year. Because every method counts toward the same elite tiers, a wrong pick costs points and status progress rather than closing off any benefit.
Members can switch earning methods once per calendar year, so the choice between 1 point per mile, 5 points per dollar and 500 points per segment comes up again every year.
Get each new number in one short weekday email →
Alaska announced the change on September 29, and its release says members can choose starting October 1 for flights departing on or after January 1, 2027. Brett Catlin, Alaska’s senior vice president of network, loyalty and partnerships, said the airline is “expanding choice, flexibility and value for members across a wide range of travel styles.” The airline calls Atmos Rewards the only airline loyalty program that lets members choose how they earn points for flights.
The release does not list earning rates. Those come from One Mile at a Time, the travel blog run by Ben Schlappig. Under price paid, the fare earns five points per dollar, counting carrier-imposed surcharges but not taxes and fees. Paid upgrades and seat fees also earn both redeemable and status points, and every 20 points redeemed on an award flight earns one status point. The segment option pays 500 points on revenue and award flights alike.
Where each option pays more
The arithmetic sets the dividing lines. Five points per dollar against one point per mile means price paid wins on any ticket that costs more than 20 cents per flown mile, which Schlappig calls the rough breakeven. He notes that Alaska’s passenger revenue per available seat mile is around 15 cents, so the typical passenger pays less than 20 cents and does better by distance. Premium cabins, purchased upgrades and seat fees push a ticket above the line.
Partner flights tilt the math further. Price paid applies to flights on Alaska, Hawaiian and American, plus partner flights booked directly through Alaska or Hawaiian. Beginning January 1, 2027, premium-cabin partner tickets earn at better rates, but only for members on price paid; on distance they earn the same one point per mile as any other seat. A member who regularly flies business class on a partner has a stronger reason to switch than one buying coach tickets on Alaska.
The segment option fits a narrower group. A flat 500 points beats distance on any flight shorter than 500 miles and beats price paid whenever the fare, before taxes and fees, is under $100. Schlappig points to very frequent, inexpensive hops such as inter-island Hawaii routes as the natural fit. He also calls the loss of class-of-service bonuses on the distance method “counterproductive” to encouraging higher fares and says the system could be hard for average travelers to follow.
Status tiers and the yearly switch
Elite perks do not change. Atmos Rewards elite bonuses of 25 percent to 150 percent apply under every earning method, and the status thresholds stay at 20,000 for Silver, 40,000 for Gold, 80,000 for Platinum and 135,000 for Titanium. Status points earned on credit cards are unchanged. The choice therefore moves how quickly a member reaches those marks on flights, not where the marks sit.
Atmos Rewards launched on August 20, 2025 as the combined program of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, converting each Mileage Plan or HawaiianMiles mile into one Atmos point. At the launch, Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Harrison said the airline was “putting our members in the pilot’s seat, giving them control over how they earn and redeem.” The January 1 change delivers on the promise that members would choose how to earn by distance, price paid or segments.
Credit cards remain a separate earning track. Alaska says an Atmos Rewards debit card is planned for early 2027 with pre-registration open at atmosrewards.com/debit, and that Bank of America cardholders will be able to transfer points into Atmos Rewards in 2027. The airline has said a refreshed Atmos Rewards Visa Business Card, issued by Bank of America, is due in late 2026, with full details to follow later this fall.
Picking a method before the first 2027 flight
Alaska’s Atmos Rewards site is the airline’s official home for the program and the place members go to manage their accounts. The decision itself comes down to the past year’s tickets. A member whose fares ran under 20 cents per mile flown, the rough breakeven, is already on the stronger method by default. The members with a real decision to make are those who buy premium cabins, paid upgrades, seat fees or partner business class, and those who take many short flights.
The release lists no earning rates, so the 1-point, 5-point and 500-point figures rest on Schlappig’s report rather than on a table from the airline. What is on the record is the once-a-year switch: a member who guesses wrong can correct course for later travel, but only one time in a calendar year. With the elite thresholds unchanged at 20,000 to 135,000 status points, the first pick decides how fast those marks arrive on 2027 flights, and the roughly 15 cents of passenger revenue per available seat mile that Schlappig cites for Alaska suggests most passengers will find distance, the default, the stronger of the three.
More Financial Reading
- 24 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 17 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 22 Ways Retirees Can Raise $1,000 Fast Without a Job
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Money Overview’s editorial team.
