Most airlines decide for you how you'll earn miles. Alaska Airlines is flipping that on its head. Starting Thursday, members of Atmos Rewards — the combined loyalty program for Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines — can pick one of three ways to accrue points and status, a first for a U.S. carrier and a big reason the program won an innovation award from The Points Guy earlier this year.
The three options are simple. Fly far: one point and one status point per mile flown. Spend big: five points and five status points per dollar spent on flights. Or fly often: 500 points and status points per flight segment. Because the choice also applies to status points, your pick determines not just your points balance but how quickly you climb toward elite tiers.
Which one is best depends entirely on how you travel. If you buy pricey last-minute fares or premium-cabin seats, spending-based earning will pump out points fast. Frequent short-hop flyers racking up connections will do well on segments — 40 segments alone would hit the 20,000 status points needed for Silver. Long-haul international travellers are probably best sticking with distance-based earning, which is how Alaska has traditionally awarded miles anyway.
Mark the dates: selection opens Oct. 1, and your choice applies to all flights taken on or after Jan. 1, 2027. You can switch once per calendar year, so you could start the year on spend-based earning, then pivot to segments if a run of short flights appears — though you'd be locked in until the following year.
If you do nothing, the default depends on who you are. Existing Atmos members automatically stay on distance-based earning, while new members default to revenue-based earning. Either way, doing nothing means potentially leaving points on the table, so it's worth a few minutes to log in and pick.
One thing that doesn't change: status points earned through a cobranded credit card are based purely on card spending and are unaffected by your choice. Your selection only covers points and status points earned from actually flying.
For context, the status thresholds are Silver at 20,000 status points (Oneworld Ruby), Gold at 40,000 (Oneworld Sapphire), Platinum at 80,000 (Oneworld Emerald) and Titanium at 135,000 (Oneworld Emerald).
Travellers who split their year between different trip styles — a couple of long-hauls plus lots of regional hops — finally have a loyalty program that bends to their habits rather than the other way round. If you hold Alaska or Hawaiian miles, log in from Oct. 1 and make your pick before the 2027 travel year begins.
