EVERETT — Earning miles from Alaska Airlines’ loyalty program has become a little more complicated.
The dominant airline at Paine Field and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is changing the rules of the game in a rebranded mileage program called Atmos Rewards.
An Alaska Airlines mile flown used to be a mile earned, enabling travelers to accumulate what essentially are substantial savings accounts that they could use for travel as well as free upgrades for premium seats.
On Aug. 20, the airline announced major revisions to its mileage program. Travelers will still have the option to earn points for the number of miles flown. The two new choices are earning points based on the amount of money spent or a flat 500 points per airline segment.
The choices will go into effect in 2026 at a yet-to-be-specified date.
The bottom line is earning the maximum “miles,” now referred to as points, on Alaska Airlines will require some strategy, say aviation experts who follow miles and points programs.
Brian Sumers, who writes the blog “The Airline Observer,” said he is concerned that travelers can easily mess up determining whether it’s better to elect mileage flown or dollars spent for their future points.
While travelers expect to extract value from a loyalty program, Sumers said they don’t always analyze enough what is best for them.
“They are not necessarily rational about it,” he said.
Alaska Airlines is the last major airline to still offer the option of accumulating miles based on a distance model. That used to be the standard mode airlines used in attempting to build a loyal customer base.
Delta switched to the dollar spent formula in January 2014, followed by United in March 2015 and American Airlines in August 2016.
But while Alaska Airlines passengers still will be able to get points for distance flown, it will be one point awarded for each mile traveled once the new choices are put into effect in 2026. The bonus miles that Alaska Airlines currently gives for passengers who buy more expensive economy or first-class tickets will end.
However, mileage bonuses will still be given for travelers who achieve elite status by earning at least 20,000 points a year.
Whatever option the traveler chooses on the new Alaska Airlines program, they are stuck for a year, even if it’s the wrong one for them. Loyalty members who don’t make a choice will be automatically placed in the dollars spent option.
Alaska Airlines has also chosen to raise the requirements to get into its top loyalty tiers, which will be called Platinum and Titanium, instead of its former MVP Gold 75K and MVP Gold 100K designations. Those changes will start at the beginning of 2026.
The way airline loyalty programs work is that holders of the highest status get first crack at an upgrade to premium seats, said Sumers.
Platinum will now require 85,000 miles instead of the current 75,000 qualification to reach MVP Gold 75K, while the top tier, Titanium, will require 135,000 miles instead of the current 100,000 miles.
In a press release, Alaska Airlines touted the new program.
“Atmos Rewards is designed to set a new standard for airline loyalty – more generous, more flexible and easier to use, whether members are flying across the globe or just across the Islands,” the airline said.
Airline officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Airline expert Joe Brancatelli, who runs the website JoeSentMe, said Alaska has decided that it makes business sense to offer travelers choices in how they can earn their miles.
“Alaska officials have decided they shouldn’t force travelers into a particular box,” he said.
He said leisure travelers who make long-haul trips and look for the best fares, say from the Seattle area to New York City, can choose to earn points, while employees who work for tech companies and might purchase last-minute expensive fares may be better off going with the points per dollar spent.
Brancatelli said while Alaska Airlines has made it more difficult to achieve higher-tier status because of increased mileage requirements, its program is still better than Delta Air Lines.
Delta, Alaska Airline’s main competitor in the Puget Sound, has devalued its miles severely in some cases, Brancatelli said. Delta has raised the points needed for some of its international award tickets to hundreds of thousands of miles.
He said Delta uses a dynamic pricing model, meaning it can be unpredictable as to how many miles a redemption will cost a frequent flyer.
He said Alaska Airlines, which also uses the dynamic pricing model for reward tickets, has generally not gone to the extremes of Delta in devaluing its awards.
Sumers said the changes that allow Alaska passengers to earn points through the revenue model will capture more business travelers.
On the Seattle-New York City route, a one-way journey using the miles approach would earn 2,800 points, he said. But Sumers said a last-minute corporate ticket costing $1,000 one-way would earn 5,000 points, one way, based on five points per mile flown.
A different subset of customers love distance, getting points for each mile flown.
“But Alaska did not want to take that away and anger people,” Sumers said.
He said calculating how many miles you fly, and at what cost, will be essential for travelers to pick the right option.
A third option gives travelers in the Alaska Airlines loyalty program a flat 500 points for each flight segment. Sumers said that might work if a person only travels between Seattle and Portland, or between different Hawaiian islands, where the points accumulated would be less than 500 because the distance is so small.
Sumers said the problem with that approach is that the longer flight segments would also generate the 500 points.
Under its current loyalty program, Alaska Airlines guarantees all flight segments earn at least 500 points but also allows travelers to earn more points on longer flights.
Alaska Airlines’ changes to its frequent flyer program also involves Hawaiian Airlines.
Alaska Airlines completed its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines in September 2024.
Hawaiian points will fully transition to the combined Alaska Airlines rewards program on Oct. 1 on a 1.1 ratio, Alaska Airlines said in its press release.
Aviation blogger Brett Snyder, who writes the Cranky Flier blog, said that the general feedback he has been getting about the Alaska Airlines changes has been positive.
“It seems to people that people are excited at the fact Alaska didn’t do anything to destroy it,” he said. “Which is effectively saying the other airlines have just set the bar so low that anything you do that doesn’t completely dismantle and ruin reward opportunities is going to be considered a win,” he said.
Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com.
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