In this guide, you’ll learn how to earn elite-qualifying status points on award flights booked through Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards
How to Earn
Atmos Rewards offers a perk that most other airlines don’t: the ability to earn elite-qualifying status points on flights booked with Atmos Rewards points. For flights on Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and all global partners you can book with points (including American Airlines, Qatar Airways, and more), you’ll earn one status point per mile flown.
You will earn one status point per mile flown, regardless of which cabin you fly in (first, business, premium economy, or economy), whether you have elite status, or how many points you redeemed for the ticket. Keep in mind that these are elite-qualifying status points only — you won’t earn redeemable miles.
To see how this works, consider this example. Suppose you book a one-way award from Charlotte (CLT) to London (LHR) via New York (JFK) on American Airlines using Atmos Rewards points. The CLT–JFK leg covers 540 miles, and JFK–LHR adds another 3,443 miles, for a total of 3,983 miles flown. If you booked this award through Atmos Rewards, you’d earn 3,983 elite-qualifying status points after completing your trip.
It’s worth keeping this benefit in mind if you need a last-minute way to reach an elite tier before the year ends, or if you’re close to unlocking a higher tier ahead of an upcoming trip. In some cases, redeeming miles for an award ticket can deliver better value than paying cash for a flight or waiting for Atmos Rewards to launch a promotion that effectively lets you buy status points. Those promotions typically appear near the end of the qualification year, which ends on December 31.