If you've got a good use for Alaska Atmos Rewards points – and trust us, you do – there's never been a better time than now to earn a whole bunch of them … in a hurry.
Alaska is out with big, new bonus offers on its full slate of co-branded credit cards:
- Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Card: Earn 100,000 bonus points and a 25K Global Companion Award after spending $6,500 within the first 90 days. Additionally, receive a 50% flight discount code after opening your new account.
- Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Card: Earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within the first 120 days. Additionally, receive a 50% flight discount code after opening your new account.
- Atmos™ Rewards Visa® Business Card: Earn 80,000 bonus points and a $99 Companion Fare after spending $5,000 within the first 90 days.
For those unfamiliar, Atmos Rewards is Alaska's new loyalty program, born out of the airline's merger with Hawaiian Airlines last year. The good news? With one-way business class fares to Europe as low as 45,000 points and short-haul economy flights starting at just 4,500 points each way, it's (mostly) the same program travelers know and love.
Alaska is advertising these three bonuses as “the best offer of the year,” and they truly are some great offers. Not only can you earn a huge stash of points, but the 50% off flight discount code, 25K Global Companion Award, and $99 Companion Fare all have the potential to be quite valuable in their own right.
But remember: Credit cards are serious business. You should never apply for a credit card if you're already in debt, and never charge more to a credit card than you can afford to pay off immediately.
Here's everything you need to know about these cards and big bonus offers.
A Quick Overview of the Atmos Rewards Cards
From the $95 Atmos Ascent to the more premium Atmos Summit – and even the Atmos Business – Alaska (and Hawaiian) has a card for nearly every traveler … even those that never fly the Seattle-based airline.
Here's a quick breakdown of what you get with each card.
All information about the Atmos Rewards Cards has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Card
- Welcome offer: Earn 100,000 bonus points and a 25K Global Companion Award after spending $6,500 within the first 90 days. Additionally, receive a 50% flight discount code after opening your new account.
- Earn 3x points on eligible dining, foreign transaction, Alaska Airlines, and Hawaiian Airlines purchases
- Earn 1x points on all other purchases
- Annual 25K-point Global Companion Award on card anniversary, valid on Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and their partners.
- Earn a 100K-point Global Companion Award after spending $60,000 or more on purchases in a card anniversary year.
- 8 Alaska Lounge passes annually (2 per quarter)
- 8 Wi-Fi passes annually (2 per quarter)
- Free checked baggage for you and up to six guests on your reservation when paid with the card
- Priority boarding for you and up to six guests on your reservation when paid with the card
- Earn 1 Status Point for every $2 spent on your card (uncapped) + 10,000 status points on your card anniversary
- Get up to a $120 statement credit every four years for TSA PreCheck® or Global Entry
- Partner award fee waiver: Save $12.50 when booking partner award tickets
- No foreign transaction fees
- Annual fee: $395
Learn More about the Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Card (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link).
Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Card
- Welcome offer: Earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within the first 120 days. Additionally, receive a 50% flight discount code after opening your new account.
- Earn 3x points per $1 spent on eligible Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines purchases
- Earn 2x points on eligible gas, EV charging station, local transit (including rideshare), cable & streaming services purchases
- Earn 1x points on all other purchases
- Annual $99 Companion Fare: Get a $99 Companion Fare (valid for Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines flights within North America) each account anniversary after you spend $6,000 or more on purchases within the prior anniversary year.
- Free checked baggage for you and up to six guests on your reservation when paid with the card
- Priority boarding for you and up to six guests on your reservation when paid with the card
- Earn 1 Status Point for every $3 spent on your card, uncapped
- No foreign transaction fees
- Annual fee: $95
Learn More about the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Card (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link).
Atmos™ Rewards Visa® Business Card
- Welcome offer: Earn 80,000 bonus points and a $99 Companion Fare after spending $5,000 within the first 90 days.
- Earn 3x points per $1 spent on eligible Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines purchases
- Earn 2x points on eligible gas, EV charging station, local transit (including rideshare), cable & streaming services purchases
- Earn 1x points on all other purchases
- Earn another $99 Companion Fare (plus taxes and fees from $23) each account anniversary after spending $6,000 or more on purchases within the prior anniversary year.
- Free checked baggage for you and up to six guests on your reservation when paid with the card
- Priority boarding for you and up to six guests on your reservation when paid with the card
- Earn 1 Status Point for every $3 spent on your card, uncapped
- No foreign transaction fees
- Annual fee: $70 for business, $25 per card
Learn More about the Atmos™ Rewards Visa® Business Card (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link).
Best Ways to Use Atmos Points
With big bonuses like this, and Alaska's slew of 30-plus airline partners, the world is quite literally your oyster. From Japan to Fiji and Europe to Phoenix, you can get quite far (or stay closer to home) with a big stash of Atmos Rewards points.
Fly Japan Airlines Business Class to Asia
You want to go to Japan. That's not a question, it's a fact – and Atmos Rewards points are some of the best for getting there.
Take this Japan Airlines business class flight from Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) to Tokyo-Haneda (HND), for example. 75,000 points is all you need for nearly 14 hours of lie-flat luxury.
You can save some points and book a ride in economy for just 37,500 points each way … or meet in the middle and book premium economy for just 50,000 points.
But Alaska's new award chart also carves out an even better deal on the shortest flights to Tokyo from Seattle (SEA) and Vancouver (YVR). Because both cities clock in under 5,000 miles, a one-way in costs just 35,000 points … while business class will run you 60,000 points.
Japan Airlines has one of the best premium cabin experiences in the world … and for years, Alaska points have been some of the best for getting it booked.
Read our review of Japan Airlines business class from Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) to Tokyo-Narita (NRT)!
Fiji Airways Business Class to Fiji, Australia, or New Zealand
Another incredible deal you can book using Atmos points is to fly Fiji Airways nonstop to Fiji, or continue all the way down to Australia or New Zealand, starting at just 75,000 points one-way in business class!
This is about as cheap as it gets to fly in business class to the land down under – and unlike nonstop flights to Australia, finding award space to book it is actually possible. Add in the fact that you can stopover in Fiji for some island time on your way to or from (or both) for no extra points, and this is one of the best deals you can book.
Fiji Airways flies from several U.S. gateways including Los Angeles (LAX), Honolulu (HNL), San Francisco (SFO), Dallas (DFW), and Vancouver (YVR). But you can connect on Alaska Airlines flights to one of these cities, opening up the opportunity to book an award from several other cities throughout the U.S.
Business Class to Europe from 45K
Perhaps the best way to use these big bonuses is to book lie-flat, business class seats to Europe. Thanks to a booking quirk, you can fly Aer Lingus to Ireland and beyond for just 45,000 Atmos points and $19 in taxes and fees one-way.
Aer Lingus flies from several North American gateways, including Boston (BOS), Los Angeles (LAX), Las Vegas (LAS), Minneapolis (MSP), Miami (MIA), Newark (EWR), New York City (JFK), Orlando (MCO), Philadelphia (PHL), Seattle (SEA), San Francisco (SFO), Toronto (YYZ), and Washington D.C.-Dulles (IAD).
Read next: 5 Things I Loved Flying Aer Lingus Business Class (& 2 I Didn't)
Short-Haul U.S. Flights from 4.5K Points
Finally, let's take a look at the cheapest (and potentially most useful) option for U.S. travelers.
As is the case with most airlines, Atmos Rewards uses a distance-based award chart to determine its prices: Generally speaking, the longer the flight, the more it will cost you.
The good news? Short flights (under 700 miles) cost as few as 4,500 points in economy and 9,000 in first class. Here's a look at a short flight from Seattle (SEA) to San Francisco (SFO) as an example.
But this doesn't just work for flights on Alaska and Hawaiian's own planes. You can also score these rock-bottom rates when flying Oneworld partner American Airlines. Take this flight from Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP) to Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) for example. You can book economy for just 4,500 points one-way or even first class for a reasonable 9,000 points.
Even longer flights, like this nearly five-hour hop from Phoenix (PHX) to Miami (MIA) can be had for just 12,500 points in economy or twice that in first class.
This kind of pricing makes Atmos Rewards points some of the best for domestic travelers from coast to coast – even if you never plan to step foot on an Alaska airplane.
Are You Eligible?
Just like every bank, Bank of America has a few restrictions for determining whether or not you're eligible for these new card offers. If you currently have one of these cards open, you won't be eligible to earn a bonus on that specific card … but that doesn't stop you from getting one of the others.
That said, there are a few Bank of America-specific card eligibility rules and nuances you'll want to be aware of before you apply.
The Bank of America 24-Month Rule
Bank of America allows you to earn the welcome offer bonus on the same card multiple times. They will, however, restrict how often you can earn it.
You are not eligible to open a Bank of America Card and earn a welcome bonus if you've earned the bonus on that card in the past 24 months. You also won't be approved if you currently have the card open.
Read More: Master Guide to Credit Card Applications: All the Rules You Need to Know, Bank by Bank
The Bank of America 2/3/4 Rule
The Bank of America 2/3/4 rule states that you can only be approved for two Bank of America credit cards in a rolling two-month period. You can be approved for three Bank of America cards in a rolling 12-month period, and four cards in a rolling 24-month period.
This rule is specific to Bank of America credit cards (both business and personal), and applications from other banks will not be factored into this rule.
The Bank of America 3/12 & 7/12 Rule
Similar to Chase's 5/24 rule, Bank of America has something called the 3/12 & 7/12 rule. It works like this:
- If you have a bank account with Bank of America and have opened seven new cards (from any bank) in the past 12 months, your application for a new Bank of America card will not be approved.
- If you don't have a bank account with Bank of America and have opened three new cards (from any bank) in the past 12 months, your application for a Bank of America card will not be approved.
That said, these rules aren't set in stone. There are plenty of reports of non-Bank of America members getting approved for one of its credit cards despite having opened far more than three credit cards in the last 12 months.
Business Card Eligibility
Wondering if you're eligible for the Atmos Rewards Business Card? You just might be!
Many travelers are surprised to find out that you don't have to be the CEO of a major company to qualify for business credit cards like this. While that situation would obviously qualify you to open a business credit card, you can also get approved with a part-time side hustle, a freelance job, or even by selling goods on online marketplaces like Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and more.
At the end of the day, if you are selling any goods or services, or contracting with a company to do so in an attempt to make a profit, you have a small business and thus are typically eligible to apply for a small business credit card. That makes it possible for almost anyone to apply for a business credit card.
Bottom Line
Alaska’s new Atmos Rewards credit card offers are among the best we’ve seen, with bonuses of up to 100,000 points, plus valuable perks like companion fares and 50% flight discounts.
With high-value redemptions like business class to Europe from 45,000 points or short domestic flights from just 4,500 points, these bonuses can go a long way. If you’ve been considering an Alaska card, this is a standout opportunity to quickly earn a large stash of highly useful points.
