New Atmos Rewards Award Chart

On Oct. 1, Alaska Airlines fully integrated Hawaiian Airlines' HawaiianMiles program into its new Atmos Rewards combined loyalty program. In doing so, the airline released a new award chart for Alaska and Hawaiian airlines flights, unifying all destinations under a single distance-based award chart. Often times, when an airline updates its award charts, there's a devaluation, meaning your points and miles won't go as far as they once did. That's not necessarily the case with this new Atmos Rewards award chart. Under this new award chart, some Alaska and Hawaiian routes could potentially be cheaper, while some will cost more Atmos points than they did earlier this week.

New Award Chart For Alaska And Hawaiian Flights

Previously, Alaska had separate award charts for flights within the contiguous U.S., including Alaska and Canada, and for flights to and from Hawaii,and Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Alaska now groups all those destinations together under one distance-based award chart.

Here's the new Atmos Rewards award chart:

Previously, flights with a distance of 2,101 miles or more started at 12,500 each way in economy and 30,000 in first class. Under the new award chart, that existing distance band now only goes from 2,101 to 3,500 miles. Alaska has introduced a new, higher distance band for flights over 3,501 miles — likely to accommodate the airlines' international routes, despite the fact that this award chart is allegedly only for North American awards.

Short-haul flights on Alaska are one of the best uses of Atmos points, and that's still true. With Alaska's award chart change, flights under 700 miles actually got cheaper — by 500 points. But keep in mind, these are just the “starting at” rates, meaning you could see higher (or potentially lower) award rates depending on when and where you search.

Which Flights Cost More?

Flights to Hawaii, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean could potentially cost fewer points, depending on where you're flying from.

This is how many Atmos points Alaska used to charge for flights to and from Hawaii as well as Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean (prices are one-way):

• To/From Hawaii (all distances)
  • Economy: Starting at 15,000 points
  • First Class: Starting at 40,000 points
• To/From Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean (all distances):
  • Economy: Starting at 10,000 points
  • First Class: Starting at 30,000 points

Under the new award chart, flights to Hawaii under 3,500 miles could cost fewer points — just 12,500 compared to 15,000. But any flights longer than 3,500 miles like those from the Midwest and the East Coast will cost more. That's essentially any flights east of Denver (DEN).

The same goes for flights to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Short routes between the U.S. and those destinations could actually be cheaper, while longer ones like Seattle (SEA) to Cancún (CUN) could be more expensive to book.

Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards New Award Chart: ToP Thoughts

It comes as no surprise that Alaska retooled its award charts when it folded Hawaiian Airlines into Atmos Rewards. At first glance, this doesn't seem like much of a devaluation of Atmos points as some routes actually cost fewer points than they once did. But since Alaska uses some level of dynamic pricing for its awards, whether or not we'll actually be able to book flights at those lower award rates remains to be seen. What do you think of Alaska's award chart changes? Let us know in the ToP Facebook group!