Atmos Rewards Increases Pricing on Partner Awards
Alaska Atmos Rewards seems to have devalued partner awards. The change has gone into effect in recent days and was first flagged in FlyerTalk and then One Miles At A Time.
The example shown is based on the partner award chart for Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
So if you’re looking to book a Finnair award from Dallas to Helsinki, which falls between 5,001-7,000 miles , you would expect 35,000 points in economy or 70,000 points in business class. But when you add a connection to Stockholm or other city in Europe, the price should remain the same. But now it goes up to 55,000 points in economy and 110,000 points in business class.
There’s also a similar example for an Iberia award from Chicago to Madrid which is priced at 27,500 points in economy or 55,000 points in business class. Once you add a Barcelona connection, the price jumps to 35,000 points in economy, or 70,000 points in business class.
Alaska has not announced any changes publicly. Alaska Airlines agreed not to devalue points when it acquired Hawaiian Airlines, but that promise does not apply to partner awards. So this could be a quiet devaluation, or maybe they jumped the gun and made changes to early, or the best option would be a temporary glitch.
