How to book American Airlines flights with Atmos Rewards points
If you frequently fly with American Airlines, expanding your award strategy to include Atmos Rewards—a joint loyalty program between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines—can significantly enhance your travel options. This program allows you to book American Airlines flights using Atmos Rewards points, often at favorable redemption rates due to the airlines’ membership in the Oneworld alliance. This means that even if you find yourself low on AAdvantage miles, you can still secure flights at a fraction of the cost by leveraging Atmos Rewards points.
To illustrate the process, let’s take a look at a practical example of booking a one-way economy ticket from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). After identifying a flight on American Airlines priced at $555, the author turned to Atmos Rewards for a more economical solution. By transferring Bilt Rewards points to Atmos Rewards, they were able to find the same flight available for just 17,500 Atmos Rewards points and $19 in taxes, a total value of $282 compared to the original fare. This demonstrates how valuable Atmos Rewards can be, especially when you consider that the points are valued at approximately 1.5 cents each.
The booking process is straightforward: after finding the desired flight on American Airlines’ website, you sign into the Atmos Rewards platform and navigate to Alaska Airlines’ booking page. From there, you can search for flights using your points. While availability can vary, filtering options can help you locate the flights you want. Additionally, there are several ways to earn Atmos Rewards points, such as through the Bilt Mastercard or dedicated Atmos Rewards credit cards, which offer generous sign-up bonuses and other perks. By following the outlined steps, American Airlines loyalists can easily make the most of their travel rewards and enjoy significant savings on flights.
If you’re a frequent
American Airlines
flyer like I am, your award strategy doesn’t have to be limited to
American Airlines AAdvantage miles
.
Say hello to
Atmos Rewards
, the joint loyalty program between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. I firmly believe American Airlines loyalists should
pay attention to Atmos Rewards
since I’ve found that the currency can be incredibly valuable.
Thanks to the airlines’ membership in the
Oneworld alliance
, you can book American Airlines flights using Atmos Rewards points — often at
lucrative redemption rates
.
Don’t be intimidated by
booking through partners
. It’s as easy as running any award search.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use Atmos Rewards to book American Airlines flights.
Step 1: Identify the American Airlines flight you wish to take
For this example, I’ll walk you through booking a one-way economy ticket for a direct flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on American Airlines.
First, I navigated to American Airlines’ website to see what was available.
AMERICAN AIRLINES
I found multiple options on the date I was hoping to fly out, but that $555 price tag was a little too high for me. While I could explore award travel options, I was low on AAdvantage miles.
Thankfully, there was another option for me: Atmos Rewards. For context, I collect Atmos Rewards points by transferring from my
Bilt Rewards
account. (Bilt Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio to Atmos Rewards.) You can also collect Atmos Rewards points by
adding an Atmos Rewards credit card
to your wallet.
This first step was to find a flight I wanted to take. The following steps take place outside of American Airlines’ website.
Step 2: Sign in with Atmos Rewards and navigate to Alaska Airlines’ booking site
From here, I signed into the
Atmos Rewards website
on the right-hand menu.
I then navigated to “Book” and selected “Alaska Airlines.” This took me to the booking page for Alaska and its Oneworld partners.
ALASKA AIRLINES
I entered my origin and destination airports and clicked “Use points” to find redemption options with Atmos Rewards points.
Finally, I pressed “Search flights.”
At this point, it’s worth noting that you may not always find award availability for every flight. While many American Airlines flights are bookable with Atmos Rewards points, it’s not a guarantee. Adjust your dates and routes if you’re unable to find availability with your first-choice travel arrangements.
Step 3: Find an American Airlines flight on the Atmos Rewards website
I filtered by “Nonstop only” to find the exact flights from CLT to SFO that I identified on American Airlines’ website.
ALASKA AIRLINES
I immediately found the exact same three flights, marked with “Operated by American Airlines” designations. Instead of paying $555 for the flight, I could redeem 17,500 Atmos Rewards points and pay $19.
TPG would consider this a good use of Atmos Rewards points. Because our November 2025
valuations
place Atmos Rewards points at 1.5 cents apiece, we would deem those 17,500 points to be worth about $263. When I added $19 in taxes and fees, the total value was brought to $282, which is $274 less than the $555 I would have had to pay for this one-way economy flight.
Step 4: Select your flight and finish booking
I decided on the 9:35 a.m. departure from CLT and continued by selecting “Add to cart.”
ALASKA AIRLINES
The rest of the process was as straightforward as booking any other award ticket.
I reviewed the details of my cart and pressed “Continue to checkout.”
ALASKA AIRLINES
After this, I filled out my passenger and contact information and continued to payment.
Related:
I’ve never flown Alaska Airlines before — here’s why I want its new premium credit card
How to earn Atmos Rewards points
As I mentioned above, I collect Atmos Rewards points through Bilt Rewards. I hold the
Bilt Mastercard®
to collect points on rent without a transaction fee, but you don’t have to have the credit card to
leverage the Bilt program
.
The information for the Bilt Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
However, there are three cobranded
Atmos Rewards credit cards
(issued by Bank of America) that allow cardholders to earn a haul of points. Here’s what to know:
Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card
: Earn 60,000 bonus points and a $99
Companion Fare
(plus taxes and fees from $23) after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days from account opening, plus receive a 30% global flight discount code for a qualifying future flight after opening a new account.
Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Credit Card
: Earn 80,000 bonus points and a 25,000-point Global Companion Award after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 90 days from account opening.
Atmos™ Rewards Visa Signature® Business Card
: Earn 60,000 bonus points and a $99 Companion Fare (plus taxes and fees from $23) after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 90 days from account opening.
Related:
Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines’ Companion Fare discount no longer available for stopovers
Bottom line
Booking an American Airlines flight with Atmos Rewards points doesn’t have to be complicated or confusing.
Of course, remember that
award availability isn’t a guarantee
, and you’ll want to check TPG’s valuations to ensure you’re
getting a good deal
for your hard-earned points.
If you follow the steps outlined above, you should be able to redeem your points with ease.
Apply here:
Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa Signature Credit Card
Apply here:
Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite Credit Card
Apply here:
Atmos Rewards Visa Signature Business Card
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
