Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 48 seconds

Good morning from Toronto, where I spent the evening watching the Maple Leafs make an epic overtime comeback win against Nashville. It was… beautiful. 🥲

Speaking of sports, let’s talk about points and miles. Today is a fun one:

• 🤔 Choose how you earn points (and status)

• 👩‍🏫 Join us for Miles and Points 101

• ✈️ Earn an easy 2,000 Southwest points

🤔 Choose how you earn points (and status)

Last week, Atmos Rewards launched like 500 new things in one day. It was quite overwhelming… but also very exciting.

The big highlight was the rollout of the new “choose how you earn” feature, which is a lot of fun.

1. Choose how you earn

This was a big tease of the new Atmos program for the last year, and is definitely a unique feature among loyalty programs.

Atmos Rewards will let you choose between the following ways to earn points and status:

• Distance flown

• Dollars spent

• Segments flown

And this is where it gets fun, because you can really play around with these options to find what’s best for you.

For example:

Let’s say you fly from Bellingham, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, via Seattle, all on Alaska.

The total distance flown is 445 miles for all four flights. So if you choose the “distance flown” option, you’ll get… 445 points and status points.

But if you choose “segments flown” as your earning option, you’d get 2,000 points and status points because the trip is 4 segments.

See the difference?

Let’s take this flight from Los Angeles to Boise, Idaho, nonstop on Alaska.

If you choose the segment option, you’ll earn 500 points. Very bad.

If you choose the distance flown option, it’s 674 points. Also bad.

But if you choose the price paid option, you’ll earn 5x points per dollar and get around 2,500 points and status points.

This option also earns you the same 5x points per dollar on paid upgrades and seat selection fees, which is great.

Which one should you choose?

As you can see, the option you choose has a real effect on your earnings, and will vary widely based on your travel habits.

If you fly lots of short flights and transit through Alaska hubs like Seattle, the per-segment option could be great for you.

If you’re flying for business and booking more expensive cash tickets, the “price paid” option could be great.

And if you’re spending a lot of points and flying long distances, the distance flown option is the one for you.

That last one also opens up the opportunity for “mileage runs,” where you could find a really cheap flight that goes really far – so you’re spending less but earning points for the distance.

A good example of that is this flight from San Diego to Boston for just $124.

Booking this flight would rack up more than 2,500 points and status points, but cost you very little.

Which one am I choosing?

Well, I currently have Atmos Titanium status, and really value my Atmos points and status.

Still, I’ve never spent a single dollar on Alaska Airlines, and I’ve never even flown Alaska or Hawaiian.

So naturally, I’m choosing the “dollars spent” earning option.

Surprised?

Let me explain:

Atmos also allows you to earn status and points from partner airlines, using a new chart that they also just announced (which goes into effect on January 1).

Partner airlines are how I’ve earned Atmos status in the past, and how I plan to earn it in the future.

This new chart also applies to flights booked directly with the airline, rather than through Atmos.

But here’s the catch:

It only works if you choose the “dollars spent” option. Because if you choose “distance flown,” your earning rate (even on partners) will default to 1 point per mile.

If you choose the spending option, the distance-based partner chart above applies.

Confused enough yet?

Let me break it down with an example.

Here’s a round-trip flight on Qatar Airways business class between Jakarta and Barcelona, for $2,345 total (booked directly with Qatar Airways).

The round-trip distance flown is 14,615 miles total.

Because this is an international partner business-class flight, you’d earn a total of 36,538 points AND status points just from this one round-trip.

That’s already put you past the first two milestone rewards and just a few thousand points shy of Atmos Gold status in a single trip.

Since I ONLY fly partner airlines, maximizing my earnings on them is what’s most important to me.

There are multiple catches

It’s important to know that American Airlines is the one partner that operates under the same rules as Alaska and Hawaiian. So those partner rates above do not apply to American.

The upside is that the examples I showed you earlier with shorter or cheaper domestic flights apply if you do the same thing on American, which may be worth it to many of you.

Anyway, all of these changes go into effect on January 1, 2027.

After that point, you’ll be allowed to change your selection once per calendar year. So make sure you think about it and choose wisely.

The bottom line

We talk pretty often about how valuable Atmos Rewards are, but how hard they are to earn.

But with this new system, you could use your existing travel habits to potentially earn a lot more of them.

👩‍🏫 Join us for Miles and Points 101

If that last section made your brain explode a little, it’s okay. That’s normal.

Learning the ins and outs of points and miles is hard. Sometimes, you need a little introduction to explain the basic concepts that you can then build on.

And that’s exactly why we’re hosting a live Miles and Points 101 class tomorrow at 3pm Eastern time.

In this class, you’ll learn:

• The simple 2-step framework for how points travel actually works

• Which points to earn (and why the wrong points can hold you back)

• How to earn points faster

Whether you’re completely new to the game or just want a refresher, save your spot now and join us tomorrow at 3pm for some fun points talk.

✈️ Earn an easy 2,000 Southwest points

Let’s finish off the day with something a little easier to wrap your head around.

Right now, the Southwest shopping portal is offering a generous 2,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points when you spend $200.

You need to make any purchases before October 12, so you still have a bit of time to take advantage of this.

If you were already planning on spending $200, it’s worth looking to see if the merchant is in the Southwest portal.

For example, you could book travel activities through Viator or buy a new Away suitcase through the portal. 👇

This would easily earn you those 2,000 points along with the normal earning rates from the merchant.

But it’s not just travel…

If you’re buying a new TV at Best Buy, buying makeup from Sephora, stocking up on dog food at Petco, or all kinds of other things, you can do it through this portal and earn some extra Southwest points.

That’s it for today, friends!

See you next time,

43.6532° N, 79.3832° W

With contributions by Katie Begnoche and April Wilson.