At an Investor Day last week, Alaska Air Group announced a premium-heavy makeover for its long-haul aircraft, a new premium-economy class called Premium Reserve, and some fun additions to its beloved Atmos Rewards program (debit card and fun-filled ways to unlock status or freebies, anybody?)

However, the announcements included one consequential change for flyers who frequently fly on close ally American Airlines. The big change, coming in 2027, popped up in the company’s new earning charts, but received comparatively little attention. It’s a potentially interesting offering for those who don’t already rock AAdvantage status.

American flights now earn Atmos regardless of where booked

The oneworld alliance lets travelers attach one member airline’s loyalty number to a flight operated by another. That means an American Airlines passenger can, for example, credit an eligible flight to Atmos Rewards instead of AAdvantage.

However, partner earning is historically complicated. How many points you earned could depend on the airline, booking channel, fare class and distance flown. But starting Jan. 1, 2027, penciling in Atmos on your American reservations could make the earning equation considerably simpler.

Members can choose to earn points and status points based on distance traveled, price paid, or segments flown. That choice can also apply to American Airlines flights if flights are credited to Atmos, rather than AAdvantage:

• Distance earning: 1 point per mile flown
• Segment earning: 500 points per flight
• Price-paid: 5 points per dollar of eligible fare (same as Base Member in AAdvantage)

And while it’s welcome news for Atmos flyers, it’s potentially an even bigger deal for casual flyers who fly and book with American Airlines.

Why Atmos might beat AAdvantage for American flyers

For those who don’t currently flex AAdvantage status, but still fly a great deal, Atmos Rewards could be an interesting alternative to AAdvantage.

To unlock the lowest elite status on AAdvantage, you need to earn 40,000 Loyalty Points. For a base member (somebody without status), that would be the equivalent of $8,000 spent on AA flights. However, candidly, few American flyers earn their way to status from flying alone.

Many reach the upper echelons of status by putting tons of spend on AAdvantage Credit Cards. Generally, a dollar in eligible AAdvantage credit-card spend earns one Loyalty Point, although certain cards can offer additional Loyalty Point bonuses for hitting specific spending thresholds.

But compare that with the 20,000 Status Points that you need to unlock Atmos Silver, the lowest level in the Atmos ecosystem. You could handily reach these levels by flying alone, either by selecting the AAdvantage-like price paid option or opting for the distance-based option that earns based on miles flown. Atmos also has a credit card ecosystem that offers a Status Point for every two dollars spent (on Alaska’s Premium Summit card, which also confers a 10K Status Point boost on your first card anniversary) or per three dollars spent (all other card products).

That means that at the entry level, Atmos requires half as many Status Points to clear into the lowest status level. You can even buy your way halfway there with the Atmos Summit. This means that a casual flyer who assigns their points to Atmos could stand to earn status much faster from flying alone. And the best part is that these benefits extend to American Airlines.

American lets Atmos join the upgrade waitlist, select nicer seats

The reason this matters is that Atmos status doesn’t become useless when you step onto an American jet. American extends a number of reciprocal benefits to eligible oneworld and Atmos elites, including access to preferred seating and, on eligible routes, reciprocal upgrade benefits.

They also extend across the oneworld ecosystem, too. Atmos’ Gold status earns oneworld Sapphire. The comparable AAdvantage status to earn that Sapphire requires nearly double the Loyalty Points in American’s ecosystem.

What’s right for you?

Atmos Rewards is the last major U.S. airline program to let travelers earn points and status by miles flown, which is partially responsible for its acclaim. It’s for this reason that frequent flyers can quickly rack up points and earn status on the airline. Of course, barriers to entry aside, there are cases where Atmos or AAdvantage could earn you outsized value:

Atmos wins on longer flights, distance

What you’d earn might depend on which program you focus, but while AAdvantage only has one earning option (price-paid), Atmos has three (price-paid, segments flown, and distance earnings.) For many long-haul customers, distance-based is a winner.

In fact, on a large number of routes, you’ll find distance earnings can earn you multiples more than AAdvantage’s price-paid, meaning that Atmos would be fantastic for long-hauls flown on Alaska, Hawaiian, or American booked on alaskaair.com or aa.com. Here’s how just a few would look with base earnings on both programs:

AAdvantage still wins existing elites, big spenders

Flyers who shell out for nicer premium seats or expensive last minute tickets might benefit from price-paid on either AAdvantage or Atmos. They are identical in earnings, earning 5x whatever the eligible fare is, making it a draw with a very big asterisk.

That asterisk? While Atmos gives members more ways to choose how flights earn, AAdvantage rewards its existing elites much more aggressively when they credit expensive American tickets to AAdvantage. This is where having status on American would handily surpass Atmos price-paid.

For example:

This is to say, if you’re already AAdvantage, you’ll find that it can be rewarding to stay that way. However, to reach the upper echelons of status in American’s ecosystem, you would generally lean on its ecosystem of credit and affiliate programs. That’s the easiest way to unlock the 9x and 11x multipliers that come with Platinum Pro and Executive Platinum.

Atmos may also be less compelling for travelers who tend to fly internationally, where buying expensive American international fares could earn your way to status faster. In fact, the price-paid breakeven is about 20¢ per mile.