Using Amex Points for Alaska Flights: What Actually Works Now
The old Amex-to-Hawaiian-to-Alaska transfer route is gone. Here is what Amex cardholders can actually do to use points on Alaska Airlines flights in 2026.
For a brief window in 2025, it was possible to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan via a two-step route: Amex → HawaiianMiles → Alaska. That path closed permanently on June 30, 2025, when Amex removed Hawaiian Airlines as a transfer partner.
Around the same time, Alaska and Hawaiian merged their loyalty programs into a single program called Atmos Rewards (launched September 2025). As of today, American Express Membership Rewards does not directly transfer to Atmos Rewards, and there is no comparable workaround.
Here's what Amex cardholders can realistically do to use their points on Alaska Airlines flights.
Option 1: Amex Travel Portal with Business Platinum (Best Rate)
If you hold the Business Platinum Card from American Express, you can book Alaska Airlines flights through the Amex Travel portal and use the card's 35% Pay with Points rebate on your selected airline.
How it works: When you redeem Membership Rewards points for flights through Amex Travel on your designated airline, you receive 35% of those points back. This effectively raises your redemption rate from 1 cent per point to approximately 1.54 cents per point — a meaningful improvement over cash back value, though not as high as the best partner transfers.
This option works for Alaska flights specifically when you've selected Alaska as your qualifying airline for the 35% rebate. You can change this selection once per calendar year.
Option 2: Book with British Airways Avios (Indirect but Available)
Amex transfers to British Airways Avios at 1:1. British Airways has an award partnership with Alaska Airlines, allowing you to book some Alaska flights using Avios. The coverage and availability varies, but for routes where it works, this is a legitimate path.
Check availability at the British Airways website and search for Alaska-operated flights. Routing and availability can be limited compared to booking directly through Atmos Rewards.
Option 3: Get Atmos Rewards Points via Bilt
The Bilt Mastercard is currently the only major credit card that transfers directly to Atmos Rewards at 1:1. If maximizing Atmos Rewards points is your goal, Bilt is the primary transfer path from a credit card program.
Bilt earns points on rent payments with no transaction fee (up to 100,000 points per year), plus 3x on dining and 2x on travel. For cardholders who pay rent, it's an efficient way to accumulate Atmos Rewards points without splitting spend across multiple programs.
The Atmos Rewards Summit and Atmos Rewards Ascent cards earn points directly in the program and are the most straightforward option if you're committed to building Atmos Rewards balances.
Option 4: Use Atmos Rewards Points for Partners (Not Just Alaska Flights)
It's also worth noting that the value of Atmos Rewards goes both ways. The program has partner award charts for airlines including American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, British Airways, and others. If you already have Atmos Rewards points and are trying to decide how to use them, the partner airline awards — particularly on international routes — can deliver strong value relative to the points cost.
What Changed and Why It Matters
The original appeal of the Amex → Hawaiian → Alaska route was that Alaska's distance-based award chart offered lower pricing on domestic American Airlines flights than AAdvantage's dynamic pricing. That pricing advantage through Atmos Rewards still exists for those with points in the program. But Amex cardholders who built strategy around that transfer path need to reroute — either toward Bilt for direct accumulation, or toward British Airways Avios for Alaska award access via a different transfer path.
If you're primarily a Chase cardholder, note that Chase also transfers to British Airways at 1:1, which opens the same Alaska bookings via Avios.
Bottom Line
The Amex-to-Alaska transfer route no longer exists. For Amex cardholders:
- Business Platinum cardholders get the best Amex-to-Alaska value through the 35% Pay with Points rebate on Amex Travel
- British Airways Avios (transferred from Amex) can book some Alaska flights at reasonable rates
- Bilt Mastercard is the simplest path to accumulating Atmos Rewards points directly
Plan your Alaska Airlines strategy around programs that actually partner with Atmos Rewards today.
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