We’ll mark this as “developing” for now, as it remains to be seen whether this is a massive devaluation, or just a glitch.
However, something very strange is going on at the moment, whereby many partner awards with connections have higher pricing than you’d expect (this was flagged on FlyerTalk). Let me explain with a couple of examples. Below is Atmos Rewards’ Europe, Middle East, and Africa award chart, which is relevant for this example.
For example, if you want to fly from Dallas (DFW) to Helsinki (HEL) on Finnair, you’ll find pricing is 35,000 points in economy, or 70,000 points in business class, which is what you’d expect, based on the distance of 5,001-7,000 miles.
One explanation is that this is in fact a devaluation. Some people might point out that as a condition of Alaska’s takeover of Hawaiian, the airline had to agree to not devalue its points. However, per the terms of the agreement, that specifically excludes partner award flights.
That being said, I wouldn’t expect Atmos Rewards management to devalue points in this way, since they care about running a competitive program, and I’d also expect them to communicate this more clearly. Transparency and member trust is something they value.
The other explanation is that this is a glitch, or at least wasn’t supposed to be rolled out yet. If it was a glitch, what could the explanation be? Could it be that a devaluation is planned, but it was accidentally rolled out too early, and perhaps not exactly as intended? Or could it be that the airline is updating its software in preparation of rolling out more multi-partner awards (which is long overdue)?
Like I said, I’ll provide an update once I know more, because this is not great…
Bottom line
Alaska Atmos Rewards appears to have greatly increased award costs in many markets. Specifically, many partner awards with connections are pricing much higher than before, and aren’t following the award chart. I hope this is a glitch and not an intentional devaluation, but I guess we’ll see…
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
