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🤙🏿 Welcome back to the Better Than Points Newsletter - the premier place for all things Credit Card Points News and Travel

My name’s Luis and I’m the one writing this (hit me up here!)

Is it Christmas in July?

Because I come with a newsletter full of goodies.

Only good news this week!

Well a little bad.

But anyway let’s get started.

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Travel News

Hawaiian & Alaska Atmos Program (LINK)

After much talk, Alaska just dropped the new award program coming out of the Hawaiian + Alaska merger.

They added a brand new Titanium tier, and the headline perk is complimentary business class upgrades.

Huge, especially now that Alaska’s starting to lean into international flights.

Here are the Status tiers with their new names

• MVP -> Atmos Silver: Requires 20k status points (Onewolrd Ruby)

• MVP Gold -> Atmos Gold: Requires 40k status points (Oneworld Sapphire)

• MVP Gold 75K -> Atmos Platinum: Requires 75k status points in 2025, 80k in 2026 (Oneworld Emerald)

• MVP Gold 100K -> Atmos Titanium: Requires 100k status points in 2025, 135k in 2026. (Oneworld Emerald) 

They also changed how you can earn:

• Distance traveled (1 mile flown = 1 point earned)

• Price paid (1 dollar spent = 5 points)

• By segment (500 points per segment)

You can switch your earning method once per year, which is nice.

And if you live in Hawaii and fly inter island a bunch, the segment option could be a winner.

They also unveiled three new credit cards (I’ll cover those separately).

Overall, it’s refreshing to see an airline roll changes without gutting the program.

Plus, Alaska’s partner network through Oneworld is still one of the best ways to book flights and you’d still earn one status point per mile flown on award redemptions which is huge.

One of my favorite plays ways to use these miles is by booking American Airlines flights through Alaska, sometimes it’s cheaper than AA itself.

I’ve seen one ways for 7,500 where AA wanted 15,000 for the same flight.

400 New FHR and The Hotel Collection Properties (LINK)

With all the changes and the higher price on the Amex Platinum, it looks like they’re trying to make the card feel more valuable by adding more hotel locations where you can actually use the credit.

The speculation is they’re bumping the FHR/Hotel Collection credit to $600 per year, split into $300 / $300.

It feels like a push to make it more usable in more places so we can stomach that higher annual fee they’re said to be dropping soon.

While that’s nice, I still don’t love a nearly $900 annual fee.

Also, don’t sleep on MaxFHR now that the credit might be higher.

If you’re trying to use every dollar to offset the fee, MaxFHR helps you find properties that qualify.

It’s been really helpful in the U.S., and when you’re traveling, its nice to have spots where you can burn those credits instead of letting them sit.

Spirit Airlines Might Be Going Under (LINK)

This is a warning for y’all.

Spirit Airlines is hinting at bankruptcy.
Not Chapter 11 “we’ll reorganize.”
More like shutting down.

If you were about to book Spirit, don’t.
Book someone else.

There isn’t a set date for when they might stop service.

And if people stop booking now that they’ve basically said, “we’re running out of money,” things could end fast.

You do not want to get stranded when they cut service and you’re left SOL.

So find another carrier for whatever trip you’re planning.

If you already have a Spirit ticket, I’d cancel or move it to a different airline.

🤓 Hack

• With the Air Canada attendants strike looming, if Air Canada cancels your flight don’t take the refund. The airline must rebook you even if its on a competitor no matter the cost.

• If you’re looking to go to Tokyo, Aeroplan is a sweet spot for redemptions from Vancouver or Seattle in business for 55k miles one way on ANA.

🛋️ Luis’ Lounge

Each week, I’ll share something cool I’ve discovered or tackle a question from the community. It’s my little corner to explore ideas, offer fresh perspectives, and hopefully spark your own curiosity.

So like I mentioned earlier, Alaska Airlines just released Atmos and with it, three cards.

The most interesting one is their premium airline card.

Before I get into that, quick sneaky note, the Barclays Hawaiian card is still around (maybe until October 1st?) and they updated the sign up bonus.

Not sure if it’s because the Alaska Atmos Ascent consumer and business cards came out with an 80K bonus, but the Hawaiian Airlines card bonus got bumped to 80K too.
 
If you’re not interested in the premium Atmos card, the Hawaiian card might be the better bet since it’s 80,000 miles for only $2,500 in purchases in the first 90 days (vs. $4,000 for the Alaska personal or $5,000 for the business).

One last thing before I start talking Atmos miles, I don’t usually recommend airline credit cards.

But this new one looks promising because of the sign up bonus and because of a few perks assuming you fly Alaska or their partners.

Now, quick highlights:

• 100K sign-up bonus plus a 25,000 Global Companion Award (takes 25,000 points off your companion’s award ticket when you’re buying two).

• Great if you’re booking two award tickets. Not super helpful if you fly solo.

• It renews each year.

• Annual fee is $395. Wild to say this, but that’s “nice” compared to all the crazy high annual fees out there.

You’ll also get 8 Alaska Lounge passes. Not sure it makes sense unless you’re at an Alaska hub.

Plus 3x points per dollar on eligible foreign purchases, which is solid if you travel internationally a lot.

Could be a go to card for that.

You’ll also get a 25,000 point Companion Award each card anniversary, as well as 10,000 points toward status.

The most compelling feature to me is point pooling for up to 10 people.

They can’t be in another pool, but for someone like me who books for immediate family, having everyone in one pool so they can send me points and I can book all the award flights is awesome.

It’s basically what Hawaiian had (send points to each other), but scaled up to ten people, which is pretty cool.

One last thing, way back when they teased this card, I shared a link to register for notifications.

You didn’t have to apply, but you’d get an extra 5,000 miles.

If you signed up then, look for that link so you can grab your extra 5K when you apply.

Not sure I’ll pull the trigger right now.

I definitely use Alaska miles and can see myself using these, but probably not today.

It’s on my wish list for when I have a specific trip or need to book something big for sure.

Check out these crazy award deals!

🔬 Secret Travel Research

This section includes some of the best award flights of the week bookable with points and miles.

• Some nice flights out of JFK at the start of next year for Europe for 60k miles

🖥️ TravelBot

Chat with TravelBot - my AI clone. It’s trained on every newsletter I’ve published along with my 10+ years of points and credit card knowledge 🧠.

It’s also trained on my voice, so you can call it and have a full blown conversations. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

👀 My Favorite Finds

This section includes some of the best links videos and articles of the week around the points and travel community

• 2025 Airline Captains Salary (LINK)

• United bringing better meals to coach (LINK)

• These newsletters are changing the game (LINK)

• Easy way to earn 70,000 American Airlines miles (LINK)

• Southwest charges man extra carryon fee for having a picture in his hand (LINK)

• Delta letting members decide what new route to add as a summer destination (LINK)