Alaska Airlines Raises Partner Award Booking Fee, Boosting Summit Card Value

Alaska Airlines announced that, starting July 1, 2026, the partner award booking fee will increase from the current $12.50 to $20, a jump of as much as 60%. This fee applies when redeeming Alaska Mileage Plan (now Atmos Rewards) points for partner airline tickets, and does not apply to flights operated entirely by Alaska, Hawaiian, or Horizon Air.

It is worth noting that this fee is nonrefundable. Even if you later cancel the award ticket for free and get your points back, the partner award booking fee you paid is generally not refunded. However, for members who hold the Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite card, this price increase further highlights the card’s value. According to the official policy, when using the Summit card to pay award ticket taxes and fees, the partner award booking fee can be waived directly, with no limit on how many times you can use the benefit. For example, when booking round-trip partner award tickets for a family of four:

• Current fee: $12.50 x 2 segments x 4 people = $100
• After July 2026: $20 x 2 segments x 4 people = $160

That means one booking could save $160. For users who frequently redeem partner award tickets on American Airlines (AA), Japan Airlines (JAL), Cathay Pacific (CX), and others, the long-term value of the Summit card becomes even more apparent. This change also reflects a common airline trend in recent years: keeping the headline value of award redemptions intact while gradually increasing the real cost through added fees. For heavy Mileage Plan users, this new cost will need to be factored in when redeeming partner award tickets in the future.

About the Summit card, see