Best cards that earn Alaska miles
Every open US card in our database that pays out in Alaska miles — 4 of them — ranked by what a dollar of spending is actually worth back: the printed rate times our conservative 1.40¢ value, not the raw multiplier. Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite leads at 4.2¢ per dollar.
Reviewed: Data verified 2026-09-15 · Credit Upside editorial · Updated 2026-09-16 · How we rank
Featured cards
All 4 cards that earn Alaska miles, with what each one is actually best at. Tap any card to jump to its row.
- 1 Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite — Best overall for earning Alaska miles: 3x on dining, $395 a year — 4.2¢ back per dollar
- 2 Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Business (Atmos Rewards) — Best for business spending: 2x on gas, $70 a year — 2.8¢ back per dollar
- 3 Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature (Atmos Rewards Ascent) — 2x on gas, $95 a year — 2.8¢ back per dollar
- 4 Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii World Elite Mastercard — 2x on gas, $99 a year — 2.8¢ back per dollar
Ranked by real value, not multiplier
| # | Card | Headline rate | Real value | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite
Bank of America |
3x on dining | 4.2¢/$ | $395 |
| 2 | Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Business (Atmos Rewards)
Bank of America · business |
2x on gas 3x at Alaska Airlines only — not ranked |
2.8¢/$ | $70 |
| 3 | Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature (Atmos Rewards Ascent)
Bank of America |
2x on gas 3x at Alaska Airlines only — not ranked |
2.8¢/$ | $95 |
| 4 | Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii World Elite Mastercard
Barclays |
2x on gas 3x at Hawaiian Airlines only — not ranked |
2.8¢/$ | $99 |
Headline rate is each card's best bonus rate that pays anywhere in its category. A rate that only pays at one brand or through one portal (14x at Hilton, 8x on United fares, 5x via Chase Travel) is printed in grey and excluded from the ranking — it is a loyalty rate, not a category rate. Real value is the headline rate × 1.40¢.
Co-brand rates — only at their own brand
4 brand-locked rates across these cards. Each is real if that is where you spend — Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Business (Atmos Rewards) really does pay 3x at Alaska Airlines, worth 4.2¢ per dollar at our 1.40¢ value — and pays nothing extra anywhere else, which is why none of them set a card's headline rate above.
| Card | Rate — where it pays | Value there |
|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Business (Atmos Rewards) | 3x on flights at Alaska Airlines only | 4.2¢/$ |
| Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature (Atmos Rewards Ascent) | 3x on flights at Alaska Airlines only | 4.2¢/$ |
| Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii World Elite Mastercard | 3x on flights at Hawaiian Airlines only | 4.2¢/$ |
| Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite | 3x on flights at Alaska Airlines only | 4.2¢/$ |
What these actually pay on a year of gas
A rate is a promise about one dollar. This is the same ranking run over 45 real gas charges totalling $2,351 — our sample year — scored one charge at a time by the same engine the app uses on your own statement. Caps, category rules and point values all apply; nothing is annualised or rounded up.
| Card | Earned on $2,351 | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Business (Atmos Rewards) | $66 | 2.80% |
| Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature (Atmos Rewards Ascent) | $66 | 2.80% |
| Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii World Elite Mastercard | $66 | 2.80% |
On this spending these cards finish within $0 of each other, which is worth knowing: the ranking above is real but the difference is not material at this level of spend. Your own charges are what matter, and the app scores those rather than a sample.
What Alaska miles are worth
We value Alaska miles at a conservative 1.40¢ per point — the same number the optimizer scores your charges with, and deliberately not the best-case figure a points blog would quote. Alaska miles live inside one airline's programme — powerful for that airline's awards, and worth nothing anywhere else. Above a penny, so a point here beats a cash-back point — if you redeem near that value.
Which one should you carry?
On paper Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite earns the most per dollar at its headline rate, but it charges $395 a year — money you have to earn back before the higher rate is worth anything. A headline rate only pays on the category it names, so the card that earns you the most Alaska miles is the one whose bonus categories match your actual spending — which is the whole reason we built the optimizer instead of a top-ten list.
How we rank
One arithmetic rule, applied by code to our maintained card database. There is no editorial pick, no hand-ordering and no sponsored slot.
- Printed earn rate. Each card's best non-portal bonus rate — its headline rate — as printed by the issuer. Where a card has no bonus category, its base rate is used instead, and the table says which.
- Conservative point value. Every rate is multiplied by our conservative 1.40¢ value for Alaska miles, the same number the optimizer scores real spending with. Because every card here earns the same currency, that value cannot change the order — it sets the scale, and it is what lets you compare this page against a guide for a different currency. Every point value we use, published →
- Annual fee. Printed against every card and used to break ties. Every card that earns this currency charges one.
- Caps and limits. Where a headline rate stops after a spending cap, the cap is on the card's own page. Check it before treating a high rate as your everyday rate.
- Pool and cutoff. 221 open US cards are in our database; 4 of them pay out in Alaska miles and qualify. All 4 are ranked above; there is no cutoff on this page.
- Rotating and pick-your-own categories. Kept out of the headline ranking, because they only pay in the right quarter or with the right election. Issuer-travel-portal-only rates are excluded for the same reason: they pay only if you book through the portal.
- Commission. The ranking code has no access to which cards pay us a commission — the ordering function never reads the affiliate file. Any apply link is attached after the order is already fixed, so it cannot move a card up or down. How that works.
Full methodology, including how each point value is set: how we value points and rank cards →
Common questions
Which credit cards earn Alaska miles?
4 open US cards in our database earn Alaska miles: Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite, Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Business (Atmos Rewards), Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature (Atmos Rewards Ascent), Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii World Elite Mastercard. Ranked by real value — the printed rate times our 1.40¢ per point valuation — Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Visa Infinite leads at 4.2¢ back per dollar.
How much is an Alaska mile worth?
Credit Upside values Alaska miles at 1.40¢ per point, a conservative mid-range estimate and the same figure the optimizer scores real spending with.
Which Alaska miles card has no annual fee?
None. Every one of the 4 open US cards that earns Alaska miles charges an annual fee, so there is no free way into this currency today.
Is a big Alaska miles multiplier better than plain cash back?
Often, yes — at 1.40¢ a point, Alaska miles are worth more than a cash-back cent, so the same multiplier earns more here. That only holds if you redeem near that value; redeem for a gift card at half a cent and the advantage disappears.
Do these rankings depend on commissions?
No. The code that orders this page reads printed earn rates, our point values, annual fees and caps — it has no access to which cards pay us a commission. Brand-locked and portal-only rates are excluded from the headline rate, because they only pay at one brand or through one portal — they are listed separately on this page with where each one pays.
Which card should this spending actually be on? The demo re-scores a year of realistic spending against every card in a wallet — free, no signup. See it on sample data →
More guides
Every guide on this site is built by the same code from the same card database, so the numbers on one page mean exactly what they mean on another. Jump sideways:
All 70 best-card guides → · Best card for a specific store or bill →
What Alaska miles are worth · All best-card guides · Full card database