How to use the Companion Fare on the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are well-known for their loyalty program, Atmos™ Rewards, which often provides high-value award redemptions and is considered one of the best airline loyalty programs out there.

I’ve used Atmos™ points a handful of times to save hundreds to thousands of dollars for short-haul flights on American Airlines, as well as a long-haul flight from Boston to Tokyo on Japan Airlines.

Because of the value that Atmos™ points can provide, you might find it useful to invest in getting an Atmos™ Rewards co-branded credit card.

If you decide to apply for the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card, you can get an introductory offer of 80,000 Atmos™ points and a $99 companion fare after spending $4,000 or more on purchases within the first 120 days from account opening.

However, it might be confusing figuring out how to use the companion fare, as well as how you can maximize the value of your companion fare. Luckily, I recently hit the spend requirement for the introductory offer, and I was subsequently rewarded with a companion fare.

While I was poking around and looking at how to use it, I remembered that my family was planning a trip to Hawaii. Since flights from the East Coast to Hawaii are often expensive, the companion fare seemed like the perfect opportunity to save hundreds of dollars on our flights to the Aloha State.

Companion Fare Conditions/Requirements

In simpler terms, the companion fare is basically a coupon that can only be redeemed on a reservation for two people. One person pays the full price of the flight itinerary they are booking, and the second person (the companion) pays a companion fare from $122, which consists of a $99 base fare + taxes & fees from $23, depending on your flight itinerary.

While the companion fare might sound simple to use, it comes with multiple restrictions and requirements for using it that make it more difficult to redeem. However, if you are able to use it in the optimal situation, you’ll be able to save hundreds of dollars on your trip.

The restrictions that the companion fare is subject to include the following, but are not limited to:

• Number of passengers: The companion fare must be booked on a flight reservation for two people, in which one is the main passenger and the other passenger is the companion.
• Applicable fare classes: The companion fare can only be booked on a flight itinerary in the Saver or Main Cabin fare class. It is not valid on First Class fares.
• Airlines: The companion fare is only valid for flights operated by Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines.
• Destination(s) location: The companion fare is only valid on North America routes, including the State of Hawaii. You might’ve been excited at the prospect of booking an international flight to Europe or Asia, but you’ll be out of luck trying to save with the companion fare. However, the companion fare is valid on international flights to Canada, Mexico, and Central America.
• Itinerary structure: The companion fare is only valid for round-trip or one-way travel, and multiple stopovers are not allowed. However, when I was looking to island hop between O’ahu and Maui for my trip to Hawaii, I saw that I could still apply the companion fare to my itinerary, despite the fact that I was flying on a multi-city itinerary.
• Payment method: When booking with the companion fare, you must pay with your Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card.
• Expiration date: You must use the companion fare within 12 months of issue. You can travel after the expiration date; you just need to book your itinerary before it expires.

On the bright side, the primary cardholder doesn’t need to be traveling on the reservation to use the companion fare. This means that if you have a companion fare lying around that you won’t be able to use, you’ll be able to gift it to two other people to use together. They’ll only need to use your Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card to pay at checkout.

How to Use the Companion Fare

Redeeming the companion fare is pretty simple. You’ll need to log in to your Atmos™ Rewards account at alaskaair.com, and navigate to your account overview, where you’ll see an option for “Discount/companion code”.

Once you click there, you’ll be redirected to your companion fare, which is simply a discount/coupon code that you can apply while searching for flights.

Simply input your companion fare code in the “Discount code (optional)” box, select your itinerary & travel dates, and press the “Find flights” button.

Here, you can see that when I’m searching for flights from Boston (BOS) to Honolulu (HNL), it indicates that the companion fare has been successfully applied, and I’ll be paying the full fare for one person + the reduced companion fare for the second person.

You may have noticed that the cost for the companion is $176, which is higher than the advertised $99 companion fare. This stems from the fact that you’re being charged $99 for the base fare, as well as taxes & fees that start from $23. This is reflected in the breakdown of the checkout page.

As you can see in this example, it’ll cost $892.55 for two people to fly round-trip from Boston (BOS) to Honolulu (HNL) during the busy winter season right after the holidays. This is an amazing deal, as you’ll be saving $541 by using the companion fare.

If you’re like me, however, you might be thinking about how to (further) maximize your companion fare to the fullest. Since this will be my family’s first time visiting Hawaii, we were thinking of visiting more than one island, particularly O’ahu and Maui.

Since O’ahu and Maui are islands that are 100 miles apart and separated by water, you’ll need to fly between the islands. Luckily, Hawaiian Airlines operates a multitude of flights daily between the Hawaiian islands, meaning that you can apply the companion fare on inter-island travel.

You may recall from earlier that the restrictions on the companion fare indicate that multiple stopovers are not allowed. However, in this example above, you can see that the companion fare has been successfully applied on an itinerary from Boston (BOS) to Honolulu (HNL), Honolulu (HNL) to Kahului/Maui (OGG), and Kahului/Maui (OGG) to Boston (BOS).

Additionally, you’ll need to pay $932 for this itinerary, meaning that you only need to pay an extra $40 for two people to visit both O’ahu and Maui on your trip to Hawaii. This is an amazing deal when taking into consideration that many inter-island flights can cost $50 to $100 per person one way.

Since you can add up to four flights on a single multi-city itinerary, you might find some luck stretching the value of your companion fare even further. However, when I tried booking an itinerary with four flights, the system would let me choose my flights, up to the last one. I wasn’t able to pick my last flight and proceed to checkout.

One important thing to keep in mind here is that all the prices I’m looking at are for the Main Cabin airfare class, not the Saver class. I highly recommend only using your companion fare for Main Cabin due to the fact that flying in Saver only earns you 30% of the miles flown, compared to the 100% that you are awarded in Main Cabin.

This is an extremely important caveat due to the distance you’re flying. I believe flying from the East Coast to Hawaii is the best way to maximize your companion fare, as a one-way flight from Boston to Honolulu will cover over 5,000 miles.

When you fly round-trip, you will accrue over 10,000 Atmos™ Rewards points, which is very useful considering that you can redeem short-haul flights (700 miles or less), no matter the cash price, starting from 4,500 points.

Furthermore, even though you’re paying a discounted companion fare for the second traveler, both the primary and companion travelers will accrue the amount of points earned, meaning that both people can earn a total of 20,000 points despite the fact that both people didn’t pay full price.

Save the Saver fares for another booking. Always make sure that you book flights in the Main Cabin class whenever you decide to use your companion fare.

Final Remarks

The Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card’s companion fare is one of the most powerful tools in the airline credit card space, but only if you know how to use it strategically. While the restrictions can feel limiting at first glance, pairing it with high-value routes like transcontinental flights or Hawaii vacations can easily yield savings of $400–$600 or more.

The key takeaway? Plan ahead, book in Main Cabin fares to maximize both savings and mileage accrual, and don’t forget that you can use your card to gift the companion fare if you can’t take advantage of it yourself. Whether you’re island-hopping across Hawaii or simply looking to reduce the cost of a cross-country trip, this benefit can more than offset the card’s annual fee after just one use.

If you’re serious about stretching your travel budget and earning Atmos™ Rewards points along the way, this perk is one you’ll want to keep in your toolkit.