FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Alaska or American? Whose points are more valuable — and which should I burn first?
Old Feb 15, 2026 | 4:29 pm
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notquiteaff
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Originally Posted by sdsearch
Your answer wasn't clear about which airline's plane you were talking about booking.
It doesn’t matter. If you book an award on Alaskaair.com, you cannot put a non-Atmos loyalty number into the reservation in order to use that other program’s status for benefits. It doesn’t matter if you book an award that is for an AS operated flight or for an AA operated flight.

I know I have been able add my AA account number to Alaska plane flights, at least previous to the change to Atmos, since I've already done that several times before, to get extended legroom seats on Alaska planes.
Well, assuming we are still talking about an AS issued award, yes, that used to be possible, but AS policy changed maybe a year ago, and they are enforcing it with website restrictions.

Booking partner award ticket how to change Mileage program

But my question was: Since Alaska, at least currently, does not serve CLT airport, is there any way I can use Atmos Rewards on AA planes while still being able to get an extended room seat on that AA plane due to my AA elite status? Is that what you were describing, or were you describing booking an Alaska plane flight?
I was describing the general rule; as mentioned, AS plane or AA plane doesn’t matter since you can’t put the AA number into the reservation.

And I gave you a possible workaround by having the AA agents add the number to the reservation (which of course wouldn’t work if you had an AS award for an AS operated flight).

So try this:

1. on AS.com, book award with AA flight, but don’t choose your own traveler profile. Choose “New Passenger” (as shown in the screenshot in this post). Enter all your correct data, but leave the Atmos number field empty.

2. AS.com should show you the AA record locator on the confirmation page. Write it down/print to pdf.

3. Call AA or use chat and give them the AA record locator and ask them to add your AAdvantage number. Alternatively, bring up the reservation on the AA website and see if it lets you add your number yourself there.

4. once loyalty number has been added, you should be able to select MCE seats on aa.com.

Last edited by notquiteaff; Feb 15, 2026 at 4:35 pm
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