Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® Credit Card review: Niche rewards for oneworld Alliance travelers

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card lets you earn rewards for travel with more flexibility than a co-branded airline card and more miles for general purchases compared to the Atmos card, making it a better choice for cardholders who want to earn rewards on everyday spending. You can also redeem your miles to cover any recent travel purchase charged to your card. 

Capital One also has its own airline and hotel partners, which include some oneworld partners that offer the same routes you can book with Alaska Airlines. Depending on the transfer partner and flight or hotel, we estimate that Capital One Miles can be quite valuable (worth around 1.7 cents), and while you won’t get airline-specific benefits, you get a fee credit toward Global Entry or TSA Precheck membership.

Along with ongoing rewards in a range of everyday spending categories, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers one of the best available sign-up bonuses on a travel credit card in its price range.

You can redeem your points for travel through the Chase Travel portal, statement credits, gift cards or merchandise, or you can transfer points to one of Chase’s airline or hotel partners at a 1:1 ratio. If you redeem for Chase Travel, you also get an increase to the value of your points.

Although the card doesn’t offer frequent flyer benefits with a specific airline, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card boasts a better overall rewards rate than most airline cards and points that are much more flexible.

Along with ongoing rewards in a range of everyday spending categories, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers the best available welcome offer on a travel credit card in its price range.

You can redeem your points for travel through the Chase travel portal, statement credits, gift cards or merchandise, or you can transfer points to one of Chase’s airline or hotel partners at a 1:1 ratio. If you redeem for Chase Travel, you also get an increase to the value of your points.

Although the card doesn’t offer frequent flyer benefits with a specific airline, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card boasts a better overall rewards rate and much more flexible points than most airline cards.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Card is one of our top picks for flat-rate travel cards. The earning rate on all purchases is reliable and greater than what you’d earn on the Atmos Rewards Ascent card. 

The card also lets you transfer your earned miles to travel partners, many sporting a 1:1 transfer ratio. But like Alaska Airlines’ travel partners, many of these partners are international.

It’s difficult to recommend this card to anyone who isn’t a dedicated customer of an airline in the Atmos rewards program. If you fly with this airline regularly, you can benefit from its generous rewards rates. However, you’ll want to rack up at least $6,000 of card charges with the Atmos Rewards Ascent card to make the most of it.

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Based on this data, we determine a “chargeable” spend (which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards). This includes the following spending by category:

• Groceries: $5,200
• Dining out: $3,000
• Entertainment: $2,500
• Gas: $2,100
• Apparel and services: $1,700

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 23 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.