Bank of America

Bank of America occupies a distinct lane in the travel rewards ecosystem. Unlike Chase or American Express, which compete on transfer-partner depth and premium-cabin sweet spots, BoA is fundamentally a loyalty-to-relationship play. The bank rewards customers who consolidate assets at Bank of America and Merrill, and it punishes those who do not. If your brokerage accounts and checking balances live elsewhere, the math here rarely pencils. If they live at Merrill, the math changes dramatically, and BoA becomes one of the highest-earning flat-rate ecosystems in the market.

The central mechanic every applicant needs to understand is Preferred Rewards. Holding $100,000 or more across Bank of America and Merrill unlocks Platinum Honors status, which delivers a 75% earning boost on credit card purchases. That multiplier turns a modest base earn rate into something that competes with the best category-bonus cards from other issuers, on every dollar, everywhere. The flagship Premium Rewards Elite carries a $550 annual fee and is designed precisely for this client profile. Without Platinum Honors, the case for the Premium Rewards Elite weakens considerably, and you should compare it carefully against simpler alternatives before applying. On the application side, most applicants are limited to 2 to 3 BoA cards per 30-day window, so sequencing matters if you are planning to hold multiple products.

The most compelling transfer-partner play within the BoA family now runs through Atmos Rewards, the program formerly known as Alaska Mileage Plan following the Alaska-Hawaiian merger. Atmos Rewards retains the partner award pricing that made Alaska Mileage Plan genuinely useful: Cathay Pacific business class to Hong Kong prices at 50,000 Atmos points, and JAL business class between North America and Japan prices at 60,000 Atmos points. Both are among the better long-haul premium redemptions available to North American travelers. BoA Travel Rewards points themselves redeem as cash against any travel purchase at a flat 1 cent per point, which is clean and flexible but leaves no room for outsized value. The real upside requires routing through Atmos. Saver business-class space on Cathay and JAL is capacity-controlled and released inconsistently, so confirm availability on your specific dates before committing a transfer.

For new applicants, the Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa Signature is the clearest entry point in the verified card lineup. Its sign-up bonus stands at 80,000 points plus a Companion Fare, which the grounding data values at approximately $1,600 combined. The $95 annual fee makes the first-year proposition straightforward to evaluate. The Atmos Rewards Summit at $395 is the upgrade target for travelers who fly Atmos-partner airlines regularly and can extract enough incremental value from the higher annual fee to justify the step up. Both cards replaced the former Hawaiian Airlines card following the Alaska-Hawaiian merger, so longtime Hawaiian cardholders should revisit their product strategy under the new Atmos branding.

Browse the full card list below to compare current bonus offers and ongoing earn rates across every Bank of America product, or weigh BoA Travel Rewards against a transferable currency with broader partner access at /programs/compare. Find space first, then transfer.