Surface‐wave‐sustained discharges (SWDs) form a particular class of high frequency (HF) discharges: their HF sustaining field is provided by a traveling wave that transfers energy as it propagates along the discharge column, yielding a plasma column with an axially decreasing electron density. SWDs have proved to be ideal for investigating experimentally and theoretically both the HF field and discharge aspects of HF plasma sources at reduced gas pressure. In this article, SWDs are utilized at atmospheric pressure to gain insight into the departure from thermodynamic equilibrium (TE) of HF sustained discharges. This departure is found to increase significantly as the electron density decreases along the plasma column whereas the gas temperature and the power absorbed per electron do not vary axially. The two‐temperature plasma model provides an adequate description of this departure from TE. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.