Alaska/Hawaiian Merger: Strategy and Sweet Spots

Last year, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines announced a plan to merge. The Department of Transportation is still in the process of officially approving the merger, but we’re already starting to see some changes with the two airlines.

Recently, there has been a lot of buzz in the points and miles world about the merger and what it means for those looking to book flights with Alaska Airlines miles.

Why This Merger is Exciting

According to a document from Hawaiian Airlines, once the merger is complete, the two airlines plan to operate under one combined loyalty program. The new loyalty program won’t go into effect for a while, though.

For now, customers have the ability to transfer miles at a 1:1 ratio between Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines. This opens up a lot of possibilities for earning more Alaska Airlines miles!

How to Earn Alaska Airlines Miles

Until now, Alaska Airlines miles have been difficult to earn.

The only card that transfers directly to Alaska Airlines is BILT Rewards. It’s hard to earn a lot of points with BILT unless you can pay rent with a BILT Mastercard.

Marriott points transfer to Alaska at a ratio of 3:1, but it usually doesn’t make sense to do that because you need 3 Marriott points to get just 1 Alaska Airlines mile.

You can sign up for Alaska Airlines credit cards, but there are only two (one personal and one business version) so it can be hard to accumulate a lot of points that way.

What you should (and shouldn’t) do now

Do: Open Hawaiian cards if you can

This is a great time to open a Hawaiian Airlines^® Business Mastercard^®

You also may want to consider opening the personal version of this card.

That’s because both cards will be discontinued though we don’t have an end date for this. Note that the personal card offers more miles but will count towards your 5/24 count. The business card will not count towards 5/24.

Don’t: Rush to open Alaska cards

These cards aren’t going anywhere so there isn’t any time sensitive reason to apply for them.

Maybe: Transfer American Express Membership Rewards to Hawaiian

As we’ll explain, you can currently transfer American Express Membership Rewards to Hawaiian. And then from there to Alaska. Alaska Airlines has indicated it will close this option eventually. We don’t have an end date for this. But if you have a flight you want to take in the next 1-2 years that is a good deal with Alaska miles, you may want to transfer points now.

You Can Now Transfer Miles from Hawaiian to Alaska

With the merger between Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines, you can now transfer Hawaiian Airlines Miles to Alaska Airlines and vice versa. This opens up a lot of opportunities to earn more Alaska Airlines miles!

You can earn Hawaiian Airlines miles by transferring points from American Express, flying with Hawaiian or one of their partners, opening up co-branded credit cards, or when shopping with select partners. Once you’ve earned Hawaiian Airlines miles, you can transfer those miles to Alaska Airlines.

Transfer from American Express

What makes this merger news really exciting is that because Hawaiian Airlines is a transfer partner of American Express, you can now effectively transfer American Express Membership Rewards Points to Alaska Airlines.

American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to Hawaiian at a 1:1 ratio. Once the miles are in the HawaiianMiles program, you can transfer them from there over to your Alaska Mileage Plan account.

Don’t transfer speculatively

Just because we now have the ability to transfer Hawaiian Airlines miles to Alaska, doesn’t mean you should rush to transfer all your points.

It’s a good idea to wait until you want to make a specific redemption before transferring any points. That’s because once your miles are transferred to Hawaiian and/or Alaska Airlines, they can’t be transferred anywhere else. If you decide you want to book a trip with a different carrier, your points will be stuck.

How to Transfer Points Between Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines

Visit the mileage plan website and select where you want to transfer points.

You’ll then sign in to both loyalty programs. Keep in mind you can only transfer points to your own loyalty account.

Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio. You can transfer as few as 50 points between Alaska/Hawaiian. The max is 500,000.

Transfers are usually instant but can take up to 72 hours.

Transferring American Express Points to Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines is not a direct transfer partner of American Express. However, you can convert American Express Membership Rewards into Hawaiian Airlines Miles, which can then be transferred to Alaska.

American Express charges a small excise fee any time you transfer points to a US based airline. This includes transfers to Delta Airlines as well.

The fee is $0.0006 per mile with a maximum of $99 per transfer. That works out to $6 for every 10,000 miles.

How to Transfer AMEX points to Hawaiian Airlines

First log into your American Express account. On the home page for your account, you’ll see a box with your Membership Rewards^® Points total, click where it says “Explore Rewards”.

On the next screen click on “Earn and Redeem” then select “transfer points”

On the next screen, you’ll see a list of all the available transfer partners. Scroll down until you see Hawaiian Airlines. From there, you’ll enter your HawaiianMiles account number and choose how many miles you want to transfer. Transfers can take up to 48 hours but are usually instant.

Alaska Airlines Sweet Spots

Alaska Airlines is a program with a lot of value for travelers using points and miles. They often charge fewer points than other carriers for the same route and Alaska doesn’t pass on fuel surcharges for award flights so taxes and fees are typically low. Alaska uses a distance based award chart so prices are much more predictable than with airlines that use dynamic pricing.

Additionally, Alaska is part of the Oneworld alliance which means that you can use Alaska miles to fly on partner airlines within the alliance like American Airlines, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, and many more.

The ability to book onto partner airlines opens up a lot of sweet spots for both domestic and international flights.

US Flights

Alaska Airlines pricing for flights within the US is very reasonable, especially when compared with other US airlines. Flights within the continental US start at 4,000 miles each way.

This flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas is just 8,000 miles and $11.20 for a roundtrip:

International Flights

Fly to Ireland on American or Aer Lingus

You can fly from Philadelphia to Dublin on American or Aer Lingus for just 45,000 miles round trip. Taxes and fees are under $70.

Fly to Japan on Japan Airlines

This non-stop flight from Seattle to Japan is 60,000 miles roundtrip. Taxes and fees are $75. Flights further east will cost more since Alaska uses distance-based pricing.

 

Free Stopovers

Alaska airlines offers free stopovers, even on one-way flights, which adds even more value.

You could fly from Los Angeles to Sydney with a stopover in Fiji for just 75,000 miles round trip.

Cards to Earn Hawaiian Airlines Miles

Currently Hawaiian Airlines has two co-branded credit cards, a personal card and a business card. Both are issued by Barclay’s.

If you’re interested in earning a bonus on one of these cards, it’s a good idea to apply sooner than later. That’s because it has been announced that once the merger is complete, the Hawaiian Airlines credit cards will be discontinued. Current cardholders will be transferred to Alaska Airlines’ credit cards.

We don’t have a specific date, but it’s possible the process could begin in 2025.

Cards to Earn American Express Membership Rewards Points

There are several credit cards that earn American Express Membership Rewards Points. Here are some of the most common:

Personal Cards:

• The Platinum Card^® from American Express
• American Express^® Gold Card
• American Express^® Green Card
• Amex EveryDay^® Preferred Credit Card
• Amex EveryDay^® Credit Card

Business Cards:

• The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express
• American Express^® Business Gold Card
• Business Green Rewards Card from American Express
• The Blue Business^® Plus Credit Card from American Express

Why What Card You Get First Matters with American Express

With American Express, if you want to earn a bonus on multiple cards, it’s important to apply in the right order. That’s because once you earn a welcome bonus on a premium card, you’re typically not eligible to earn a bonus from a less premium version.

For example, if you earn a welcome bonus on the Platinum card first, you won’t be able to earn a bonus on the Gold card or the Green card. This only applies to the personal versions. Currently, the business cards don’t have this rule, but that could change in the future.

To earn a bonus on all three cards, apply in this order: Green first, then Gold, then Platinum.

Keep in mind though, that not every card makes sense for every person. If you’re not interested in getting a Green card for example, it’s perfectly fine to start with the Gold.

What Could Happen Once the Merger is Complete?

There has been a lot of speculation on what might happen once the merger between Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines is complete. Information has been coming out slowly that starts to give us a clearer picture, but there is still a lot we don’t know.

It’s highly likely that American Express will remove Hawaiian Airlines as a transfer partner, but we don’t know that for sure yet.

It’s likely that there will be a new, premium credit card offered once the Hawaiian Airlines credit cards are discontinued.

It’s also possible that Alaska Airlines could devalue a lot of their awards, making it cost more miles for the same flights.

The truth is, we don’t know everything yet. A lot of things are still up in the air. Right now, though, this merger has opened up a lot of opportunities to earn more Alaska Airlines Miles, which is exciting!

Change is Normal in this Hobby

Things in the points and miles world are always changing. Transfer partners come and go, credit card welcome offers go up and down, and reward flights change prices regularly.

It can be discouraging when you don’t know what to expect, but keep in mind not all changes are bad. Sometimes we see really exciting changes that open up new opportunities to earn and redeem points.

In the past couple of years, we’ve seen the highest ever welcome offers on several different credit cards. We’ve also seen incredible deals to places like Japan, Europe, and Hawaii.

For now, there’s no rush to make any decisions or open any credit cards just to earn Hawaiian and Alaska miles. But keep these things in mind for how they may affect your plans and points earning strategy over the next year or so.