Capitalize On Alaska-hawaiian Merger: Potential Strategies To Maximize Your Miles, Elite Status And More

Attention, points and miles enthusiasts: You’ve probably been keeping up with the breaking aviation news regarding Alaska Airlines’ acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines. On Tuesday, the merger was finalized, and details were revealed regarding how the two airlines would continue to operate while maintaining their distinct brands.

Details cited in the document outlining the agreement between the airlines stated they will eventually utilize one loyalty program, with further details to come in mid-2025. For now, Alaska Mileage Plan and HawaiianMiles members will retain their current miles and, later this month, be able to transfer their miles between accounts at a 1:1 ratio.

This is huge news for members of both loyalty programs, as you can plan to maximize your miles between the two airlines to book award tickets. Hawaiian Airlines is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards. Alaska Airlines is part of the Oneworld alliance. Now there will also be a status match offered by the carriers. This opens up all kinds of intriguing possibilities.

Here are some actionable steps you can take to strategize how you can potentially capitalize on the Alaska-Hawaiian merger.

Open a cobranded Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines credit card

In August, the Department of Justice decided not to block the merger proposal between the airlines. Before the news was announced that miles would transfer between the loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio, TPG’s managing editor Clint Henderson took a gamble and decided to open not one but two Hawaiian Airlines cobranded credit cards.

Related: Hawaiian Airlines-Alaska Airlines merger: Loyalty program details revealed

Hawaiian Airlines cobranded credit cards:

With the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard®, you can earn 70,000 bonus HawaiianMiles after spending $2,000 on purchases within the first 90 days. This card includes two free checked bags on eligible flights, a $100 companion discount for round-trip travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines after each account anniversary, a one-time 50% discount on a companion ticket, discounted award flights and more.

With the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Business Mastercard®, you can earn 50,000 bonus HawaiianMiles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 90 days; plus, earn an additional 20,000 bonus miles if you spend $50,000 to $99,999 — or 40,000 bonus miles if you spend $100,000 or more — in annual purchases.

The information for the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard and the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Business Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Related: Why I applied for 2 Hawaiian Airlines cards on the same day

Alaska Airlines cobranded credit cards:

Alaska Airlines also offers two cobranded credit cards, the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card and the Alaska Airlines Visa® Business card.

The personal Alaska credit card offers 50,000 bonus miles plus buy one ticket and get one for just the taxes and fees ($0 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after spending $3,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.

The business Alaska card offers 50,000 bonus miles and Alaska’s companion fare ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after you make $3,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account.

Benefits for both the personal and business cards include a free checked bag, 20% back on inflight purchases and the chance to earn Alaska’s companion fare annually. You can earn this fare every year on your account anniversary if you’ve spent $6,000 or more within the prior anniversary year.

Should you open an Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines credit card?

If you want to open a credit card with either airline, it’s your personal preference on what you ultimately choose. Both issuers’ cards offer different benefits that you may deem more useful, such as the chance to earn Alaska’s companion fare annually. However, if you don’t foresee yourself regularly flying on either Hawaiian- or Alaska-operated flights, we suggest choosing the credit card with the highest welcome offer, which is currently the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard.

Since your HawaiianMiles can be transferred to Alaska Mileage Plan (starting at the end of the month) at 1:1, the value of the miles is equal. Plus, with Alaska being part of the Oneworld alliance, you’ll be able to book not only Alaska flights but partner award tickets, such as American Airlines flights, using your Hawaiian miles.

But there are a few things to consider. Per the merger announcement, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines will eventually operate using one joint loyalty program. Your miles from both accounts will then be transferred into this new loyalty program at 1:1. The carriers have not given any further details on whether the airlines will operate using Alaska’s current award chart or go a more extreme route and utilize a dynamic pricing method. If the airlines go with the latter, this will devalue the program and your miles. Therefore, we don’t necessarily recommend stashing away tons of Hawaiian or Alaska miles unless you are planning to use them in the very near future.

Related: Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit card review: Earn hard-to-get miles with a valuable welcome offer

Transfer your Amex Membership Rewards points to HawaiianMiles

Opening a new credit card is not always a feasible strategy for everyone to employ. However, you may already have a transferable rewards card in your pocket that you can use to capitalize on the Hawaiian and Alaska merger.

If you currently earn American Express Membership Rewards points, you’ll be able to book not only Hawaiian Airlines flights but also Alaska-operated flights, as well as those of the carrier’s Oneworld partners, specifically American Airlines.

Since I currently have The Platinum Card® from American Express, I should be able to transfer my Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines shortly — they transfer at a 1:1 ratio — and then transfer those Hawaiian miles to my Alaska Mileage Plan account.

This transfer strategy could help me save thousands of dollars and tons of points and miles on my upcoming holiday flights. Since Alaska is only a transfer partner of Bilt Rewards, and American Airlines is not a partner of any transferable rewards credit card program, I’ve had to rely on booking domestic AA flights through partners such as British Airways, Qatar or Iberia.

The three airlines currently operate using Avios as their reward currency. However, award availability for holiday flights has been nonexistent; plus, British Airways Executive Club (once again) devalued American and Alaska award redemptions in July. While Finnair Plus can be used to book domestic American flights — you can transfer Avios between accounts at 1:1 — you have to call to book.

Related: How to transfer your Avios between British Airways, Qatar Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Aer Lingus accounts

Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards points

I personally prefer to earn transferable rewards because this gives me flexibility in how I use my points. Here are some of TPG’s favorite Amex cards with strong welcome offers:

• The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 80,000 points after you spend $8,000 on eligible purchases on your new card in your first six months of card membership.
• American Express® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on the card in your first six months of card membership. Plus, receive 20% back in statement credits on eligible purchases made at restaurants worldwide within the first six months of card membership (up to $100 back).
• American Express® Business Gold Card: Earn 100,000 points after you spend $15,000 on eligible purchases within the first three months of card membership.

So, if you have an Amex card that earns Membership Rewards points, should you transfer your points to HawaiianMiles? While some may roll the dice and transfer a stash of Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines, we recommend doing so cautiously. As always, programs tend to devalue through the years, so you don’t want to blindly transfer your life savings of Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines with no redemption in mind and then be stuck with a ton of leftover miles that are potentially devalued once the new loyalty program goes into effect.

However, if you regularly fly on Alaska- or American Airlines-operated flights or are in the process of planning a trip for which you can redeem Alaska miles for the flights, transferring your Amex points to HawaiianMiles may be a good option for you. At this time, Amex has not announced losing HawaiianMiles as a transfer partner, but that could be a change that goes into effect in 2025. Is it worth the gamble? You have to decide.

Related: How (and why) you should earn transferable credit card points

Earn elite status benefits with Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines

If you’re an elite status member with either Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines, be sure to link your accounts to receive benefits with both airlines. Before the programs integrate into one loyalty program, frequent flyers can match their current status with the other program.

If you don’t have status with either airline, linking your accounts allows you to combine your elite qualifying miles to snag elite status with both carriers.

Since Alaska is already part of the Oneworld alliance, your elite status tier with the airline will also correspond to Oneworld status.

• MVP = Oneworld Ruby
• MVP Gold = Oneworld Sapphire
• MVP Gold 75K = Oneworld Emerald
• MVP Gold 100K = Oneworld Emerald

Be sure to check out our in-depth guides on the benefits and perks of having Oneworld and Alaska Airlines elite status.

Related: How to get airline elite status

Bottom line

The merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines is an exciting new venture in the world of points and miles. For the foreseeable future, miles will transfer between the two programs at a 1:1 ratio, opening up new award flight possibilities.

Whether you want to take a roundabout transfer to snag a great deal on an American Airlines flight through Alaska’s Mileage Plan, redeem miles on a Saver award fare with Alaska or status match and earn additional airline perks and benefits, there are strategies you can employ to help capitalize on this joint program.

Related reading:

• Key travel tips you need to know — whether you’re a beginner or expert traveler
• The best travel credit cards
• Where to go in 2024: The 16 best places to travel
• 6 real-life strategies you can use when your flight is canceled or delayed
• 8 of the best credit cards for general travel purchases
• 13 must-have items the TPG team can’t travel without