Hawaii travelers everywhere are witnessing the collapse of airline loyalty programs. What started with the unraveling of HawaiianMiles has now spread across the industry, touching nearly every major program that once rewarded frequent flyers. Whether you flew Hawaiian, Southwest, or the legacy carriers, loyalty has stopped paying off, and many travelers are done playing the game.
Airlines flying to Hawaii have long treated these routes as prime territory for loyal flyers to earn—and burn—their frequent flyer miles. More so than typical mainland routes, Hawaii vacations were something travelers saved up for, whether LAX to Honolulu or Seattle to Maui. That dynamic made loyalty feel rewarding in a way most domestic flights never could.
Following our recent coverage of HawaiianMiles Ends In 90 Days: What Travelers Should Do Now and Hawaii Travelers Dump Airline Loyalty As Perks Disappear, it’s clear this isn’t just about one airline. It’s a systemic shift affecting all travelers heading to and from the islands.
We want to hear from you—how are you navigating the loyalty meltdown? Share your story in the comments below.
Hawaii-specific loyalty is in decline.
Longtime HawaiianMiles members are scrambling to spend their points before the full conversion to Alaska’s Mileage Plan, which is expected in mid-August. Malia wrote that she’s been loyal to HawaiianMiles for over a decade but now feels part of her travel routine is ending. Mahea, who used miles to visit her sister on the Big Island each year, said she’s not even sure she’ll bother tracking points anymore. Another reader noted that one of their favorite redemptions—HNL to Auckland—jumped from 57,000 to 115,000 miles in less than a year.
Southwest flyers are experiencing shockingly similar frustration. A reader who flew to Hawaii using 40,000 points in 2023 said the same trip now costs more than 140,000, and that’s if the route still exists. With significant flight cuts already in place, many worry Southwest may quietly pull out of even more Hawaii markets in the near future.
Have you noticed these changes in your own travel plans? How are you adapting?
Legacy airlines: Why are elites even walking away?
It’s not just Hawaiian and Southwest. Even the legacy carriers—American, Delta, and United—are driving away loyal customers, including BOH editors.
United flyers told us they’re being offered 1K status for $15,000 or 1.5 million miles, and they’re walking away. One reader said that early boarding and a snack were the only benefits left, even with top-tier status. For decades, Carol S, a United loyalist, burned her remaining miles on flights to Alaska and Canada, realizing award options to Hawaii had become severely restricted.
Award redemptions are up, availability is down, and benefits are now hidden behind expensive credit cards or the highest elite tiers that few can maintain. It’s no surprise that many travelers now say they simply book the cheapest flight available without regard to airline. One person called it loyalty to their wallet rather than to an airline. We concur.
Have you left your legacy airline program behind—or are you still holding out?
Credit cards and the illusion of value.
The credit card ecosystem built around these loyalty programs is also facing pushback. Many readers said they’re canceling their airline-branded cards, switching to cash-back options, or focusing on flexible bank rewards.
One reader said they now use a 2 percent cash-back card for travel expenses. Another commented that airlines now seem largely profitable because of their branded credit card fees, not their actual operations.
Commenter Joe summed it up nicely: he’s now loyal only to his wallet. And he’s not alone.
Are the perks worth the annual fee if you still carry an airline card? Or are you keeping the card in part just to not rock your credit score? Or is it time to rethink your strategy?
Redemption costs soar, flexibility drops.
A major frustration voiced across all loyalty programs is how fast redemption costs are rising. Kyle S told us his planned trip to New Zealand on Hawaiian doubled in miles over one year. Others said they couldn’t find award space, even with hundreds of thousands of points.
The switch to dynamic pricing—where mile values fluctuate with cash fares—has made award travel unpredictable and, in many cases, not worth the sheer effort. We find ourselves searching endlessly for award availability, often to give up in the end and simply pay.
Have you recently tried to redeem miles for Hawaii travel? What was your experience?
Not everyone is giving up—yet.
Some readers say they’re still getting value, but it depends heavily on travel patterns. A few pointed to Alaska’s partner redemptions and international flights as bright spots. Others mentioned keeping airline cards just for lounge access or baggage perks.
A traveler with American Airlines said their Executive Platinum status still gives them free upgrades and early seat selection, which is helpful for frequent mainland trips.
But even the optimists are wary. Many say they’re watching closely to see how the rest of 2025 and 2026 unfold.
What Hawaii travelers should do now.
- If you have miles—especially HawaiianMiles—don’t wait. Use them if you can get fair value. With redemption costs rising and availability shrinking, sitting on any airline’s points may mean losing out.
- Check whether your credit cards still justify their annual fees. If you’re no longer using the perks, it may be time to consider a switch to a more flexible program.
- Compare every trip. Don’t default to your usual airline. Loyalty doesn’t make sense if the reward is gone.
- And if you haven’t yet linked your HawaiianMiles and Alaska Mileage Plan accounts, now is the time to do so.
The rules of travel are changing.
The loyalty meltdown isn’t just about airlines—it reflects a deeper change in how Hawaii travel works. Predictability is gone, and the perks travelers once counted on have eroded. The sense of partnership between flyers and airlines has been replaced by dynamic pricing models, hard-sell credit cards, and tier systems few can reach.
Many travelers are waking up to this shift and changing how they book. They’re shopping smarter, skipping the branded credit card hype, and focusing on flexibility instead of airline loyalty.
Are you still hopeful about an airline’s loyalty program, or have you also simply moved on?
Let us know in the comments. Your experiences shape what we cover next and help others navigate the same decisions they are facing.
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I’m a million miler… I have flown with hawaiian airlines exclusively for decades. I am utterly disappointed with this hostile takeover and the treatment of our hawaiian name. As a result, I have stopped flying hawaiian Altogether.
I still participate in loyalty programs but I don’t count on them benefitting me much. I figure better to have points or miles and have them not be enough yet than to miss out because I didn’t bother. I just don’t get my hopes up anymore.
We have linked our HA account an Alaska account. We got a round trip flight for 2 in January to Maui for 50,000 points, which sounds like a steal from what where reading here. We are canceling both an Amex and our two Hawaiian cards when they stop earning points. Unless Alaska comes up with a good offer, we’ll just use our Costco Visa to get cash back to travel. Three miles per dollar used for travel purchases.
Sorry, I meant to say on my last post that over the last 12 months I have found AA to be the most competitive when purchasing flights (not using miles) to and from Hawaii across all classes of service. They have beaten all the legacy carriers in that market. (DL, UA, AS, HA, ETC.)
Using miles it’s more of a mixed bag and very dependent on departure city on the mainland, and the ever present dynamic pricing algorithms.
Liked what Joe said, his loyalty is to his wallet. I agree completely! As a UA Million Miler I get lifetime Premier Gold status which still has some nice perks. I continue to carry the United Explorer Visa card for UA flights. No longer have any Airline Lounge memberships, just too expensive either by high end credit card access, or direct purchase annually from the Airline. Have AA Advantage Gold, which requires requalification every year as I’m not an AA million miler. Also have both AA credit cards with Citi and Barclay’s. Have moved all HA miles to Alaska, but not much there for travel, so will stick to AA and UA for most Hawaiian travel. Can fly AA or UA direct to Lihue from the western US mainland, so won’t be using AS/HA as much as in the past. Haven’t experienced too many problems booking award flights, but always start months in advance with the search. The fun of frequent flyer programs Is long gone for me!
We are former Hawaii residents now living on Guam. We try to visit family in Hawaii a couple of times a year. United is the only airline flying non-stop between Hawaii and Guam. We agree with the premise of your article but we continue to use certain co-branded credit cards for multiple benefits including miles. We try our best to buy flights with miles. However since United has a virtual monopoly on the GUM to HNL route, affordable cash options rarely exist. Yes, United has dramatically increased the miles required for this route. If only we had options…
Imagine how we, who call Hawai’i home (our only home) feel? We have been subjected to “come-fly-for-your dream-vacation-of-a-lifetime” airfares simply just to try to visit a child of ours for a few days, who had to move to live on the Mainland, because tourist demands and “vacation home” house prices made it impossible to continue to live in Hawai’i. We did not ask for the tourism-based, one-industry economy that was shoved down our throats, that is based on greed. And yet, tourists complain they don’t get cushy perks with miles now, or don’t get lower prices now simply because they fly all over the world are therefore “entitled”? And oh my, those of you with all those miles who have 2nd homes here! Tisk, tisk. Sorry all, no sympathy from me.
> Hawaii travelers everywhere are witnessing the collapse of airline loyalty programs.
Seriously? Collapsing?
I’m staying with Southwest for now as I been using the Companion Pass option to bring my wife along our trips to the mainland. However, as the number of points has continued to rise to levels that exceed how much we charge on our card in a year, the Loyalty to my Wallet program is starting to look better and better. I’m quickly getting to the point where just my high fare to maintain A-List preferred is the same as 2 lower price fares for my wife and I. Coupled with fewer perks and now luggage charges, I’m not seeing any real advantage in using Southwest anymore. This comes after using Southwest for over 45 years for any mainland flights we made, 27 years on the mainland and 18 years here on Hawaii. SWA became our exclusive airline once they started fling to Hawaii. Oh well, everything changes sometime.
Two things:
My loyalty to airlines died once Delta (followed by the rest) changed from a Frequent Flier program to a Frequent Spender. 10 years ago I made Gold on DL purely from BIS (b*tt-in-seat) miles. No chance of that nowadays. I always used to fly DL to Hawaii but no more.
Secondly, I recently flew on Avelo from Burbank to Arcata (Northern California). The fare was OK ($103 r/t) but when I went to check in, they wanted $60 (each way) for overhead bin luggage! I also got assigned a seat (middle, of course) and if I wanted to change it, minimum $15 fee. So my $103 fare ballooned up to $240 ($103 + $60 + $17 + $60). For an intrastate flight!
Bottom line, all airlines are removing perqs and trying to nickel and dime pax. Like the guy said: loyalty to your wallet!
I’m a member of several airline loyalty programs but I don’t (won’t) have one of the branded cards. Why spend the money on things and programs that have so little return? I usually fly American from the SE because they are (usually) the cheapest nonstop widebody flights. I’m flying out of HNL tomorrow on AA 6 F/C. I book early to get the best pricing and seat selection. I don’t bother w any of the gimmickry despite the best efforts of the airlines. I just use a no fee 2% cash back card, and always have the cost of the trip saved to immediately pay for flights, rentals, and hotels etc as I incur the expense so I don’t even pay interest. If the airlines no longer have any loyalty to anything but the God of Profit, why should I?
Best Regards
Alaska has been on the downward slide for awhile. Not one single. upgrade from coach to 1st class open – and yet every seat is available and when I reached out (2x) they said (and I quote) ‘we have to save seats for our ‘paying customers’. As if having their credit card combined with many thousands of miles, i’m not a paying customer. Thats it for me – cash back and I’ll go where I want. bye bye Alaska. Way to drive way customers.
It should be illegal for airlines to change the rules from when you started. Also Alaska should except all Hawaiian air miles/points into there system. Nobody should lose miles.
Everyone should stop using airline credit cards to put pressure on them to be fair.
Alaska Does accept Hawaiian mile and no one is losing miles in the merger.
Where did you come up with that info?
Still a loyal flyer. We are dedicated Alaska riders but if a deal comes up that is better (or offering same or better amenities) we will jump ship, so to speak. We like the free bags and companion fare. Still, we have a lot of One World miles saved up only because when we go to use them, we can’t because the long-haul flights we want have too many stops or conditions. If we book far out in advance (8 months) we get great mileage offers, but lousy travel offers (mixed cabin or flights that make two stops and take over twice as long as non-stops). How are people even able to book non-stops anymore, I wonder! I need to pencil out the 2% cash back and see which saves me the most.
“Loyalty” does not matter anywhere these days!
I’m hanging on to my Alaska card and miles used primarily for mainland trips and not having to pay for check luggage. I also use the companion fair which helps save money and have used it to travel to Hawaii so far it’s worth keeping.
I transferred miles from American Express to Hawaiian to Alaska. When I checked the number of miles for a Hawaii trip before I transferred them, it was 80,000. Within 3 days after my transfer, it jumped to 150,000. Talk about bait and switch…
If it went from 80,000 and 3 days letter if jumped to 150,000, that’s on you for waiting. Awards change all the time. I booked 2, one way F tickets to Hawaii for 40,000 each. The next day the 40,000 had changed to 80,000. The window of opportunity opens and closes all the time.
I noticed a couple of years ago that Hawaiian had doubled the miles on their inter island fares. When I booked this trip I’m on to the islands , I tried to use the 200K miles I had for the flight, app said not enough, had to pay dollars. Miles were next to worthless. Going to cancel my Hawaiian card when I get home. Won’t need it anymore. As has been said, “loyalty” doesn’t mean anything anymore.
I’ll still keep coming to the islands, just don’t know what airline I’ll be flying. Sad.
Dennis,
It isn’t sad (ok, a little bit). It’s corporate America where all revolves around the earnings this quarter. Future be damned. Loyal customers be damned. Hawaiian Airlines is now actually Alaska Airlines, headquartered in Seattle.
Maybe a more judicious use of our time would be to hound our congress representatives to clamp down on these mergers that are essentially becoming monopolies.
I gave up my United loyalty program several years ago.
The value of a mile keeps going down while the cost increases. Airlines control not just their mile price but also the devaluation of the fake “currency” too. SCAM ALERT!
The $600-800 annual fee for credit cards is also a rip-off considering the overcrowded lounges…if you can even get in.
Plus, the last thing I want to do is board early for a 10 hour flight.
I laugh at myself for previously following “mileage run” sites to keep my perceived status.
Airlines hypnotized the public with the overrated awards.
Wake Up! You’re being played.
Also – look at what Airline cards give you hotel points. Sometimes its better to use cash and fly whatever and use the points for hotel stay which can be expensive.
We use Costco card for all travel outside of airline which is usually miles but not more open to best price and plane.
You are correct Bryan. I have used Hilton AmEx for years to book hotels. I fly internationally 2-3 times a year and book my own flights on the airline with the best price. I have never had an airline credit card.
I’m very disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that Alaska will phase out the Barclay Hawaiian Miles card. Their bookkeeping and service is much better than the B of A service my husband gets with his Alaska Miles card. I have a number of Hawaiian miles and hope to use as many as possible on our yearly November trip to the Big Island after reading your article. We take family so the miles come in handy. Not sure that will last for much longer either. I was afraid these things would happen when they merged. Sad. Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Hawaiian Airline has no Loyalty to begin with. Never had Aloha and still Dosnt have Aloha… not surprised…
Aloha, we are so sad about the Hawaiian Airlines merge and loss of loyalty.
We love Hawaii and because of the loyalty programs and the way Hawaiian Air treats that flight we always looked forward to it. We were supposed to be there this month for a few weeks and thanks to the Merge messing up our airline tickets we purchased a year ago we had to cancel!!! We used our points and got a free flight and due to all the changes and increase in fare we it was so rude and disheartning. We offered to buy points and complete the new price. they said no ..we offered to pay the difference. they said no because of the way the merge was setup. It was becoming so hard we backed out until next year when things are calmer hopefully. Then they change our plane with no notice. The End!! We will try to purchase now again for next year using our points before we lose them!!
We are not happy as we spend alot over there to help all the businesses. It is very special to us. We are considering change
Many years ago I managed to fly a million miles on American Airlines and received Gold status for life. At 2 million miles, I was given Platinum status for life. This was worth something then, but since, AA inserted Platinum Pro between Platinum and Executive Platinum. As a result, Platinum status was downgraded and lost nearly all of its benefits. I’m now over 3 million and didn’t get increased to Platinum Pro status. So, why should I remain loyal to AA?
Today I book air travel based on price, route and schedule as opposed to being willing to accept a less desirable booking in order to concentrate my travel on AA.
My point in all of this is that it is not just Hawaii travel that is being reassessed by former loyal fliers. There is a trend by all airlines to maximize revenue by selling the perks that they used to use to reward their most valuable customers, and this couldn’t be more short-sighted. Sadly, hotels too, are beginning to move in the same direction.
The increase in miles needed has been astronomical. We had a ton booked but it ended up only covering one round trip ticket. I bought the other one as one ways and saved about $200. We flew weekdays. The free luggage and boarding is where the perks sit now. It’s interesting upon checking in on a mobile app, you’re offered to upgrade for $$$ but I always look at seat availability. No seats? Why would I upgrade?
It has become a game, Traveler VS Monolith. The games objective, to reach your destination with as much money as you can. Avoiding those dastardly money traps; the baggage fees, the extra legroom fees, the better seat fees, the good food fees, the entertainment fees, the bathroom fees (that’s next). If you can play the game victoriously, you’ll have money to spend at your destination. But remember, there’s the return flight and Monolith is waiting for a rematch.
What took you so long to see this?
We’re planing a DEN-LIH roundtrip next February on United, and I booked Economy Plus on the way over. I checked to see if I could use miles to upgrade to First, and it would cost me 30K miles and $435 per person. And that would get us On A Wait List! Apparently United wants to wait to see if they can fill the first class cabin with full paying customers before they open it for award travel, if they even do that. I still have a United credit card, and that gets me lounge access (only once per year however), and free baggage. Is that worth it? Probably not, given their increased card fee. Time to cash in on something tangible in their awards catalog and become loyal to my wallet, as one of your reader says.
Still pleased with Alaska’s loyalty program. With status, you still get premium seats at booking, multiple bags, food & drinks in premium. Still get upgraded on about half of my flights. As far as American, we have no use for their lack of service, reliability or their loyalty program.
I have been a Hawaiian Miles member for 30 years and the value and the experience are just not the same anymore. First class has gone from 80 to 160K miles in just the last few years with a 250K requirement coming on some routes in the near future. That coupled with the the increase in lodging, Rental-Cars and food costs is making Hawaii cost prohibitive. I have been going to Kauai for 30 years but this may very well my last.
80,000? Look around a bit and have some flexibility and you can go in F for only 40,000.
Aloha~. The key is to collect credit card miles and transfer to whichever airline gets you where you are going. I find a lot of the hoopla about airline loyalty to be self inflicted. These programs are constantly changing and you need to stay aware and adjust for your travel style. As far as airline loyalty, i do not base that on their award program. The level of service is what drives my decisions. I will continue to fly Hawaiian and Alaska as they give me better service than the rest. Cheers
“…A reader who flew to Hawaii using 40,000 points in 2023 said the same trip now costs more than 140,000, …”
No way to know what dates or routing the reader was trying to book but I picked some random dates in June And leaving and returning on a Saturday from STL-LIH and it was 76,000 points. Not cheap by any means but a far cry from the 140,000.