The company spent much of the past year pointing to markers of success for the combined airline. More than 55 million passengers carried. Hundreds of thousands of flights. New long-haul routes radiating out of Seattle. Starlink free WiFi. Special liveries. A bigger airline doing bigger airline things better.
That version of year one does not line up neatly with what flying in and around Hawaii has actually been like, unfortunately. The lived story of 2025 was not yet at least about scale. It was about loyalty cracking, multiple system outages, and an airline identity getting folded into something larger and less island-centric. All of that, however, must be seen against a baseline that is pivotal.
Hawaiian Airlines was in serious financial trouble before Alaska stepped in, and no other buyer was waiting in the wings. Without this acquisition, the conversation today would probably be about bankruptcy rather than integration. What followed was not intentional trouble. It was more of a controlled chaos, wherein Hawaii travelers took most of the hit.
As this article was being finalized, Hawaiian announced a $600 million investment plan over five years. The package includes airport upgrades across all five major Hawaii airports, the new HNL lounge, app and website improvements, and A330 cabin refurbishments including first class and premium economy starting in 2028. It also confirmed that the move to a single passenger service (reservation) system is now targeted specifically for late April 2026.
Hawaiian loyalty is where things cracked first.
Hawaii travelers did not experience the acquisition through new routes or aircraft announcements. They experienced it through their mileage accounts, and that impact arrived in fall 2025.
In the final days of September, just ahead of the October 1 launch of Atmos Rewards, many HawaiianMiles members ran into a blackout period. Accounts could not be accessed. Transfers stalled. People trying to protect balances or prepare for the change found themselves locked out instead. That moment echoed what we warned about earlier in HawaiianMiles Ends In 90 Days: What Travelers Should Do Now.
Many continue to report to us that accounts migrated unevenly. Balances looked wrong to people who knew their numbers from memory. Status benefits stopped behaving the way they previously had. Nothing looked quite settled, a theme that continued in Atmos Rewards Just Gutted Hawaii Flyers.
One loss stood out immediately. First-class mileage upgrades on Hawaiian disappeared entirely. That was not a minor perk. It mattered to travelers, including us. That had been a core benefit for elites who stayed loyal through higher fares and fewer choices, and its removal sent a clear signal about changing priorities in a new structure.
Credit card holders were left hanging, too. Hawaiian cards that once had a clear purpose suddenly looked like placeholders. Many travelers were unsure which benefits still applied, which would convert, and which had quietly expired along the way. We documented those issues in Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card Vanishes Leaving Travelers Confused.
Alaska eventually acknowledged the anger. Brett Catlin took questions in a Reddit AMA and absorbed blunt feedback from Hawaii flyers who felt blindsided. A few weeks later, Hawaiian Airlines CEO Diana Birkett Rakow sent an apology email admitting technical problems and asking for roughly six more months of patience, a message we covered in Hawaiian Airlines CEO Apology: Problems Will Continue For 6 More Months.
Booking Hawaii flights revealed how unfinished the integration still is.
If loyalty cracked our trust, booking and check-in experiences exposed the mechanics of the combination. Travelers booking through Alaska often could not see Hawaiian seat maps until after paying. Reservation numbers multiplied. One website behaved like two systems pretending to be one, or was it two websites trying to act like one? It became a frustration we broke down in Booked Hawaiian, Got Alaska: Why Travelers Are Upset. The apps stayed separate, each with its own strengths, gaps, and blind spots.
At airports, the seams showed just as clearly. Terminal and gate assignments shifted depending on the airport. Branding blurred as can be seen in the HNL Hawaiian terminal pictured above, where the name Hawaiian was missing entirely as of last week. Some travelers expected to board an aircraft painted Hawaiian but flew on Alaska instead, while others experienced the reverse. The idea of “one airline” lived mostly in future announcements, not in the flow of ordinary Hawaii trips.
Flying still worked. It just took more effort for passengers. And for frequent Hawaii travelers, that friction clearly piled up.
What Hawaii lost along the way.
Something harder to name and clearly emotional in nature started slipping away. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was not just another aircraft type. It was Hawaiian’s flagship and its future. It was the plane that said the airline could compete long-haul on comfort, range, and ambition. When that promise faded, so did a piece of Hawaii’s identity, something we examined in The Dreamliner Was Hawaiian’s Future. Now It’s Gone.
Within a year, the center of gravity moved. Those new aircraft increasingly served Alaska’s strategy, flying routes built around Seattle rather than Honolulu. Hawaiian’s call sign disappeared quietly, and the final Hawaiian-designated flight closed a long chapter in island skies.
What remains looks different, yet there remains hope for the future. Hawaiian increasingly operates like a regional arm wearing its old livery, while Seattle now drives global expansion. For longtime Hawaii flyers, that shift still hurts even if the numbers make complete sense.
What Hawaiian branding looks like now is unclear.
Beyond aircraft types and route maps, Hawaiian’s branding itself has quietly gone fuzzy. Outside of the Boeing 787s and their new livery, Alaska has not said what Hawaiian branding will look like going forward, and there has been no comprehensive announcement laying out that plan. Interisland aircraft, A321s, and A330s all sit in a gray zone, at least for now, with little direction spelled out for travelers or employees.
That uncertainty is noticeable on the ground. At Honolulu Airport, newly refreshed Hawaiian Airlines spaces have appeared stripped back suddenly to neutral, with familiar visual branding cues missing. The look is clean and modern, but it also feels perhaps temporary, as if something has been removed before something else is ready to replace it. For travelers passing through, including us, it raises questions rather than answers.
For now, there are none. It is unclear whether interisland flights will continue to feel distinctly Hawaiian, whether the A321 and A330 fleets will retain current island branding after refurbishment, or whether Alaska’s 737s flying Hawaii routes could eventually carry both more of the load and any Hawaiian identity at all. Alaska has not addressed most of that publicly, and the absence of guidance has become part of this story.
Routes, fleet, and unresolved technology problems.
Alaska points to route growth as proof that the acquisition worked, and some of that claim is valid. New nonstops like San Francisco to Kona and Lihue are real. Additional domestic routes clearly add options.
The context complicates the picture. Many of those routes existed on other carriers before. Some are seasonal and/or run on thin schedules. Expansion in one place often came with consolidation somewhere else. Alaska and Hawaiian have also quietly swapped operators on select Hawaii routes, a process we detailed in Hawaiian And Alaska Are Quietly Swapping Routes. Here’s What It Really Means.
The interisland fleet is a separate and growing problem. Hawaiian’s Boeing 717s have been flying island hops for roughly 25 years, racking up cycles on routes as short as 20 minutes. Maintenance costs are climbing. Parts are harder to source. Alaska still has not announced what comes next in this arena.
No replacement fits cleanly. The A220 is expensive and hard to get. The Embraer E195-E2 raises certification and operational questions. The 737 MAX 7 appears to be too much airplane for the mission. For now, the 717s keep flying because nothing else is ready to take over.
The Hawaiian A321 fleet faces a different question. Alaska has said specifically it must either expand that aircraft’s role or phase it out entirely, another upcoming decision that will shape West Coast and longer-haul Hawaii flying in ways travelers may not expect.
On the widebody side, Alaska has announced plans to refurbish Hawaiian’s A330 fleet starting in 2028, but details beyond what we’ve already shared remain thin. What will change inside the cabins, when the work begins, and how fast it rolls out are still unanswered. Arguably more important, what does losing up to 60 economy seats to make room for better first class and new premium economy mean for the remaining travelers sitting in the back of the plane?
The Southwest Hawaii factor that never quite went away.
On paper, the acquisition gave Alaska-Hawaiian dominance. Fewer competitors. More control. A long-held belief that interisland fares could finally rise toward what the market would tolerate.
That belief ran into a fast-changing Southwest. Southwest pulled back after the pandemic, but it never disappeared. On many interisland routes, it still sets the floor. Fares as low as $65 each way continue to appear, and when they do, Alaska-Hawaiian has to respond. Matching follows, sometimes quickly, sometimes grudgingly.
The result is pricing that looks erratic. A $138 round trip one week. $250 the next. The swing often has less to do with demand than with whether Southwest is flying a particular route, time, or day.
Southwest Hawaii plans only add pressure. A new SW Honolulu lounge is coming. Premium seating, including possibly first class, is being floated. Routes like Las Vegas to Hilo will arrive via Southwest. That airlines appears to not be done with Hawaii, even as it still seems unsure how to make long trans-Pacific flying work at scale.
What Alaska says versus what Hawaii travelers experienced.
Alaska’s account of year one makes sense on paper. The airline stabilized an airline that was financially failing, preserved service, and started building a larger and more stable network.
The experiences on the ground and at the computer were rougher. Loyalty programs were disrupted. Benefits disappeared. Booking and checking in took more work than before. Systems did not talk to each other cleanly. A once distinct airline identity faded faster than many expected.
The questions that define year two for Hawaii.
The next phase matters more than the first. Alaska has said the single passenger service system is targeted for late April 2026, and that moment will determine whether much of this friction finally disappears. That’s something everyone wants, including the airline.
Travelers will forgive the acquisition-related disruptions once, but they will not forgive permanent unpredictability. The fate of the 717s, the A321 decision, yay or nay, and the timing and execution of the long-promised A330 refurbishments will all shape how flying in Hawaii feels over the next few years. The larger question remains to be resolved. When does this stop feeling like two airlines loosely duct-taped together and start feeling like one that actually works well for Hawaii travelers?
Hawaiian was heading toward bankruptcy before Alaska stepped in, and no alternative emerged. This acquisition prevented that outcome. In one year, what travelers experienced was controlled chaos, and the work of turning that into something stable is still in process.
One year into Alaska owning Hawaiian Airlines, has your travel experience improved, stayed the same, or gotten more complicated?
Photo Credit: Beat of Hawaii at HNL, December 2025, with Hawaiian Airlines branding removed.
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Still waiting for Atmos points sharing for free to be available on the Hawaiian/Alaskan website, which in itself is confusing and mind numbing to navigate. It says for free points sharing, go to the “rewards” section of your profile and select “free points sharing”. Problem is, when I go to my rewards page it says I have Zero points, when in fact I have just over 47,000 points. It was so easy before the merger to transfer miles between my wife and daughter. What should be simple has turned into a mess. Booking flights is another issue. Buy the ticket with Alaska, but you can’t reserve your seats until you go to the Hawaiian app. It’s insane.
My experience recently was terrible. Booking in first class was difficult not knowing what seats were available & having to commit a lot of money not knowing. This I understand should get better.
The route times have changed. Instead of our normal time (we do this trip a lot) of 8:30 ish through Honolulu our only two choices were 7am through Honolulu or 915 through Maui with a 5-hour layover. This may not get better.
As expected, the usual larger plane was gone, which would have been ok if the times and routes had held.
We are very loyal customers coming to HI 3-4 times a year for many years, but unless they get their act together our loyalty is gone.
Air travel in Hawaiʻi has become more complicated and frustrating since the Alaska Airlines acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines. I fly inter-island two to three times a month, plus several mainland trips each year, and what was once predictable now feels disjointed.
The Alaska and Hawaiian apps function poorly—both individually and together—adding unnecessary friction for travelers who depend on air service as a basic utility. The in-flight experience is inconsistent, with Alaska-operated flights often falling short.
Most frustrating is that while Alaska extends meaningful benefits to residents of its home state, no comparable consideration has been given to Hawaiʻi residents who rely on frequent inter-island travel for work, medical care, and family. The buyout promised improvement; instead, many local travelers feel overlooked.
I’ve not follow this as closely over the last year but this sure looks like a mess. Has this resulted in Hawaiians giving Southwest a chance for inter island flights? The last I looked, pre-merger, Southwest had lower inter island fares but lagged by 20-30% on occupancy as Hawaiians we’re loyal to HA.
Well, I guess this is the end of the A321’s and they aren’t going to be doing interisland with MAX 7’s.
cnbc.com/2026/01/07/alaska-airlines-boeing-order-737-10-dreamliners.html
For what it’s worth, even before the acquisition we flew Alaska whenever possible. Our experiences were nearly always better there compared to purchasing and flying Hawaiian. (In general, we only fly first class if we get upgraded— which doesn’t happen too often.)
Now, when booking for the year ahead, we’re hoping we can still get that Alaska flight and treatment.
As you point out, transition is almost always bumpy.
I expect AAG will get rid of about half of the A330’s, using them on the Asian routes. HNL-AKL/SYD/ICN/NRT would be about right for 12 planes. As long as AAG keeps the freighter contract with Amazon, they will have a big enough A330 fleet to warrant the infrastructure to service and operate them.
Since AAG said when the dust settles, everything to Hawaii will be Hawaiian Airlines branded, it would work to have a larger A321 fleet and withdraw the AS 737’s altogether.
Alaska Airlines has not ordered any new planes since the merger, so changes in their business plan not withstanding, they will have to order more 737’s if they dump the A321’s.
I just completed a round trip to Detroit and back. Departure was uneventful. The return … a nightmare. The first half of the trip, on AL, arrived late in Seattle’s south terminal. The connecting Hawaiian flight was in the north terminal! It took 3 crowded trains, 4 escalators, and a frantic mad dash to make the connection Alaska airlines set up. Not what this 75 year old signed up for! Alaska, keep your miles. I’m done.
We email you yesterday about difficulties with our Atmos rewards accounts and today the frustration continues. After spending 5-6 hours yesterday getting my wife’s account straightened out, we could not checkin for our flight. When we tried to log inwe got a message that it was an invalid account number.
This transition has been anything but seamless. Today we start over!
Here’s what they didn’t tell you.
1) Alaska Airlines has had their own IT issues for years and leadership dragged their feet.
2) When doing M&A – it’s not just finances, but everything else including IT (systems, integrations, etc)
3) If you already suck at #1, then #2 isn’t going to be pretty.
4) Welcome to the side effects of #3.
5) Alaska Airlines board also failed because they didn’t start firing/hiring the right people. Ironically, in the home of Microsoft – are you telling me IT talent isn’t available?
Complete 100% failure of leadership.
Yes I was told the HA IT staff was much better than the Alaska IT staff, but they fired the HA team.
The biggest issue for me is trust. When I book a flight, I want to know what I’m getting. Right now there are too many unknowns, from seats to boarding passes to branding. That uncertainty troubles me.
I always recommended Hawaiian to friends coming here without hesitation. Now I have to explain caveats and workarounds. That’s not a good place for any airline to be in.
I’m in the camp that is grateful Alaska saved Hawaiian from bankruptcy. That doesn’t mean the rollout has been handled well though. Both things can be true. Right now it feels like the systems came first and the travelers came second.
We were lucky to fly the Dreamliner one last time and it felt bittersweet. It was still a great experience. I understand the business reasons, but emotionally not.
I don’t think for a minute Alaska set out to make this confusing, but that’s the result. Every step seems to require a workaround or a tip from another traveler. When your customers are teaching each other how to book flights and make this work, something is not working.
Don’t forget about the approximately 550 Hawaiian Airlines corporate employees that Alaska Airlines decided to let go. Alaska might have hired 650 new employees for Hawaiian, but this is really only 100 net-new jobs.
And don’t forget that Alaska Saved every Union Job at Hawaiian Airlines. Be fair and tell both sides of the story.
That HNL lobby photo really sums it up. Clean, modern, but oddly empty of identity. It feels like something is being removed before something else is ready. That’s how this airline feels overall right now.
I’m trying to be patient because I remember how long other airline integrations took. That said, the constant small issues continue to add up. Losing PreCheck, missing reservations and seat maps, confusing websites and apps, and mixed messages wear you down over time. I hope year two is much calmer.
I am still getting confused by the lack of clarity. Are these Hawaiian flights or Alaska flights? Hawaiian website or Alaska website, or are they the same. Ugg.
I miss knowing exactly what Hawaiian stood for. The planes, the staff, all felt consistent before. Now it feels like everything is temporary. I keep wondering what this will look like in another year. Hopefully it will all be settled but somehow I’m not really convinced.
I actually had a decent experience on Alaska over the holidays, but the Hawaiian side has felt like it was in limbo. The flights were fine, the plane was clean, but the process leading up to it online was too stressful.
Having multiple reservation numbers drive me crazy. One works for checking in, at least sometimes, the other may work for seat selection, some time, and neither works consistently. I’ve had to call customer service more in the past year than in all the previous years combined. So far, that’s not progress.
Not mentioned in article, I cancelled my Hawaiian credit card after decades because I couldn’t tell what benefits were still real. When loyalty feels this confusing instead of rewarding, it stops being worth. I never thought I’d say that about Hawaiian but that’s where I’m at.
Has the problem with TSApre been resolved?
Booking interisland flights has become a chore. Prices bounce all over the place depending on the day and time, and I never know which airline’s site I’m supposed to use to buy and to check in. Southwest is the only one that still feels relatively straightforward even though it’s changed a lot. That alone says something and it isn’t good.
I understand that Hawaiian was struggling and Alaska stepping in probably saved jobs and routes. I’m willing to be patient, but the communication has been terrible. If they just said “this will be messy for a while,” it would be easier to accept. The silence has made it worse.
I lost TSA PreCheck twice on the same trip, once outbound and once coming home. My KTN was in my profile and showed on the app, but TSA said it wasn’t in their system. Standing in the regular line after having PreCheck for years is infuriating. Something is clearly not syncing correctly.
The seat map issue is what finally pushed me over the edge. I don’t want to buy tickets just to find out later that we’re split up or stuck in middle seats. That used to be basic information. Then it became a gamble. Lots to work out in next few months, that’s for sure.
We’ve flown Hawaiian for over 20 years and Alaska for nearly as long, and this past year has been the most confusing by far. Two confirmation codes, two apps, and neither one seems fully in charge. I can usually figure things out, but my wife gave up.
Booked Hawaiian and was then changed to an Alaska flight and now have two confirmation numbers for the same trip from PDX to RAR with the layover in HNL. Upgraded to comfort but Alaska doesn’t have Comfort Seats so we are stuck with paying for something Alaska doesn’t offer. Looking at the reservation booking seat assignments I have to go from Alaska to Hawaiian confirmation just to check our seats. It also took me 4 calls to have my Hawaiian miles show up on ATMOS.
Interesting situation, we have been flying to Kauai via Alaska for years, departing from SJC and returning to SJC. Recently we tried to book a flight, and Alaska’s schedule has changed dramatically. We ended up booking through Hawaiian, although we have to depart and return through Oakland. When we booked the flights we selected seats. Now when we check for any seat upgrades the seat map will not display, only telling us that seat selection is not available at this time. Even more confusing is that our initial seat selections are not displayed. Could this be due to a specific type of aircraft has not been assigned?
We flew SJC-LIH two days ago (booked through Alaska) and everything went smoothly, as is the usual case. We usually fly to Kauai once or twice a year and almost always on Alaska. We used Alaska miles in 2023 and 2024 to Milan and everything went smoothly. We had a round trip to Milan booked last May with Alaska miles and had to cancel about 5 hours before our departure from SFO due to a medical issue and got our miles and fees refunded with no hassle. We’re very happy with Alaska, our airline of choice.