The countdown is now official: HawaiianMiles, the frequent flyer program many travelers, both Hawaii visitors and residents, have used for decades, will disappear on October 1. In its place is a single new loyalty program that combines the systems of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines into one.
The airlines say your miles will not lose value in terms of the point-to-point transfer. However, many travelers may also lose something else, such as the ability to upgrade flights with miles or transfer points to hotels or share miles.
Those benefits have not been part of the Alaska Mileage Plan program. We don’t know if they will be wrapped into the combined loyalty program. Industry watchers believe the rules in the combined program will closely align with the current Mileage Plan program.
Here’s what changes for visitors flying to and from Hawaii, and what to do before the switch.
Why October 1 matters.
Hawaiian’s website now confirms that “On October 1, 2025, HawaiianMiles will fully transition into the new combined loyalty program.”
It is no longer a rumor or a projection. Starting that day, all HawaiianMiles balances will be converted to Alaska’s Mileage Plan, or whatever change in name may come with this. Miles will move automatically, and elite status will be matched where possible. But that does not mean nothing changes.
HawaiianMiles has long had its quirks. Most of that is being rewritten now, with the outcome still to be determined.
According to Hawaiian, “the HawaiianMiles branding will phase out,” but somehow “that legacy isn’t disappearing.” Got it.
You can’t upgrade with miles after September.
Hawaiian’s loyalty page makes it clear: you will no longer be able to redeem miles for upgrades after late September. This includes both First Class and Extra Comfort upgrades. Travelers who have stockpiled miles for this specific purpose for years, including BOH editors, will need to act quickly or change their plans.
What is replacing it? Nothing yet. You can still use miles to purchase an economy or first-class ticket. Still, once the programs merge, unless there is a significant, unanticipated change, you will no longer be able to use them specifically to upgrade. That option disappears entirely with no replacement in the combined program, and that feature has not been a part of the Alaska Mileage Plan.
Marriott transfers end August 20.
One of the more surprising announcements is that the last day to redeem HawaiianMiles for Marriott Bonvoy points is August 20, 2025. If you already have your HawaiianMiles linked to Marriott, you will still be able to transfer Bonvoy points to Mileage Plan after the transition. However, transferring miles from HawaiianMiles to Bonvoy is a one-time action.
For Hawaii visitors who have leaned on hotel point transfers to top off their stays, that door is closing fast. As with the upgrade options, the new loyalty program does not appear to preserve this particular benefit.
Your credit card still works, with one change.
The Barclays’ Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard will continue to function without interruption. Cardholders will not need to change cards, reapply, or cancel anything. However, one key difference takes effect on October 1: all new miles earned will be deposited into the new Mileage Plan account, not HawaiianMiles.
For most travelers, this change should be seamless. But if you are trying to reach a redemption milestone in HawaiianMiles before the switch, the last day to guarantee miles will go into that account is September 30.
What happens to the Hawaiian credit card after that is still unclear. Alaska is closely tied to Bank of America, not Barclays, and we do not yet know whether the Hawaiian card will be phased out over time, rebranded, or maintained alongside Alaska’s existing portfolio.
No updates have been announced, and you can still apply for the Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card. We note at press time that Barclays does not inform new applicants that benefits may change in October under a combined loyalty program.
You can link and match now.
The airlines continue to offer pre-merger perks for travelers who want to get a jump on the transition. You can link your HawaiianMiles and Mileage Plan accounts now, match elite status, and begin transferring miles back and forth at a 1:1 ratio.
Many travelers have already taken advantage of the ability to enjoy early baggage fee waivers, companion awards, and preferred boarding across both carriers. Those benefits remain available.
Account access will be restricted in late September.
In the final days of the HawaiianMiles program, Hawaiian Airlines says, “HawaiianMiles account access will be limited the week before Oct. 1, 2025, as we migrate accounts.”
That means travelers should avoid waiting until the last minute to make redemptions, transfers, or upgrades. No specific day has been posted yet, but the restriction will begin during the final week of September and continue through the launch of the new program.
What stays the same, at least for now.
According to both airlines, the core value of your miles will not change. A mile in HawaiianMiles becomes a mile in Mileage Plan. Status will also be matched, although the perks and thresholds are not identical between the two programs.
Unlike past airline mergers that included devaluation or partial conversions, this one is being pitched as a complete carryover. But Hawaiian’s program was more focused on different perks, while Alaska’s includes a far broader oneworld alliance structure. Whether travelers find this better or worse will depend on how and where they fly.
Hawaiian’s Huakai resident program also survives the transition, with neighbor island fare perks and a free checked bag for those who qualify.
Watch for more big changes with the program merge.
Even after the October 1 switch, more updates are coming. One expected change is the ability to pool miles with friends and family, which is not currently part of the Alaska structure, nor are enhanced companion ticket offers tied to the Hawaiian credit card. Those could arrive in future phases or be replaced entirely by Mileage Plan’s other existing benefits.
In the meantime, travelers should expect some confusion. As Beat of Hawaii readers have pointed out in hundreds of comments across our prior loyalty coverage, this is one of the most complex transitions Hawaii travelers have faced in years. It affects vacation planning, mileage redemptions, seat upgrades, and even hotel stays.
We will continue tracking the real-world experience as the changeover approaches. If you’ve already linked your accounts, seen your status match, or found a benefit disappear, please let us know in the comments. Your insights are shaping how the story unfolds.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Do you still earn 1st class upgrade certificates when attaining 40K miles on Hawaiian airlines?
I am floored! I didn’t keep up with all of this happening!
We canceled our trip to Kauai so we could save for next year and see how much we can get for all of our miles. We have a lot of miles and we were thinking of going first class with those miles. Wow, they are going even more commercial but also taking away the pre aloha spirit. I loved flying Hawaiian with awesome flight attendants for 5 hours each way, I just hope that any flights going to aloha should make those flights fun!
This also means that fewer people might hinder on visiting the islands which means the tourist visitors will go down. Economic failure 😣🥲
Alaskan Airlines is great! I’m proud to say I’ve been with them for 10 years Card/Membership. You will be able to fly with a Companion Fare to Hawaii for $122. Priority boarding one free baggage plus a carry on. Earn points for traveling. You may get bumped to First Class when available even on One World flights. Those miles will get you $25 dollar flights across the US. They give you many bonus points as well. I can’t say enough good things about Alaska. I refer them to everyone even the person sitting next to me while flying. I have a business and personal card which I take advantage of both perks! You won’t be disappointed! 😊✈️
Wjhere does atmos come into play with Alaska airlines credit card
Will the HA FC upgrade (50k or 25k miles) remain under new program?
The ability to share miles with family members should remain intact since family members often travel together and it enables them to maximize their use of mikes
Hi there! Question- I wanted my husband to get the Hawaiian Airlines card for the perk of transferring to Alaska. We live on the main land and AA is our home base so having the alaska miles to book AA operated flights is a huge perk for us. With that being said, do we need to get this card and earn the bonus BY october 1 for them to transfer over?? Or can we get the card before october 1 and the points earned will still transfer to the alaska account?
Thanks!
Saw your article and wanted to let you know changes have already happened. We fly twice a year out of Portland to Maui, using our miles. Now the non-stop flight is no longer available using miles. Also, instead of 35k cost for round trip, it varies between flights from 40k to 50k. So the mile for mile “may” be true, but the reality is Alaska has significantly devalued the Hawaiian mile. Made flights more expensive for nonstops and premium times. They’ve also increased the cost of premium upgraded seats by as much as four times the cost Hawaiian was charging. So sad to see this happening to Hawaiian airlines. We have been loyal customers for almost 30 years.
Yesterday I checked mileage required for business class Honolulu to Osaka and it was 400,000 mi round trip, a quantum jump over previous. Today I checked again and it’s 500,000 miles.
It seems that Alaska has a business consultant who has recommended breaking down Hawaiian Airlines as a local carrier except for its outer Island business. As one who travels to Asia four or five times a year from Honolulu this is very bad news.
You need to be using an award search tool such as seats.aero to look for flights. Not knowing your travel dates or routing is difficult for comparison, but I just now searched HNL to NRT and HND and there are lots of dates the next 6 months with flights at 60,000 AS miles each way in business class. Premium Economy at 40,000 AS miles each way. Flying on JAL or HA.
I searched HNL -> KIX and found plenty of dates over the next 6 months for 60,000 miles each way and even more for 120,000 miles each way on both seats.aero and the AS website using the award calendar.
If you are locked in to your travel dates you are going to be at the mercy of the airline, doesn’t matter which airline you are using. To get the best value out of airline miles, you have to be flexible with your travel dates and never book round trip. Always book one way trips with miles.
What BOH seems to miss in its post is that **every** website that puts a value on miles (Frequent Miler, Award Wallet, The Points Guy, etc.) values one Alaska Mileage Plan mile as worth up to 2x one Hawaiian Miles point (usually about 1.5x). Maybe some features are lost, however, the economic value of your points are worth more overall on Alaska’s Mileage Plan than on Hawaiian. And that doesn’t even consider the increased possibility of using your points on an expanded number of routes you Never had access to via Hawaiian frequent flyer program.
The transfer of Hawaiian miles to Alaska frequent flyer points on a 1:1 basis is a Huge gain for the holder of Hawaiian Airlines miles. I, for one, am quite pleased about the consolidation. Post consolidation, is your Alaska More valuable miles are good on Oneworld alliance partners like American Airlines, something not possible on the existing Hawaiian Miles program.
Finally, someone who understands how mileage programs work! Your comment is spot on!
Just wondering, haven’t seen anything mentioned about this.
Presently if you use your Hawaiian
Master Card to purchase your tickets you get 2 bags free each.
After October 1, will this perk still continue ?
It’s 1 bag each free on Alaska if you use their Visa card to purchase tickets.
Thank you !
Well……it was great while it lasted. If I can’t use miles to upgrade seats then I will not be flying Alaska/Hawaiian for my annual July flight to the mainland. I will stop using the credit card that earns miles on Hawaiian and start using one of my other cards…..with American and Delta airlines.
Hi,
Thank you for your articles!!
Do you know if the bonus miles you get when you fly first class will continue towards Alaska’s status (pualani gold status)? I booked a trip for November hoping to continue my pualani status for 2026.
Thank you
I’m a Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club member, what becomes of this program and how does it affect my status?
A couple of points not mentioned: as a multi decade platinum Hawaiian Airlines loyalist I’ve tried multiple times to transfer an extraordinary number of miles to Alaska. The system has not worked and well. I have a tab open on Hawaiian and a second tab open on Alaska Airlines for when I’ve signed in, Alaska Airlines does not recognize my sign in credentials for Hawaiian despite multiple attempts.
Secondly, platinum miles members get bonus miles for trips purchased. Alaska does not recognize these bonus miles and they will be lost.
I’ve been saving miles for years to use in retirement and I’m not sure this is going to work out well for me.
If you are having issues transferring miles to Alaska you are not doing it correctly. I have transferred hundreds of thousands miles from Hawaiian to Alaska since the transfer ability started. It literally couldn’t be easier.
I agreen with Ed C. No problem transferring miles.
What happens when you already have flight reservations for Oct 26, 2025 through November 8, 2025.????
The program change has absolutely nothing to do with flights you’ve already booked.
One change I have already noticed is the mileage needed for 1st class seats. Under the old system, almost every day, the miles needed for a mainland to Hawaii leg was 80,000. We just booked a trip for November. We changed our travel dates from Sunday to Sunday, to Friday to Friday. Each leg on a Sunday was 115,000 miles. On Friday, 70,000 miles. That was the only day of the week with those miles cost. Saturdays were 150,000 miles per leg, as that seems to be the most preferred day by travelers. We have the flexibility to fly “off” peak days. Others may not. We will keep watching as the plan unfolds.
Once you understand how to use the Alaska Mileage Plan you will find out how cheap flights can be.
I just booked PHX -> HNL in October for 35,000 AS miles in first class flying on AA. It’s called a partner redemption and is one of the best uses of Alaska Miles. Flew to Dublin, Ireland last year for 40,000 AS miles in first class flying on Aer Lingus.
AS miles are highly sought after by frequent flyers for their partner redemptions.
You’ll be amazed at the places around the world you can go using extremely cheap partner redemptions with AS.
Couldn’t agree more, Ed! My mind was blown when I clicked on the Global Getaways option on Alaska’s app & was able to book Kona to Dublin for 35K miles Roundtrip! (We All know that’s roughly the going rate for Hawaiian’s Hawaii- West Coast award fare) Thus far I’m a happy customer!
What is happening in and to Hawaii, the islands paradise? Are they trying to dump the thousands and thousands of visitors who add so much to the economy? And Hawaiian Airlines? One of the best we have ever flown for 25 years. So much for your loyalty programs! We’ve been loyal to you. Now you’re going to punch is? Where is the outrage from the locals and your businesses?
While many lament the “demise” of Hawaiian Airlines, HA was well on the way to bankruptcy. It was going out of business — it’s stock was down to about $5/share and headed to zero.
Alaska, hands down, was clearly the Best airline to acquire HA. United, Delta, or American would have totally decimated Hawaiian. Alaska is well run. The alternatives were Much worse for Hawaiian residents, like myself, and visitors.
This is what I don’t get. All these comments complaining about AS don’t understand that HA could not continue the way they were going. The airline was going bankrupt. Perhaps some entity could have come along and taken over the inter-island routes out of necessity for the islands but the airline as we know it was going to cease to exist.
Any word on Bank of Hawaiis HA debit Visa? Wondering if I should continue to pay the $3 a month charge if I’m not getting miles for it any longer.
Hawaiian Miles has always been a terrible program. Alaska Mileage Plan runs circles around Hawaiian Miles in terms of redemptions.
There’s more to a loyalty program than “topping off a Marriott stay”. Nobody who understands miles values would ever do that to begin with.
Queue all the “I’ll never fly Alaska” comments.