HawaiianMiles members are seeing the first concrete signs of a major shift under the upcoming Alaska Airlines joint loyalty program. A quietly worded email from an unfamiliar contact at Alaska Airlines revealed the introduction of two new First Class award levels designed to align HawaiianMiles redemptions with Alaska’s Mileage Plan.
While the message framed the update as a way to increase availability and add what’s termed in the industry as “last seat” redemption options, the real story may be what Hawaiian travelers weren’t told: that award prices are now soaring to levels never seen before.
One-way First Class flights to Hawaii are already now showing pricing up to 250,000 miles, depending on destination and demand.
There was no effective date in the message or other official word we’ve seen. But award searches now suggest these change are already live. Given this, travelers holding HawaiianMiles may want to reconsider how and when they use them, because at least some redemption values may have just taken a significant hit.
The email said however that “For a majority of the seats, award travel will either stay the same or be reduced by 10,000 miles across all routes, with more generous availability. A small portion of higher end award ranges increased to align to Mileage Plan.” Please check for yourselves and let us know what you find compared with earlier award costs.
What you just lost with your HawaiianMiles.
Separate from this award pricing overhaul, HawaiianMiles members were recently notified that a significant number of airline and shopping partnerships are being eliminated. As of June 30, 2025, members can no longer redeem miles for award flights with JetBlue, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, or China Airlines.
All award travel through these partnerships must be booked by June 30 and flown by February 28, 2026. After that, those redemption options will disappear.
For many Hawaii travelers—especially those on the U.S. mainland or flying internationally—these partners offered added flexibility when Hawaiian Airlines wasn’t available, or when travelers preferred to redeem miles for other parts of their trip.
In addition, as we wrote about previously, the ability to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to HawaiianMiles—a feature not available with Alaska—also appears to be ending. However, this has not yet been formally announced.
The changes don’t stop at the airport. Hawaiian is also ending its shopping and dining partnerships that have long allowed members to earn or redeem miles with familiar brands. Gone as of June 30 are Foodland, along with other resident-facing options like Hele, Konos, Koa Pancake, The Alley, Maui Jim, and Boyd. That leaves fewer ways to earn or use miles in practical, everyday ways—especially for Hawaii-based members.
A major realignment in international travel.
Alongside these loyalty changes, Hawaiian Airlines is also making a quiet but significant shift in its international partner network. Effective May 7, 2025, the airline will begin a reciprocal codeshare with Qantas, covering a wide range of routes across Australia and non-competitive Hawaii-to-mainland U.S. flights.
This move replaces Hawaiian’s existing codeshare with Virgin Australia, among the partners being dropped from the HawaiianMiles program. For flyers used to booking award travel into or within Australia through Virgin, this represents both a structural and loyalty-level shakeup.
While codeshares and operational partnerships are often invisible to travelers booking only on Hawaiian Airlines’ website, these backend changes directly affect seat availability, routing options, and mile redemption flexibility. Once again, the timing here overlaps with loyalty phase-outs, creating a transition window where travelers will await what comes next.
How the award prices changed.
In the email shared with us, Alaska Airlines outlined the new First Class award pricing ranges as follows:
Pago Pago, Papeete, Rarotonga: 47,500–175,000 miles
Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand: 65,000–250,000 miles
West Coast US: 40,000–150,000 miles
East Coast US: 40,000–250,000 miles
These figures mark a clear departure from Hawaiian’s prior fixed award structure. Previously, First Class award travel on most routes typically topped out at 80,000 miles round-trip—or around 40,000 miles one-way—during peak periods.
Under the new model, awards follow a variable pricing structure based on demand, with a new “last seat available” tier. This means members can redeem miles even on full flights, but often at a dramatically higher mileage cost than traditional saver-level awards.
This mirrors the Alaska Mileage Plan system, which has long offered last-seat redemptions but at much higher mileage costs. The difference now is that HawaiianMiles members are being folded into this approach, effectively ending Hawaiian’s more predictable and affordable award model.
What hasn’t changed—yet.
According to Alaska’s message, there are no changes to Main Cabin award prices or the entry-level 40,000-mile First Class awards—for now. That said, the ceiling matters more than the floor for most travelers. These changes will be most felt by peak-season flights and high-demand routes, especially for residents who rely on award travel during holidays or school breaks.
Miles themselves are also retaining their current value through the transition. Hawaiian’s elite members have the option to link accounts with Alaska’s Mileage Plan, match status, and transfer miles 1:1. While this offers some short-term utility, it doesn’t resolve the core concern: once-loyal travelers are now facing higher award pricing, fewer redemption options, and a lack of transparency about the future.
A broader network is coming.
While the current phase-out of partners and steep award pricing have raised concerns, there is another side to this transition. Through its acquisition by Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines will soon gain access to oneworld—among the world’s largest airline alliances.
This means that once the combined loyalty program is fully rolled out, members previously limited by Hawaiian’s own program can redeem miles on a much broader set of global carriers, including American Airlines, British Airways, Japan Airlines, and more.
Historically, HawaiianMiles has been one of the most limited frequent flyer programs in the U.S., with relatively few airline partners and minimal alliance benefits. That’s now changing. The short-term loss of familiar redemption options could be followed by broader access and greater flexibility. However, many details about how redemptions and elite benefits will ultimately work under the new structure are still unknown.
What to do now.
If you hold HawaiianMiles, there are a few key actions to take before June 30, 2025:
- Redeem any existing partner airline awards before that deadline.
- Use up shopping and dining redemptions with partners like Foodland while they’re still active.
- Link your HawaiianMiles and Alaska Mileage Plan accounts to match status and unlock mutual benefits.
- Check award pricing frequently on routes you plan to travel—especially in First Class—and be prepared for pricing volatility for now.
Once the new joint loyalty program launches later this year, further changes are almost certainly guaranteed. But by then, some of today’s options will no longer be attainable.
What comes next.
It’s a loyalty limbo with no official end date. While Alaska’s messaging emphasizes increased flexibility, the reality for Hawaii travelers may feel anything but. Nonetheless, the end is in sight, and before long, it will be clear how the new combined Hawaiian/Alaska loyalty program will work.
Have you already seen these new award prices in your own searches? Did you lose access to a favorite HawaiianMiles partner? Let us know how this loyalty transition is affecting your travel decisions.
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Alaska air did a lot of changing on their own plan too and the biggest affect I saw was it is not as favorable to their gold members ones who are in the tier because they are loyal and pay for the flights them selves vs the 75K and 100l often earned by business travelers who’s tickets are not funded. By thier own earning or choices. Harder to earn status, elite miles and now the upgrade scheme are all negative to this group
So if I’m reading this info correctly, after June 30 not only will miles be earned only by purchased flights, but miles we’ve worked many years to accumulate for use in our retirement, and were assurred that those miles would never expire, will basically be stolen by Hawaiian/Alaskan. Trying to use the miles prior to June 30 is a joke.
To be fair, any miles accumulated prior to June 30 should remain Intact, but I guess fairness is a moot point in this game. It appears that the Hawaiian card will be worthless to us from here on. Sad, we have always been big fans of Hawaiian, but as usual, money always wins. Aloha.
Stick with cash-back cards. These “points” and “loyalty” programs are a total ripoff. It allows the company to create a digital currency, of sorts, which they will devalue into oblivion.
Only one way to win this crooked game: don’t play.
I guarantee many people here in Hawaii saw this coming. I only use Hawaiian now for inter-island flying. To mainland and International trips I utilize my American Airlines. I stopped using the HA credit card and only use the AA credit card
I just recently linked my account to Alaska and transferred some miles over. For me specifically, booking on JAL through Alaska came out 10k miles cheaper for the same “premium economy” seat. (40k with Alaska, 50k with Hawaiian)
I’m not sure how things will change in the future, but seeing it in action recently, made me realize how much of a rip-off the Hawaiian miles were, even with the same partner airline.
Let’s once again cut to the chase.
I said almost from day one the acquisition by Alaska was greed.
Alaskan was failing airlines who fleeced Hawaiian for their bigger planes. …….Alaskan does not give a blank #$! about the Hawaiian people and or the vendors that Hawaiian supported.
They never did. They lied to everyone with their promises.
They did what any corporate company does. Screw the people and focus on the business customer. Hawaiian was a cultural Airline who treated its hawaiian customers with Aloha. What your seeing now is a complete takeover of any resemblance of what Hawaiian was. They are already making Hawaiian a facade. When my miles are all used. Alaskan is the last airline I will ever choose to fly on.
With my many business connections living in Hawaii we will make sure people know this too. Zero respect for their corporate greed based upon lying to the Hawaiian people.
And ruining a once proud airline and spitting upon its people in the Islands.
One thing for sure. If you don’t have the minimum required miles to redeem then No Free Rides. Start paying or simply don’t go. Nothing like feeling like those earned rewards miles are now worthless. Never know that 250k might jump to 350K in the next 6 months. Inflation,the economy will soon tell.
Just linked my accounts and matched my status, but it feels like a weird limbo. Waiting for the new program while already losing the old one. Not great but what choice is there.
We’ve redeemed miles for 1st cl. flights to Japan and Tahiti in the past. No way we could or would afford 250,000 miles each way. It feels like those redemptions are gone for good. We sure enjoyed them while they lasted.
We used our Alaska points for a trip to Oahu last week. We arranged this last November. Then we were notified we would be on Hawaiian. Our points were refunded so we paid for extra comfort on the 330. Ok. 4 days before we were to fly, our tickets vanished, no refund or notice. Only by accident did we catch it! Hawaiian told us nothing but to contact Alaska. Alaska was puzzled, but a kind Alaska employ spent an hour on the phone with us sorting it, getting us reimbursed and able to buy our tickets and specific seats. It cost $600 more for 3 tickets in extra comfort. It all felt like a scam. No one has been able to explain what happened or even do anything other than say,”we are sorry this happened”. I was fine with the merger, but its already cost me stress and money.
Honolulu to Auckland used to be 50k, now it’s 150k. I’m using the rest of my miles for my October trip then I’m done. It’s a shame Hawaiian miles are becoming worthless like every other airline RIP Hawaiian.
So much for transparency. These airline “enhancements” always seem to benefit the airline rather than the traveler. Loyalty just isn’t the way to go any longer.
This is hard to read. I saved miles for years to take my parents to Maui in first class. Now I’m checking and it doesn’t look like I can even get close to affording the redemption.
Honestly, I don’t mind the idea of broader access through oneworld eventually, but this transition has been really poorly communicated. Hawaii travelers deserve better.
I feel like we’re being punished for loyalty. I’ve been earning HawaiianMiles for years, and now it’s like the rug just got pulled out. No heads-up, no explanation—just boom, up to 250K? It was never the greatest program but at least it was pretty consistent.
Being a HA Barclay CC user for many years I dumped almost of my points into two first class tickets to Kauai in March from Phoenix on the wide body Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The 787 no longer available from Phoenix to Hawaii as back to the Airbus widebody which is not nearly as good as the Boeing 787 in any class. Alaska Air flights from Phoenix to the Seattle where son’s family lives will be not be my choice as usually use Southwest or AA for that route. So do not see much usefulness for the new Alaska Air CC.
I have no experience with the HA Barclay credit card.
I and family members use the BofA Alaska credit card for personal use. My business trips require the use of a corporate card.
One of the great benefits of the BofA credit card – my authorized users receive the first checked bag on AS for free – and I don’t have to travel with them!
When flying AA, I always credit my miles to AS – which definitely helps to maintain my MVP Gold 100K status. Becuase of my AS status – more often than not, I’m able to upgrade at no charge on AA.