Before the deal apparent completely concludes, many travelers are understandably concerned about the fate of their hard earned HawaiianMiles and Hawaiian Airlines co-branded credit card. With so much uncertainty, here’s what might happen and how to best protect your travel rewards.
The current situation following DOJ review.
Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines have reached a new point in their merger process. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) review period expired last night, which means that Alaska Airlines is now set to acquire Hawaiian Airlines unless further legal action is taken by the Department of Transportation. This new development suggests that the merger will almost certainly move forward, potentially leading to significant changes for Hawaiian Airlines’ loyalists and HawaiianMiles members.
Details of the Hawaiian Alaska deal – known details and those in process.
With the merger poised to now proceed, it’s important to note that the logistics of integrating the two airlines’ loyalty programs and other customer-facing systems are still unclear.
It’s expected that HawaiianMiles will eventually be converted to Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan at a 1:1 ratio. That was confirmed to Beat of Hawaii by Alaska Airlines. However, the exact timeline and details of this conversion are still pending, and both systems could continue to operate separately for some time during the transition period.
Daniel A., a reader, asked today, “Aloha BOH, thanks for your reporting. Where did you find Alaska making the commitment that Hawaiian Miles would transfer 1:1 to Alaska? In a press release?”
While there hasn’t been a formal press release to our knowledge, Alaska Airlines has confirmed this in writing, by email in June 2024, to Beat of Hawaii.
Historical precedents and the value of airline miles.
However, even with a 1:1 conversion, the value of the miles in the new program could differ over time. Alaska Airlines offers a far more extensive range of benefits and international travel options through its global partners and OneWorld alliance, which could also enhance the value of your Hawaiian miles. Beat of Hawaii editors have used Alaska Miles for years on their award partners for international travel for example.
On the other hand, changes in award availability and redemption rates could potentially reduce the value of your converted miles over time. For example, the point redemption can vary between both airlines on the same routes.
That is the nature of all airline frequent flyer programs and nothing about Alaska Airlines in particular.
What About Hawaiian Airlines credit cards?
Currently, there are two airline-branded credit cards: Alaska’s with Bank of America and Hawaiian’s with Barclay. It remains unclear what will happen to the Hawaiian Airlines credit card following the merger completion. The Hawaiian card could either continue to exist or be phased out. Until more details are revealed, it’s difficult to predict how this aspect will play out.
What we do know is what happened when Alaska announced their acquisition of Virgin America in 2016. They allowed Virgin America cardholders to keep earning miles and using that credit card through 2017. All open accounts were closed at the beginning of 2018, and cardholders were not grandfathered into the Alaska credit card.
Updated strategies for HawaiianMiles holders.
Redeem your miles for Hawaii flights before the merger is completed. With potential changes in redemption policies or availability, using your HawaiianMiles sooner could help avoid any future unknowns.
For example, as we mentioned recently, Beat of Hawaii editors just used HawaiianMiles to book a round-trip flight between Hawaii and French Polynesia for 49,500 miles per person, which was a great deal compared to the cash fare of over $1,000 or what might be expected going forward.
Final thoughts: preparing for the future of one airline.
As the situation evolves, stay informed and be proactive in managing your HawaiianMiles and credit card benefits. While the promise of a 1:1 conversion is reassuring, the long-term value of your miles and the future of your credit card benefits remain uncertain with all airlines.
By staying engaged with updates and planning accordingly, you can make the most of your travel rewards in this transitional period. We will be keeping an eye on this aspect.
For more details, you can refer to these related articles:
- What Should You Do With HawaiianMiles Amidst Merger Plans?
- Alaska Speaks Up on Merger: Our Comparative Look at Mileage Rewards.
Any thoughts or concerns on your HawaiianMiles or credit card?
Just received a notification that Barclay’s will be increasing interest rate by 5% beginning in Oct. Why the increase? Customer service reps give a different explanation, but said everyone will be affected . They are adjusting to changing marketing..
Aloha Rob+Jeff Thanks always for your informative updates. It would be great if the airlines and lodging facilities could bend together and offer some lucrative deals for those of us who would like to use our miles to travel there while we can still get our miles worth. It would be a win-win deal for airlines, hotels,condos and STR’s all the way around, I would think. Your ideas? Or is it too far fetched to consider? Will be awaiting and looking for an opportunity to visit Kauai again or maybe Kona before all deals are off the board. Will really miss HA, but not the 2 mile walk to the gate in Los Angeles. Haha. Mahalo and Aloha
Mahalo for the updates.
I have about $1000 in HA gift cards purchased from Costco, no expiration date. Any thoughts on how these will be affected?
By law, gift cards do not expire.
Through the year(s), Costco has sold discounted gift cards from Alaska, Hawaiian and Southwest at various times and warehouses. Not all warehouses have carried all three airline brands – some were available as “online only” deals.
Let’s say the D.O.T. does not approve the acquisition, you could return the card to Costco and receive your money back if Hawaiian were to fail and shutdown.
Costco will always stand behind their members!
I’m one hundred percent certain that Alaska will receive final approval, and your gift card at some point will also be valid on Alaska – as Alaska will be consolidating most back office and point-of-sale systems to their platforms.
Spent most of my miles to go to the Cook Islands in January. Glad I did. Would rather spend them than deal with any uncertainty.
Greatly appreciate your direct questioning of Alaska Airlines and reporting on it.
Though, I think your strategy advice is off base. By just about any measure Alaska miles are worth significantly more than Hawaiian miles, most blogs have them at ~2x the value. So even with some devaluation risk, a 1:1 transfer is massive gain for those holding Hawaiian miles. Your HNL-Tahiti example, along with HNL-Rarotonga, are major outliers, frequently netting ~2 cents/mile. Hawaii-mainland and interisland are consistently way lower, typically well below 1 cent/mile. It is nearly impossible to get such poor value for Alaska miles. I typically find closer to 1.5 cents/Alaska mile, including on Hawaii-mainland routes.
I, too, am curious about a potential timeline for using my points. I haven’t booked earlier than end of December for my usual May travel to Kauai. That’s about 4 months away. I wouldn’t think anything will happen within that time frame. Your thoughts?
I truly appreciate all of what you guys do! Thank you!
Hi Katie.
We haven’t had updated word since the beginning of the deal on this question. But we’ll seek an answer and write about it as soon as possible. Thanks for asking.
Aloha.
Kind of torn, have miles with both! Would be great to combine and get a few round trips from them. But also not looking forward to the headache of the transfer! Hoping they allow transfer early on to alaska miles and keep it simple.
It is not uncommon for merging airlines to keep offering credit cards from their respective banks. It likely depends on the deals with those banks that were made prior to the merger. See AA for example. In the end, if it makes financial sense to keep both then they likely will. Bottom line: it’s always about the money.
What does American Airlines have to do with the AS/HA merger ?
The current AA is the product of a merger between AA and US Airways. AA had a credit card relationship with Citibank, and US Airways with Barclays. They kept both going post-merger and even today you can get new AA Advantage credit cards from either bank.
Unlike US Air and American which were already larger than Alaska is today – the credit card program at Hawaiian is too small to keep as separate credit card offering.
Alaska has a very strong relationship with BofA – going back the the SeaFirst days. SeaFirst and Alaska were issuing co-brand cards back in the late 1980’s!
The best case is for BofA to purchase the credit card business from Barclays – thereby preserving your trade line from the date it was opened.
If Barclays and BofA can’t come to terms – then Barclays (along with Alaska) will notify cardholders that the Barclays credit card program is ending – most likely right at the same time that the Hawaiian Miles program is ending and converting into Mileage Plan.
This means your Barclays account will close and you would have to apply with BofA for an Alaska Signature Visa.
The process will likely be similar to what transpired when Marriott took over Starwood. Despite month (years, even) of collective angst, Starwood preferred Guest members received a reasonable exchange rate for their points when transferred into the now-b]named Marriott Bonvoy program. As Marriott has a more extensive network of properties, overall SPG members did ok. Now six years in, of course Marriott has moved to dynamic awards pricing for room redemptions using points and increased the amount of points/cash needed to book in popular locations. IMO, your advice to use Hawaiian Miles before the merger is complete is sound.
Aloha Laura !
We vividly remember the Marriott and Starwood merger/acquisition.
Honestly the Starwood then Vistana timeshare owners are kinda considered by Marriott as a annoyance.
Most owners and employees we’ve talked too, liked the old Vistana days alot better before the Marriott purchase.
Yes, things change but sometimes the huge corporations don’t always make it better and sometimes cut corners pinching pennies.
The dynamic pricing for cashing in hotel nights simply is horrible and too much corporate America taking over.
Aloha BillandKarynM, I agree that as a 22 year owner of a Westin ownership property on Maui, we are absolutely treated as stepchildren by MVC. If you are also an owner, the best advice I can give is Never cede your deed to MVC for non-deeded vacation ownership! Otherwise, my comment above was speaking more to the former Starwood Preferred Guest program. The result of the merger wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone feared and I can only imagine what would have happened had the Chinese company prevailed with the purchase of Starwood.
Do we know the expected timeframe of the merger to be complete? I already booked 2 seats to Maui from mainland end of April with a new HA credit card which earned 70k miles. Sounded like a good idea at the time since we also get 2 free bags. Hopefully flights which are listed online available to book go forward.
You recommend redeeming Hawaiian miles before the merger is completed, with the given unknowns as to their future value. What is the likely timeframe for that? In other words, before when should the miles be used?
Don’t. They will be worth more as Alaska miles given Alaska’s better award chart and larger network of partners.