There’s been a significant growth within the merger of Hawaiian Airways and Alaska Airways, as the 2 carriers simply launched the power to switch miles between their respective loyalty packages. Whereas post-merger plans name for a single, mixed loyalty program, this is a crucial first step — and opens up a profitable new avenue for these with American Specific Membership Rewards factors.
That’s as a result of Amex factors switch to Hawaiian miles at a 1:1 ratio (although they’re topic to a federal excise tax offset price of 120 factors or 60 cents per 1,000 factors transferred). Thus, now you can switch Amex factors to Hawaiian after which switch them to Alaska miles, probably the most precious airline currencies on the market.
Associated: American Specific Membership Rewards switch companions: Maximize your factors
Even higher? These transfers course of immediately, although the FAQs point out they may take as much as 72 hours.
Right here’s what you could learn about this new choice.
Methods to switch miles between Alaska and Hawaiian
If you happen to’re sitting on a stability of Hawaiian miles (or not too long ago transferred Amex factors to the airline) and wish to convert them to Alaska miles, begin by visiting this Factors.com web page. Begin by deciding on this system to which you wish to switch miles, which in my case was Alaska Airways Mileage Plan.
From there, comply with the prompts to sign up to each your Alaska and Hawaiian accounts.
You’ll then be taken to a display screen to substantiate the variety of miles you wish to switch. There’s a useful slider to make use of, although observe that transfers have to be in increments of fifty miles.
I opted to switch my whole stability of 1,200 Hawaiian miles, and after I clicked Proceed, I used to be requested to substantiate the switch quantity.
You’ll then see a affirmation web page, indicating that the switch was profitable.
As famous above, these transfers course of immediately, as I used to be capable of instantly see the 1,200 miles in my Alaska Mileage Plan account.
Simply observe that your profile info in your two accounts should match, so double examine that if you happen to run into any points.
That is an thrilling new growth for members, and it comes on the heels of the U.S. Division of Transportation codifying necessary client protections as a situation of the merger. Alaska Mileage Plan has a ton of terrific candy spots, and previous to this, the one transferable forex that supplied transfers to Alaska Airways was Bilt Rewards. Now, holders of choose American Specific playing cards have the power to successfully earn Alaska miles by first transferring to Hawaiian Airways after which transferring them to Mileage Plan.
This additionally makes Hawaiian’s cobranded playing cards much more interesting, because the welcome affords on these playing cards are actually successfully Alaska miles. As well as, cardmembers can switch (and obtain) Hawaiian miles from some other member of this system, with no limits and no charges. This affords precious flexibility in sharing miles amongst family and friends members.
Learn extra: A raffle on Alaska miles — why I utilized for two Hawaiian Airways playing cards on the identical day
Backside line
Now you can switch miles between Alaska Airways and Hawaiian Airways, which successfully means you may convert American Specific Membership Rewards factors into Alaska Mileage Plan miles. As a full member of the Oneworld alliance, Alaska affords some improbable redemptions at enticing costs — particularly in gentle of current modifications to British Airways award charges (a long-timer Amex switch companion).
Whereas we normally don’t advocate making speculative transfers from bank card packages to airline currencies, this new growth could also be sufficient to take action.