While I was flying home from a conference yesterday, transfers between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines came online, meaning that you can transfer as little as 50 points, with no fee, in either direction. This is of course because of Alaska’s acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines.
In this article
How Do You Transfer Hawaiian Miles to Alaska Airlines MileagePlan?
First, it’s very easy (for most people) to transfer from Hawaiian to Alaska.
You can use this link to initiate a transfer in either direction.
From there, it’s self explanatory as you login to each of your accounts (this is managed via points.com) and off you go. The transfer is instant.
Now, it goes without saying that your names and profile information must match to a T, but one glitch people have discovered is that if you have a last name with two letters, as many Asian names do, you will get an error. Hopefully that is quickly sorted. Someone in IT clearly thought a 2 letter last name wasn’t possible…
Can You Still Transfer American Express Membership Rewards to Hawaiian Miles (And Then to Alaska)?
Yesterday, the answer was no. Everyone that tried got an error up front at best, or completed the transfer only to have the points refunded within 15 minutes.
Today (Fri Sept 27), transfers appear restored, creating much joy for those that thought they waited too long.
That said, if you want to transfer to Alaska from Amex using the Hawaiian loophole (because let’s all remember that Alaska has always chosen NOT to be an Amex MR partner), you should do it immediately.
It’s very possible that the errors yesterday, said to be from Hawaiian blocking the transfers, was an early warning that Hawaiian is in the process of getting these transfers ended sooner than later. In fact, when I saw the failed transfers yesterday, the same day that you could officially transfer from Hawaiian to Alaska, I was pretty convinced that was it – the rug had been pulled. Rarely do these things happen completely accidentally. I realize there is a *chance* that it was simple server overload that had Hawaiian pulling the plug for a day but, again, we don’t know so if you want to transfer, do it while you can.
Every time there is an elevated credit card offer for 3 months, there are a handful of people that post-FOMO looking for an active link one day later.
When Hawaiian pulls the plug on Amex transfers, there’s a good chance that opportunity will be gone for good.
Thoughts?
Let me know below in the comments, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram for all sorts of tips on miles, points, credit cards, and travel.
If this post helped you, please consider sharing it!
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
