We’ve talked before about the arbitrage that has been ongoing this year to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points into Alaska MileagePlan miles, which is all because Alaska is buying Hawaiian and Hawaiian has long been a transfer partner of American Express.
However, the partnership with American Express officially ends June 30th (to me its not clear if the 30th is the last day to transfer or the first day that you cannot, so do any transfers by the end of the 29th, this Sunday, to be safe).
We have pretty good information based on what Alaska execs have said that there is no reasonable way to think Alaska will partner with Amex in the future. Anything is always possible but it does not appear on the table. Outside of Bilt and Marriott, nothing transfers to Alaska so it’s worth thinking about while you can.
I know you want me to tell you if you should do this. All I can say is to run searches on Alaska which still has some great award rates – but has also slowly been devaluing their awards – and see how excited you are, knowing that future devaluation is inevitable. Weight that against your FOMO for not having Alaska miles later on and consider the size of your Amex and Alaska balances accordingly.
Also keep in mind the small excise fee you’ll pay when transferring from Amex to Hawaiian (which you can then link and transfer to Alaska) – though it’s capped at $99 no matter how many miles you use.
Mainly, I wanted to remind you that you have 2 days….
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.
I transferred because I can always get more Amex MR but not Alaska miles. I already booked future travel with it.