Transfer Hawaiian Miles to Alaska Airlines Miles Plan

There has been significant development in the merger of Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlinessince the two airlines have just launched the possibility of transferring miles between their respective loyalty programs. While post-merger plans call for a single and combined loyalty programThis is an important first step and opens a lucrative new avenue for those with American Express Membership Rewards Points.

This is because Amex points transfer to Hawaiian miles at a 1:1 ratio (although they are subject to a federal excise tax offset fee of 120 points or 60 cents per 1,000 points transferred). So, now you can transfer Amex points to Hawaiian and then transfer them to Alaska miles, one of the most valuable airline coins out there.

Related: American Express Membership Rewards Transfer Partners: Maximize Your Points

Even better? These transfers are processed instantly, although the FAQ indicates that they can take up to 72 hours.

Here’s what you need to know about this new option.

How to transfer miles between Alaska and Hawaii

If you have a balance of Hawaiian miles (or Amex points recently transferred to the airline) and want to convert them to Alaska miles, start by visiting this Points.com page. Start by selecting the program you want to transfer miles to, which in my case was Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.

From there, follow the prompts to sign in to your Alaska and Hawaii accounts.

You will then be taken to a screen to confirm the number of miles you wish to transfer. There’s a handy slider, though note that transfers must be made in 50-mile increments.

I opted to transfer my entire 1,200 Hawaiian mile balance, and after clicking Continue, I was asked to confirm the transfer amount.

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You will then see a confirmation page indicating that the transfer was successful.

As noted above, these transfers are processed instantly, as I was able to immediately see the 1,200 miles in my Alaska Mileage Plan account.

Just keep in mind that your profile information on your two accounts must match, so check this if you have any problems.

This is an exciting new development for members, and it comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Transportation codifying important consumer protections as a condition of the merger. Alaska Mileage Plan has a lot of fantastic sweet spotsand before this, the only transferable currency that offered transfers to Alaska Airlines was Bilt Rewards. Now, the holders of select American Express Cards You have the ability to effectively earn Alaska miles by first transferring them to Hawaiian Airlines and then transferring them to the Mileage Plan.

This also does Hawaiian Co-Branded Cards Even more attractive, since the welcome offers on those cards are now effectively Alaska miles. Additionally, cardholders can transfer (and receive) Hawaiian miles from any other program member, with no limits or fees. This offers valuable flexibility for sharing miles between friends and family.

Read more: A Bet on Alaska Miles: Why I Applied for 2 Hawaiian Airlines Cards on the Same Day

You can now transfer miles between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, which effectively means you can convert American Express Membership Rewards points into Alaska Mileage Plan miles. As a full member of the Oneworld alliance, Alaska offers fantastic redemptions at attractive prices, especially in light of recent changes to British Airways award fares (a long-time Amex transfer partner).

While we typically don’t recommend making speculative transfers from credit card programs to airline currencies, this new development may be enough to do so.