Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines unlocks miles transfers

Members of both Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines can now swap their miles between the two programs ahead of their impending merger that was recently approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

It’s a significant milestone in the cooperation between the two carriers, and one that offers significant benefits to frequent flyers. Although they’re both US-based airlines, Australian American Express members can benefit as Hawaiian Airlines is a Membership Rewards transfer partner.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is also a firm-favourite program of savvy point hackers. It offers great-value redemptions across a range of oneworld member airlines, such as Qantas, and other external partners, such as Taiwan’s Starlux.

Miles transfers are quick and easy

To make a transfer, you need to be a member of both programs and have points in one of them. Start by clicking through to this Points.com landing page and follow the prompts to log in to both accounts. If all goes well, you’ll see a screen below showing how many miles you can transfer.

Simply enter your desired balance and complete the transaction. The transfer may take up to 72 hours, but in our experience, it goes through immediately.

US-based accounts may be subject to a ‘federal excise tax offset fee’ of up to US$0.60 per 1,000 miles transferred, but it seems this is not charged for accounts registered outside of the US.

Summing up

Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines’ newest miles transfer facility will undoubtedly be very popular (especially going from HawaiianMiles to Mileage Plan miles). For Australian-based flyers, this now adds an extra way to acquire Mileage Plan miles via American Express Membership Rewards.

For example, we recently reviewed American Airlines Business Class from Los Angeles to Sydney. We used 108,400 Qantas Points + fees and taxes, but the same seat only costs 85,000 Alaska Airlines miles.

Transfer Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airlines or Alaska Airlines (via Hawaiian) at a 2 to 1 rate.