There’s a limited period in which you can apply for both Bank of America Alaska Airlines credit cards, and also Barclays Hawaiian Airlines credit cards and the miles can all wind up in your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account. In fact, your friends and family can get these cards and pool all the miles into your account, too.
Waikiki Beach
That play was created by Alaska’s acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, and won’t last. I spoke with Alaska’s Vice President of Loyalty, Alliances, and Sales Brett Catlin about next year’s Mileage Plan program changes, and I took the opportunity to ask about their co-brand credit card relationship going forward, now that Alaska Airlines has acquired Hawaiian.
Currently there are separate credit cards. You can get both the Barclays Hawaiian cards and the Bank of America Alaska cards. Your miles can be transferred back and forth between Alaska and Hawaiian (generally instantly, at 1:1). And Hawaiian Airlines cardmembers can transfer points between members (whether they have the card or not), free of charge.
Here’s what’s going to happen to these separate Alaska and Hawaiian cards, and to points pooling for cardemmbers:
- There will be two separate card issuers, Barclays (Hawaiian) and Bank of America (Alaska) until they move to a single loyalty program – which they “intend to happen pretty quickly” since that will let them market more broadly and with less complexity.
- Legacy Hawaiian Airlines cardmembers – the “back book” – will transfer over to the Alaska card. However there is “no immediacy for that to transition” and is something that will “happen over a period of time.”
- When they move to the single loyalty program, though, the free transfer benefit – which is an element of the legacy HawaiianMiles program – “goes away for that subset of cardholders.”
Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330 First Class
So the ability to get the Hawaiian Airlines credit card – and the ability of cardmembers to freely transfer points between their account and the accounts of others – will go away when they combine the programs.
However, Catlin adds that they “like the benefit so stay tuned” about transferring points for free between members. Free points transfers are an invitation to fraud, but they like linking the benefit to members holding their co-brand card and believe that does a lot to manage the problem.
Separately, last week at an event that I attended, he suggested the likelihood we will be seeing a premium Alaska Airlines credit card in the offing as well.
Gary,
I understand that Alaska will preserve the Hawaiian brand, do you have a timeline on Hawaiian joining the oneworld alliance?
@Ron – Hawaiian will be part of oneworld once a single operating certificate is achieved, assume 12-18 months
I’ve long thought that transfers only between two co-brand cardholders is the right way to solve the fraud problem with points transfers.
Thanks Gary. Glad I just got both HA cards. I felt a little bad about going for biz at only 50k, but I figured low chance for any future increased offers.
Interesting
I just opened a Hawaiian card. Should I open an Alaska card now before my Hawaiian card turns into an Alaska card? Once my Hawaiian card turns into an Alaska card, will I be able to open an Alaska card? A premium card is interesting.
Does this mean that if I sign up for an Alaska card I can get the sign up bonus, which is currently 50K miles, and then when the two cards are combined I’ll not only get my current 80K Hawaiian miles but also the Alaska 50K? Did I read that correctly? If I apply for the Alaska card, I’ll wind up with $130K miles combined?
As my Hawaiian card is going to go away at some point due to the merger anyway, this may be a smart move if I’m interpreting this correctly.
Thank you for any pointers and for clearing up my confusion.
Can you get the Hawaiian bonus again if you’ve had the card in the past and cancelled?
What does quickly mean in this context? End of this quarter?
> “which they “intend to happen pretty quickly” “
@Bob no, having your account converted from a Barclays Hawaiian card to a BoA Alaska card will not get you a a second sign up bonus.
I once did the 60K bonus a couple of years ago and was bummed to realize I had to buy more miles for two “first class” one-way tickets HNL to San Jose, SFO would have been even more. And their first class is just glorified economy. After one year (required) I canceled the card. As aside, Hawaiian Airlines flights to Japan from HNL get canceled frequently and Business is 2-2-2, necessitating the window seat person climbing over aisle person to get to the lavatory. We stick with JAL. Aloha
Gary,
Any chance you could confirm that in the quote “Legacy Hawaiian Airlines cardmembers – the “back book” – will transfer over to the Alaska card.”, whether the “the Alaska Card” here means the Bank of America card, or was this a general statement to mean they will be transferred to an Alaska card, leaving the door open for Barclays to continue managing the card, similar to AA’s agreement with Citi/Barclays.
Thanks!