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We’ve written a lot about the unique opportunity for a “Points Rush” that has presented itself via the Hawaiian and Alaska merger. Earlier this month we found out that you could combine Hawaiian simply online which made the prospect of a points rush even more appealing. You see, both airlines have their own credit cards, and that means that you could sign up for both Hawaiian and Alaska cards, merge them into one account and generate a nice sized balance. If you have the personal Hawaiian card you could even merge points from any other person with a Hawaiian account making it even more appealing. If that isn’t enough, you could compound that by transferring Amex to Hawaiian to Alaska and you get the picture…lots of points. We’ve always believed that this opportunity wouldn’t last long since the precedent set by other mergers is that the acquired company’s cards get folded into the new joint airline portfolio and new applicants are no longer accepted.
We now have a clearer picture of what Alaska intends to do from an interview with Brett Catlin, Alaska’s Vice President of Loyalty, Alliances, Sales did with Gary at View From The Wing.
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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.
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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.”
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“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.”
So what does this? You’d better sign up for those cards sooner than later if you’re intending on adding to your portfolio since they won’t last much longer
I don’t have affiliate links to these cards, but these are the best offers on them from my spreadsheet.
Hawaiian Cards
| Hawaiian Airlines Business | $99 | 50k after $4k spend in 3mos |
| The Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® | $99 | 70k after single purchase in 90 days ( use code 015514) |
Alaska Cards
| Alaska Airlines Personal | $95 | 60k after $3k spend in 3 months + $122 BOGO |
| Alaska Airlines Business | $95 | 50k after $4k in 3 months + $122 BOGO |
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.