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The Hawaiian and Alaska merger is approved and this is a great benefit of the approval you may not have thought about.
It’s sure looking like this backend run around transfer will work starting later this month or next month. We’ve been patiently waiting to see if Hawaiian and Alaska would be approved for a merger, it was of high liklihood after the DOJ cleared it. Then, we were waiting to see if the miles would transfer 1:1. I’ve been writing about my strategy in my newsletter ( transferring Amex to Hawaiian with a 20% bonus in August ) to take advantage of this speculative opportunity that appears to be coming to fruition, and lo and behold it was one of the DOT conditions for them to approve it.
What I didn’t think would happen would be the integration of a Hawaiian to Alaska mileage transfers this soon. I figured it would be next year. But no… it’s starting very soon. Let’s break down how you would accomplish this as well as why you would want to do it.
I’m going to also show you how you could move Alaska miles to another Alaska account.
*I will say this is not confirmed, and they could always dellineate between miles pre and post merger to prohibit this, but I think this will work. We will find out later this month tho once transfer are approved
Table of Contents
One – Hawaiian is an Amex partner
You can transfer points 1:1 between the programs.
Two: Alaska announced you’ll be able to move Hawaiian and Alaska miles between accounts this month in their press statement
Later this month, September 2024, you’ll be able to move Hawaiian to Alaska and vice versa
Three: Transfer Amex to Hawaiian to transfer to Alaska for more redemption opportunities
This means you’ll actually be able to do this Amex -> Hawaiian -> Alaska later this month…
If you have the Hawaiian Airlines card you could even move between Hawaiian Accounts
You have even more options if you have the Hawaiian personal card…which I just got with a 70k offer after a single purchase.
Look at the Share Miles benefit
Amex to Hawaiian account 1 to Hawaiian account 2 to Alaska
Alaska 1 to Hawaiian 1 to Hawaiian 2 to Alaska 2
Why would you want to do this? Alaska has better redemption opportunities
First Off… the biggest Hawaiian Airlines sweet spot is first class in lie flat mainland US to Hawaii for 40k per person
This would be a very good reason to transfer Alaska to Hawaiian if you were sitting on a heap of Alaska miles. I’ve screencapped the East Coast rates since they are the highest and as you can see they are just 40k each way in first
Alaska Airlines is a part of One World + Great List of Redemption Parnters
In 2020 Alaska Airlines announced that they were joining One World. This became official on March 31st, 2021. There is also improved benefits when flying domestically on American, including upgrades for Elites, lounge access, etc. In my opinion, it’s never been better to have Alaska Elite Status. Read the in depth break down here.
Alaska also allows you to book in a stopover on Award tickets.
I used the stopover to spend 3 nights in Hong Kong at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong – booked with Prive benefits.
We flew on their A350 from BNE to HKG and then HKG to LAX aboard Cathay Pacific First Class. Cathay’s Business Class is a wonderful product featuring reverse herringbone, cirrus seating that is amongst the tops in the world.
Alaska Airlines Sweet Spots
Americas
Short Haul is a great deal. I’ve used this between Indianapolis and JFK, and then flying to Central and South American in Business Class between 35k and 50k is amazing. Think of flying from the Southern States where the mileage is much less to take advantage of these prices.
- Less than 700 miles
- Econ for 4500 Miles
- 2101 to 4000
- Business for 35k
- 4k to 6000
- Business for 50k
Europe/Middle East/Africa
London is a sweet spot for sure, but the flights that price between 55k and 70k aren’t to bad if you can bake in a free stopover. Think of flying into Helsinki on FinnAir business, spend a few days, then continue onward mainland Europe. The 85k rate is a screaming good deal into Africa or the Middle East with QSuites especially because you can bake in a stopover.
- 1501 to 3500 miles
- Business for 45k
- London from NYC or BOS is priced this way. Great Deal
- 5000 to 7000
- Business for 70k
- Look for the stopover perks here
- 7000 to 10000
- Business for 85k
- Think of QSuites to the Maldives or Africa here
Asia
Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines come to mind with these rates. Both are phenom products and these prices are great. Think of booking a flight into Japan, stopping over, and continuing onward into SouthEast Asia for just 85k in business class. That is a homerun deal imo.
- 5000 to 7000
- Business 75k
- 7001 to 10k
- Business 85k
Here are the all Alaska Award Charts
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
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠
- 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.
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