Alaska's merger with Hawaiian last year created a golden opportunity: It made Alaska miles an unofficial Amex transfer partner, as you can currently send Amex points to Hawaiian, then kick them over to Alaska. But not for much longer.
After months of speculation that this workaround would close as the two airlines combine loyalty programs, a warning abruptly appeared in Amex accounts Friday with the following notice: “Effective June 30, 2025, the ability to transfer Membership Rewards® to Hawaiian Airlines' HawaiianMiles will no longer be available.”
Read more on why Alaska miles are so valuable – and how to earn more of them!
So if you've got points from cards like the *amex gold* or *amex platinum*, this means you've got just a month and a half remaining to turn them into ultra-valuable Alaska miles. Come July 1, it'll no longer be an option.
We wouldn't normally encourage travelers to speculatively transfer a bunch of credit card points without a specific redemption in mind. But from business class flights to Europe for 45,000 miles each way to lie-flat seats to Lima (LIM) and beyond from just 35,000 miles to quick domestic trips for 5,000 miles or less, there's no shortage of amazing ways to put Alaska miles to use.
And considering the days of this backdoor avenue to turn Amex points into Alaska miles are officially numbered, many of us at TT HQ are primed to transfer tons of points over to Hawaiian while we still can. You probably should be, too.
Here's how.
How to Transfer Hawaiian Miles to Alaska
First things first, you'll need to transfer your Amex points over to Hawaiian.
Log into your Amex account, select “Rewards & Benefits,” and find HawaiianMiles. Keep in mind: Amex passes on a small fee when transferring points to Hawaiian and other U.S. carriers like Delta and JetBlue. While annoying, that's well worth paying in this case.
Read our full guide to Amex transfer partners and how to send your points to partner airlines.
From there, you'll want to go to the Alaska and Hawaiian points transfer landing page.
The next part is important: Make sure you select the frequent flyer program to which you want to transfer miles. Since we want to convert Hawaiian miles into Alaska miles, start by selecting Mileage Plan.
You will be prompted to log in with your Alaska credentials, after which you'll see this screen. From here, you can move the slider to transfer as many of your current Hawaiian miles over to Alaska as you want. You must transfer at least 50 miles – and in increments of 50 miles, too.
Of course, this works in reverse: You can transfer miles from Alaska over to Hawaiian, too.
After clicking continue, you'll be asked to confirm your transfer.
After clicking “Transfer,” you should get a confirmation that your miles are processing – though several members of the Thrifty Traveler team got a few errors before transfers went through correctly.
If it works, check your Alaska account: Your miles should be instantly available.
Should you transfer your entire balance of Amex Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian right now? Not necessarily – at least not without a plan for how you'd use them. You'd be wise to scope out your options beforehand and be sure to leave yourself plenty of Amex points for future deals.
Luckily, there are plenty of options.
Some Ways to Redeem Alaska Miles
You could transfer 45,000 Amex points to Hawaiian, kick them over to Alaska, and book this flight to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) in Aer Lingus business class.
Or transfer 75,000 Membership Rewards points to book Starlux's fancy business class seats between the U.S. and Taipei (TPE). Alaska miles are one of the only ways to book these luxe seats to Southeast Asia.
Read next: How to Find & Book the Best Alaska Airlines Miles Deals
Honestly, you shouldn't have a hard time finding a rock-solid way to redeem those points through Alaska. We could go on and on about why we love Alaska miles so much – and why you should, too:
- While some of its best sweet spots have taken a hit under a new award chart, Alaska often charges far fewer miles than other airline programs flying the same route
- You'll rarely pay more than $20 or so in taxes and fees
- Alaska allows free cancellations on award tickets, aside from the $12.50 partner booking fee, which is non-refundable
- You can book flights with more than two dozen partner carriers – and not just fellow Oneworld airlines but some unusual options like Starlux, Condor, Air Tahiti Nui, and LATAM
- You can add a free stopover to any award ticket, squeezing in two destinations for the price of one. And yes, that includes even one-way award tickets
Alaska miles are so valuable, we're even giving the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link) a hard look for the first time … ever. With the current publicly available welcome bonus offer, you can earn 60,000 miles after spending $2,000 within 90 days.
That bonus of 60,000 miles might not do much with Hawaiian itself. But by sending those miles over to your Alaska account, they'll go a long way. Get this: A handful of Thrifty Traveler team members applied for this card within hours of the merger clearing. That oughta tell you something.
Bottom Line
This has been a golden window to turn Amex points into Alaska miles – some of the most valuable (and hardest-to-earn) miles on the planet. But that window is officially closing.
Effective June 30, Amex will remove Hawaiian Airlines as one of its transfer partners. That will kill off this incredibly lucrative workaround once and for all.
If you've got Amex points, you'd be wise to put it to use while you still can.
