Are you a gambler flush with Amex points? If so, I've got a deal for you!
Right now, there is a potential opportunity to turn American Express Membership Rewards points, earned from popular cards like the *amex gold* and *amex platinum*, into valuable Alaska Mileage Plan miles. I know what you're thinking: Alaska Airlines isn't an Amex transfer partner … how is that possible?
You're right: Alaska isn't an Amex transfer partner, but Hawaiian Airlines is!
This week, Alaska Airlines moved one step closer to acquiring Hawaiian Airlines when the U.S. Department of Justice chose not to challenge the proposed merger. While it's no slam-dunk that the deal will go through, it's now being reviewed by the Department of Transportation and looks more likely than ever to get the go-ahead.
Under the proposed deal, both airlines will continue running – at least in name. But Alaska will operate the combined airline, and critically, the two carriers will share Alaska's popular Mileage Plan loyalty program. That opens up a sneaky opportunity to turn Amex points into valuable Alaska miles, which are typically hard to earn.
By speculatively transferring Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines now, you could be setting yourself up for a windfall of Alaska Milage Plan miles when (and if) the deal closes. And best of all, through the end of the month, Amex is offering a 20% transfer bonus on point transfers to Hawaiian. So instead of the usual 1:1 transfer ratio, you'd be getting 1.2 Hawaiian miles for every Amex point you transfer.
What I'm about to propose won't be a good move for everyone. Heck, it might not even be a good idea for anyone … but it is an interesting opportunity worth considering if you value Alaska miles and have more Amex points than you know what to do with.
While there are no guarantees with any of this, it's appearing more and more likely that the planned merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines will go through as planned. The deal could close as soon as the end of this year – or more likely, sometime in 2025. Alaska Airlines has indicated that when the acquisition is complete it will fold Hawaiian's loyalty program into Mileage Plan and Hawaiian miles will be converted to Alaska Mileage Plan miles on a 1:1 basis.
Considering all of that, transferring 100,000 Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines today could yield 120,000 Alaska miles at some point in the future, after accounting for the current 20% transfer bonus. If you waited to speculatively transfer points closer to the deal being finalized, it's unlikely that another transfer bonus would be happening during that time.
Whether you fly Alaska frequently or never fly them, Alaska's Mileage Plan program is incredibly valuable thanks largely to its amazing array of international partner airlines like Japan Airlines, Aer Lingus, Fiji Airways, and more. But even if you're just looking to fly domestically, there are plenty of valuable ways to fly for a bargain using Alaska miles.
Alaska has pivoted to a new, distance-based award chart that determines how many miles you need to book a particular flight. Although some of the best deals to book business or first class on Oneworld partner airlines to Asia or Australia have disappeared, it's still fairly easy to find good deals for domestic and international flights with Alaska and on partner flights.
Here are some of our favorites:
- Book short flights within the “Americas,” typically flying Alaska or partner American Airlines, from 4,500 Alaska miles one-way.
- Book business class flights to Europe on partner carriers like Condor or Aer Lingus from 55,000 Alaska miles one-way. Or if you're willing to add a connection in economy (on either end of your journey), you might even get the price to drop to just 45,000 miles one way.
- Business class flights from Seattle (SEA) and Vancouver (YVR) to Tokyo clock in at just 60,000 miles one-way flying Japan Airlines.
- Partner awards flying LATAM Airlines and American Airlines to South America start at just 17,500 miles one-way in economy.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for what's possible with Alaska miles.
Aside from swiping a co-branded Alaska Airlines credit card or transferring from Bilt, there are few good ways to get a big chunk of Alaska miles all in one fell swoop. That combined with Alaska's attractive award pricing makes this a really enticing opportunity. But it's not without risk…
Should You Do It?
The short answer is no … at least not for most people.
The next great airline devaluation is always looming … and mergers like this make such a prospect all the more likely. With that being said, I'd wager Alaska isn't going to devalue its miles instantly – especially after big changes just went into effect earlier this year. But you can guarantee that over time, Alaska miles won't be quite as valuable as they are today.
If you are considering a speculative transfer to Hawaiian with the hopes that they convert to Alaska miles at some point in the future you should have a backup plan in case the deal doesn't go through – or that they don't convert on a 1:1 basis.
While having a ton of Hawaiian miles is far from a death-sentence, they're no where near as valuable as transferable Amex points or Alaska miles. In general, Hawaiian miles are best used for award tickets flying to and from the islands. Depending on which of Hawaii's mainland gateways you're departing from, award flights can be had for as few as 20,000 points in economy or 40,000 points in first class.
You can also use them to redeem on partner airlines like Japan Airlines, JetBlue, Virgin Atlantic, and others, but the award rates on most of these partners are far from competitive.
In this case, the sole purpose of this speculative transfer is to turn them into Alaska miles that can be used for cheap domestic flights with Alaska or partner American Airlines, or used for international travel with one of Alaska's Oneworld partners.
I guess in a worst case scenario, using them to fly to Hawaii isn't the end of the world … far from it.
Bottom Line
With the potential merger of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines looking more likely than ever, some travelers are likely wondering whether it makes sense to transfer Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines now, in the hopes that they get converted to Alaska miles down the road.
This strategy may very well pay off for some travelers but unless you've got more Amex points than you know what to do with, it's likely not worth the risk for most.
Great perspective! In other words, if we wait until closer to the merge, next year, it maybe better to wait until then to make huge transfers. For 100K MRs, it does seem the risk is worth it to just get an extra 20K miles. Best to wait for the dust to settle and then make the transfer.
I fly to Hawaii regularly and have both Hawaiian and Alaska accounts so this isn’t a bad deal for me either way. Until I started playing with a transfer, where there’s an excise tax transfer fee of $60 or 12,000 miles to move over 100k points. I’ve don’t recall any transfer fees on prior transactions, but maybe I wasn’t paying attention – it pretty much eats up the bonus miles. Or, to look at it another way, the bonus miles cover the fee.