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The merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines has been one of the biggest stories in aviation in the last year. It has been particularly relevant for award travelers due to Alaska's robust partnership network and attractive loyalty program. When the merger added transfers between HawaiianMiles and Alaska Airlines, it effectively created a loophole to transfer Amex Membership Rewards to Hawaiian Airlines and then to Alaska Airlines.
That backdoor way of earning Alaska Mileage Plan miles is about to close. Effective June 30, 2025, Hawaiian Airlines will no longer be a transfer partner of American Express. Although no formal announcement has been made, the transfer page on the Amex website and app indicates the end date.
At Least We Are Getting Advanced Notice
While this news is disappointing, the fact that Amex gave customers six weeks' notice is adequate time to assess whether to transfer points from Amex to Hawaiian and how many points there are at that.
If you are on the fence about what to do, you can read all about Alaska's sweet spot redemptions here. Among the highlights, your Amex to Hawaiian to Alaska miles could be used for redemptions such as:
- Flying domestic American Airlines economy flights less than 700 miles for 4,500 Alaska Miles.
- Fly business class to Europe starting at 45,000 miles in business class.
- Book LATAM Airlines to South America starting at 35,000 miles in business class.
How to Transfer Amex Points to Alaska Mileage Plan
Until this unique transfer opportunity, the only way to get Points to Alaska Mileage Plan was through Bilt Rewards. This will continue to be the case, but if you have plans — or anticipate plans — to use Alaska miles and have Amex Membership Rewards, here is how you go about transferring before June 30th.
You can navigate to the “Rewards and Benefits” section of your Amex account and choose the number of miles to transfer to HawaiianMiles. Note there is a $0.0006 per point (with a maximum fee of $99) excise tax when transferring.
You can then go to the Hawaiian/Alaska points portal to complete the transfer. You will have to login to both loyalty accounts during the process.
Related: Ultimate Guide to Amex Transfer Partners
Bottom Line
Although the end of this rare opportunity to transfer Amex Membership Rewards to Alaska Airlines is ending, we figured it was coming and are happy to get an advanced warning before transfers end.
Now is the time to consider if and how you can benefit from using Alaska miles for your future travel and making this transfer before time runs out. We don't like to encourage speculatively transferring miles, as it locks your miles into a specific program. But this could be an exception if you foresee using Alaska miles for their low-priced award flights and strong partner network.
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