The DOJ has approved the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines by Alaska Airlines. The Department of Transport still needs to approve the acquisition but many people smarter than myself have stated that the DOJ approval was the major stumbling block after the DOJ had previously blocked JetBlue from acquiring Sprint.
Some readers have reached out to ask if it makes sense to apply for Hawaiian airline cards/transfer miles to Hawaiian ahead of the acquisition in the hopes that these become (the more valuable to them) Alaska miles. I see three potential options:
- Programs combine
- Miles transfer to Alaska airline miles at a rate of 1:1
- Miles transfer to Alaska airline miles at a rate WORSE than 1:1
- DoT blocks the merger, Hawaiian airlines miles remain the same as they currently are
Alaska Airlines has already confirmed that the airlines will have a shared loyalty program but that the two different airline brands will remain. Currently American Express is also offering a 20% bonus to Hawaiian airlines by 8/31 and Barclays has a 70,000 point bonus (Barclays and Hawaiian also recently renewed their partnership).
My personal feeling is that if the acquisition is approved the miles will transfer at a rate of 1:1 as while Alaska miles are generally considered more valuable it’s not a ridiculous difference of say 1:2 and the goodwill earned by the 1:1 rate vs say a 1:0.8 is worth it. If you do find Alaska Airline miles valuable I think that transferring points in particular can make sense due to the current transfer bonus but obviously there is a non zero risk that this goes poorly and you’re stuck with Hawaiian miles or a bad conversion rate.
