Earn up to 100% bonus miles: Buy Hawaiian Airlines miles and transfer to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Attention, points and miles lovers: Hawaiian Airlines is currently offering up to 100% bonus miles when you buy HawaiianMiles through Nov. 15. While we don’t usually recommend buying points and miles, it might be worth considering following the Alaska Airlines carrier acquisition. After the merger, loyalty program members can transfer HawaiianMiles to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.

But buying miles indeed good money? Here’s everything you need to know about the sale and how to decide if buying miles is right for you.

Related: Buy bonus points and miles with these promotions

Buy up to 100% HawaiianMiles with this promo and transfer to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

From now until Nov. 15, you can buy HawaiianMiles with a bonus of up to 100% – effectively cutting the cost per mile in half. However, the discount depends on how many miles you purchase, and may vary from member to member.

Here are the details of the bonus miles deal I received from my personal HawaiianMiles account:

• If you buy less than 3,000 miles, you’ll get a regular price of 2.54 cents per mile (this includes a 1.6% tax recovery fee).
• If you buy at least 3,000 miles, you’ll get an 80% bonus, bringing the price down to 1.41 cents each.
• If you buy 10,000 miles or more, you’ll get an awesome 100% bonus, bringing the price down to 1.27 cents each.

You must purchase miles in increments of 1,000 miles. There is a limit of 100,000 miles per activity (before bonus) but there is no limit on the total number of miles you can buy per year. So, in theory, you can buy as many miles as you want from multiple sales during this sale.

Note that HawaiianMiles transactions can take up to 72 hours to process.

This may not seem like a big deal, considering that HawaiianMiles are worth 1.2 cents each according to TPG estimates for November 2024. However, thanks to the recent merger between Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines, you can now transfer miles between the carrier’s loyalty programs at a rate which is 1:1.

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With Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles valued at 1.4 cents each, according to TPG’s November 2024 calculations, buying miles during the Hawaii sale and transferring them to Alaska can provide solid savings. Alaska is part of the Oneworld alliance, which opens up a variety of partner award opportunities, and still uses an award chart, which can result in higher redemptions.

Related: Alaska Airlines revamps Mileage Plan with landmark benefits, new status earning options and upgrade updates

Is it worth buying HawaiianMiles and transferring to Alaska?

This sale makes buying HawaiianMiles a better value proposition than usual. However, we generally recommend purchasing miles only if you are thinking of making a specific redemption. Saving miles – even when selling – is not a good strategy because points and miles can be deducted at any time.

This is especially true in the case of Hawaiian and Alaska miles right now. Since the merger, the airlines have announced plans to eventually operate under a single loyalty program. This would mean overhauling the current plans – and potentially eliminating Alaska’s key award chart and switching to variable rates. This can cause any miles you have hidden to be suddenly devalued.

However, according to the airlines’ statements, we won’t know more about how the new integrated loyalty program will work until mid-2025. That means you have a few months to use your Alaska and/or Hawaiian miles. If you’ve been eyeing one of the sweet spots on Alaska’s award chart, buying HawaiianMiles at a discount and transferring them to a Mileage Plan can be a great way to get you closer to those rewards.

For example, you can book a nonstop economy ticket from New York to London on American Airlines for departure in March 2025 for just 22,500 Alaska miles and $19 in taxes and fees.

But don’t forget that HawaiianMiles are valuable in their own right. If you’re dreaming of a tropical getaway this winter, you can score nonstop award availability from Los Angeles to Honolulu in March for just 40,000 miles plus $6 in taxes and fees for a premium seat — and it might be worth it. buy the miles you need to get there.

Related: Save money: How to book flights to Hawaii using points and miles

Bottom line

The Alaska Airlines-Hawaiian Airlines merger has created a lot of uncertainty for loyalists of both systems as we head into 2025 — but it’s also created some significant opportunities. Some TPG employees even decided to apply for not one but two Hawaiian Airlines credit cards in hopes of using the bonuses they receive in the Alaska program. Also, remember that you can transfer American Express membership rewards points from HawaiianMiles and Bilt Points to Alaska miles, both at a 1:1 ratio, giving you even more ways to earn miles through these programs.