Virgin Australia has ending date for partnership with Hawaiian: Are Membership Rewards transfers next?

Alaska Airlines acquisition of Hawaiian Air has been one of the juiciest topics in points and miles sewing circles over the last year or so. The previously unremarkable HawaiianMile has been transformed into an object of desire and intrigue based on its new 1:1 transferability to Alaska Mileage Plan miles. Hawaiian is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, which effectively means that Alaska is now a transfer partner also: transfer your Amex points to Hawaiian, then convert them to Alaska miles on a 1:1 basis.

While this has provided a never-before-seen opportunity for infrequent Alaska customers to stockpile Mileage Plan miles, it also gives rise to a very common question: when will transfers from Amex to Hawaiian be going away?

Alaska has set a target date for debuting a combined Alaska/Hawaiian loyalty program of “Summer 2025.” Accordingly, we’ve assumed that’s generally when Amex transfers will end as well.

However, we may have a more exact date now. Today, Frequent Miler Insiders moderator Zed noticed that, as of July 1st, 2025, Virgin Australia will no longer be a partner of Hawaiian Air.

For those who didn’t know that Virgin Australia was a Hawaiian partner to begin with, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Like Alaska before it joined oneworld, Hawaiian has some odd one-off partnerships that jump across airlines alliances, including Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and JetBlue.

While I’m sure the vast majority of FM readers have never (and will never) make a Hawaiian redemption with Virgin Australia Velocity points, what’s interesting is the July 1st date. It could be simply that it aligns with the end of Q2, but it also might indicate that Alaska intends to end all of Hawaiian’s pre-Mileage Plan partner relationships at or around that date before launching the new, combined loyalty program.

Will that end up applying to Membership Rewards transfers as well?

Quick Thoughts

This is pure speculation for now, and we haven’t heard anything concrete from Alaska, Hawaiian or American Express. Truth be told, if I had Membership Rewards and wanted to transfer them to Hawaiian/Alaska, I’d do it sooner than later…there’s no guarantee that the ability to do so will be there next week.

That said, we’ve been waiting for indications at to when the final hammer will drop, and the announcement of an end-date for the Virgin Australia codeshare with Hawaiian could be a pretty good guess.

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