It’s been almost a year since Alaska Airlines acquired Hawaiian Airlines and we’ve been waiting patiently ever since for more details about when a new combined loyalty program would be launched and how it’ll work.
The last update we received was that a single merged program would be launched in August. There’s an update on that front because we now have a firm timeline and it’s a little later than originally expected.
Rather than at some point in August, the combined Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines loyalty program will launch on October 1, 2025.
We got tipped off about this development by reader M Volberding. They forwarded an email from Bank of Hawaii which stated the following:
Hawaiian Airlines recently announced a new combined loyalty program with Alaska Airlines that will be unveiled next month. As part of this transition, the HawaiianMiles program will evolve into the new program on October 1, 2025.
I thought that I’d perhaps missed something because it seemed strange that Bank of Hawaii would be announcing this significant update rather than Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines themselves. However, it turns out that at some point – perhaps this very evening – both the Hawaiian and Alaska websites were indeed updated with this news.
You can find Hawaiian’s update here. Further details about the combined loyalty program will be announced in August (no precise date is given). In the last week of September, HawaiianMiles members will have actions on their account limited due to the need to migrate accounts to the new program. Hawaiian has stated that more details about this will be provided in August.
Then on October 1, 2025, the new combined loyalty program will be officially rolled out.
Details about the timeline on Alaska’s website are, at the time of publishing this post, scant. However, on this page there’s this section in their FAQs:
When will Mileage Plan and HawaiianMiles combine into one program?
On October 1, 2025, HawaiianMiles and Mileage Plan will be integrated into a single loyalty program.
Further details about the program merger
As mentioned above, full details of the combined program won’t be announced until next month. There are a few other details that have been provided though.
Automatic account opening
If you have a HawaiianMiles account but no Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account, a new account will be opened for you in the new program.
HawaiianMiles Buy & Fly
Hawaiian has a program called Buy & Fly which is only available for their credit and debit card holders. It offers bonus miles when paying with your Hawaiian card at select retailers.
That program will be coming to an end on September 30, 2025, although several of the retail partners will be available via Alaska Airlines’ shopping portal. Whether you’ll earn additional bonus miles on purchases is unclear.
Marriott Bonvoy transfers
The Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program allows you to transfer points to dozens of airline programs, one of which is HawaiianMiles. The ability to transfer your Bonvoy points to Hawaiian Airlines will end on August 20, 2025, although transfers will still be possible to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.
Huaka‘i by Hawaiian
Hawaiian Airlines has a free program called Huaka‘i by Hawaiian which is only available for residents of Hawaii. Benefits include a quarterly discount on an inter-island flight (10% for regular members, 20% for credit cardholders), as well as a free checked bag for inter-island flights.
Although the HawaiianMiles program will be ending on September 30 and will be rolled into the new combined program, the Huaka‘i by Hawaiian program will continue as part of the new joint program.
And now we wait
It will now be anything from 1-5 weeks before we get full details on the new loyalty program for Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. Based on the fact that the last day to transfer points from Marriott to Hawaiian will be August 20, that makes me wonder if that – or perhaps August 21 – will be the date that full details will be announced.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Can we take this to mean that existing ability to upgrade cash Hawaiian fares with points will remain through late September?
What happens to the Barclays Hawaiian Cards, that we all got earlier this year?
There’s some speculation on FlyerTalk about a new Atmos Rewards trademark registration by Alaska. If that’s correct, it’s interesting that the new program name isn’t tired to miles or an airline but sounds more like Bilt, Rove, and the other broader rewards programs in the market.
I do worry about new redemption rates accompanying a completely new program.
Do you know the timeline of when we will be able to credit Hawaiian flights to One World partners, such as British Airways?
By next year has been mentioned.
As the Alaska premium credit card gets closer to release, people are asking what will happen to the Hawaiian co-branded credit cards.
I hope they don’t destroy the flexibility and value of Alaska miles.
Any chance that the Hawaiian card will see elevated offers?
You mean the program that is ending? No, you won’t see elevated offers.
Darn, guess now is the time to apply for both cards to get the SUB. Missed out on the 70k offer earlier this year
Any idea if the merged program will still allow cardholders to freely transfer points between accounts?
I have a couple transfers coming up once SUB’s post in the next month or two
I’d assume it’ll be possible because as part of getting approval for the merger to proceed, Alaska/Hawaiian agreed that there wouldn’t be any benefits removed. I guess they could argue though that the ability for cardholders to transfer points to another person’s account is a card benefit rather than loyalty program benefit though, so perhaps that feature will go away.
If Alaska does not carry the benefit forward, I would imagine letters would be written to the Hawaii Attorney General’s office asking for the program benefit to be restored.
Non-cardholders aren’t able to transfer miles to other accounts for free though, so even if you earned your miles through other means, the ability to transfer to others is a credit card benefit. I don’t think it’s particularly likely that they’d end the benefit, just that I could potentially foresee a world in which they argue that it is, in effect, a benefit provided by the issuing bank rather than it being a loyalty program benefit.
At the same time, someone found reference to “Alaska Airlines Visa Infinite” card on BoA site, there is even a landing page describing fees and APRs, but no card feature or launch SUB yet.
I saw that too. So curious what benefits are gonna come with the card. Thinking of getting it soon
Is that this teased card?
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/how-to-earn-miles/financial-partners/premium-card?srsltid=AfmBOorQTAxGSCivdeREtsKJ4QFCfZLo5Nz9R0ANo2i2xbcA3kv2sngC