Both Alaska Airlines Visa cardholders and Hawaiian Airlines Mastercard cardholders now enjoy reciprocal checked baggage benefits when flying either airline. This is yet another milestone in the merger process between the two airlines.
Beat of Hawaii covered a number of interesting tidbits about developments in the process of merging Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. This latest development regarding checked baggage is largely positive.
- Alaska Airlines Visa Signature and Visa Business cardholders now enjoy a free checked bag for the cardholder and up to 6 companions on the same reservation when flying on either Alaska or Hawaiian-operated flights
- Hawaiian Airlines Mastercard cardholders now enjoy two free checked bags when flying on Alaska Airlines-operated flights or on select Hawaiian Airlines flights (Note that when traveling on Hawaiian Airlines, the free checked bag benefit is only available for travel between North America and Hawaii and on interisland flights. International flights are excluded).
If you’re traveling with more than one companion, the Alaska Airlines Visa benefit will end up being more generous since a free checked bag applies to up to 6 companions on the same reservation, whereas the Hawaiian Mastercard benefit is only good for 2 free checked bags total.
Still, I imagine that many cardholders will find the extension of reciprocal checked baggage benefits to be highly useful. When I’ve visited Hawaii in recent years, I’ve only considered flying Southwest thanks to the free checked bags, which I wouldn’t have gotten on Hawaiian. However, now that an Alaska card could qualify us for free checked bags, the comparison point would be much closer.
This marks yet another step toward making the airlines one and the same. We don’t yet know when the loyalty programs will fully merge, but each of these steps suggests that it’s getting closer.
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There’s always interesting little angles when loyalty programs combine, I’ll just say that.
The card terms state the 2 free checked bags is only if you purchase the ticket with the Hawaiian card. Does this mean we get 2 free bags regardless of whether we used the card to purchase?
I was wondering the same thing.
I was wondering too. If we don’t purchase Alaska airlines using Hawaiian card, how does Alaska airlines know I have Hawaiian card? Add it to the account? Same for Hawaiian airline?