One of the biggest questions surrounding the Alaska-Hawaiian merger is what will happen to the credit cards? This is especially true for us points and miles nerds. Well, we now have some info on the future of the Hawaiian credit card, along with some of the benefits it offers.
Whenever I hypothesize about the future of Alaska’s and Hawaiian’s combined loyalty program, I always discuss the different credit card scenarios we may see. Those include having a single card issuer for the new program, whether that be Bank of America or Barclays, or the retention of both, ala American Airlines AAdvantage.
Should a single issuer be chosen, I always thought it’d be Bank of America. After all, not only is Bank of America a larger bank, but they’ve have quite a bit of history with Alaska Airlines. Well, now that we have some information on the future of the Hawaiian credit card, this sounds like the likely outcome.
The Future of the Hawaiian Credit Card
As reported by Gary Leff over at View from the Wing, in a conversation he had with Brett Catlin, Alaska Air’s Vice President of Loyalty, Alliances, and Sale, about the future of the Hawaiian credit card, he learned that the card has no future – Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard cardholders “will transfer over to the Alaska card.”
This indicates that Bank of America will acquire the the Barclays portfolio and will convert Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard cardholders into Alaska Airlines Visa Signature ones. This is the ideal single issuer setup, as it doesn’t force members with the old, defunct credit card to apply for a new one, while leaving them with an account with a separate issue that they, perhaps, no longer want. However, the two cards are quite different. Let’s take a look.
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature
- $95 Annual Fee
- 3x miles for every $1 spent with Alaska Airlines.
- 2x miles for every $1 spent with the following merchant categories:
- Gas – including service stations, automated fuel dispensers, marinas, marine service, marine supplies, and fuel dealers (fuel oil, wood, coal, LNG)
- Local transit – includes rideshare, taxicabs, limousines, passenger railways, bus lines, tolls/bridge fees, and local and suburban commuter passenger transportation, including ferries.
- Cable – including satellite service providers and other pay television/radio/streaming services
- Select Streaming Services – includes digital goods media such as books, movies, digital artwork, and music.
- 1x miles for every $1 spent on the card not covered with the above bonuses.
- Free checked bag for the primary cardholder and up to 6 travel companions on the same itinerary when you use your card to pay for your airfare.
- Priority boarding for you and up to six others on the same reservation will receive priority boarding on flights marketed by Alaska Airlines and operated by Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air, or SkyWest when you use your card to pay for your flight. You’ll board before general boarding but after Alaska Mileage Plan elite and Oneworld elite members, First Class or Premium Class passengers, and other pre-boarding groups, which means you’ll be in Group C.
- In-flight statement credit: receive 20% back for all in-flight purchases, including meals (even pre-ordered), media players, etc.
- $100 Alaska Lounge+ Discount when you use your card to purchase/renew your membership.
- 10% mileage bonus on all miles earned if you have a qualified Bank of America account (not available to Hawaii residents)
- No foreign transaction fee
Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard
- $99 Annual Fee
- One-time 50% companion discount for a roundtrip flight between Hawaii and North America
- Two free checked bags for the primary cardholder
- $100 annual companion discount for flights between Hawaii and North America
- 3x miles on Hawaiian Air purchases
- 2x miles on gas, dining, and grocery purchases
- 1x miles on all other purchases
- In-flight purchase credits for Pualani Elites of up to $10 per day with a $100 annual limit
- Discounted award travel on Hawaiian
- No foreign transaction fee
- Transfer miles to friends and family with no fees
Of the two, the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature is my clear favorite due to its superior benefits set. But, there’s no denying that the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard has its strengths, too. Now that we know that the future of the Hawaiian credit card is naught, the biggest impact to cardholders is likely to be the loss of superior earnings on everyday spend categories. After all, the Hawaiian card awards 2x miles for dining, groceries, and gas, while the Alaska card does so for gas, local transit, cable, and select streaming.
I don’t know about ya’ll, but I spend way more money on groceries and dining than I do on local transit, cable, and streaming.
Mile Transfers
In his discussion with Catlin about the future of the Hawaiian credit card, Gary also learned that (logically), Hawaiian’s mileage transfer benefit would be going away. However, Catlin also hinted that the disappearance of the benefit may not be permanent. He quite likes the idea of it and says that the system Hawaiian has in place helps to minimize issues surrounding fraud.
Timeline
Though we know what the future of the Hawaiian credit card is now, there is no official timeline as of yet. No changes will occur until Alaska can merge the loyalty programs, a process that usually takes 12 to 18 months. For a point of reference, it took Alaska 13 months to transfer Virgin America’s program members into Mileage Plan. Moreover, Catlin told Leff that when the process of converting cardholders does begin, it will “happen over time.”
The Future of the Hawaiian Credit Card, Final Thoughts
Well, there you have it. The future of the Hawaiian credit card is to disappear into obscurity, replaced by the Alaska Air Visa Signature. Actually, I’m sure it won’t even be called that anymore. Rather, it’ll adopt the branding of whatever the heck they decide to call the combined Alaska Mileage Plan and HawaiianMiles program (which will just be a rebranded Alaska Mileage Plan). Moreover, we learned that a new, premium card is also in the works. I’m very interested to see what that’ll look like, especially given how great the current card is.
At any rate, with this information, now is the time to act. If you’ve been considering the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard, now’s the time to apply. Wait too long, and you could miss the opportunity to load up on miles easily!