Amex has just rolled out its first transfer bonus promotion of 2023…
In this post:
Earn Hawaiian miles with a bonus
Through Tuesday, January 31, 2023, you can receive a 20% bonus when you transfer Amex Membership Rewards points on US-issued cards to Hawaiian Airlines’ HawaiianMiles program.
The bonus is hard coded into the transfer ratio, meaning the bonus posts instantly and you can earn it as often as you’d like — 1,000 Membership Rewards points convert into 1,200 HawaiianMiles. Transfers from Amex to Hawaiian generally happen instantly.
When you transfer Amex points to the frequent flyer program of a U.S. airline, there’s a fee of 0.06 cents per point, up to a maximum fee of $99. This is for Amex to offset the federal excise tax paid on such conversions.
What are the best uses of Hawaiian Airlines miles?
Overall HawaiianMiles isn’t a very lucrative frequent flyer program, unfortunately, so there are few circumstances under which this represents a good value.
Redeeming Hawaiian miles on Hawaiian
If you’re looking to redeem miles for travel on Hawaiian Airlines, below is the award chart.
This probably represents the best value of any HawaiianMiles redemptions. One-way saver awards start at:
- 7,500 miles between islands in economy class
- 20,000 miles between North America mainland and Hawaii in economy class
- 40,000 miles between North America mainland and Hawaii in first class
Hawaiian’s first class product is better than the average domestic first class product, and A330s even have flat beds in first class.
Do keep in mind there are some exceptional values for award travel to & from Hawaii through other programs:
- British Airways Executive Club has lucrative redemption rates for nonstop economy travel between the west coast and Hawaii on Alaska and American (the program charges just 13,000 Avios each way thanks to their distance based award)
- Singapore KrisFlyer also has great rates for travel in first & business class on United, in particular from the east coast as well as good redemption rates in Alaska economy
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles also has great redemption rates to Hawaii in all cabins on United
Redeeming Hawaiian Miles on partners
HawaiianMiles does have quite a few partner airlines, including Japan Airlines, JetBlue, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, and more.
In some instances Hawaiian’s partner awards are zone based, in other instances they’re distance based, and in other instances they’re revenue based, so it’s not a very straightforward program.
For example, Hawaiian’s redemptions on Virgin Atlantic are zone based.
Meanwhile Hawaiian’s redemptions on JetBlue are revenue based.
As you can probably tell, none of these redemption rates are that great, even when factoring in the 20% bonus.
Bottom line
Through January 31, 2023, you can receive a 20% bonus when you transfer Amex points to HawaiianMiles. We see this promotion once or twice a year, so for anyone who is a HawaiianMiles fan, this promotion is worth being aware of.
Personally I don’t think there are many circumstances where this represents a good deal — while Hawaiian has several airline partners, redemption rates are typically inflated. This could be a decent value for redemptions on Hawaiian Airlines, but even there award availability can be quite limited at the saver level.
Do you plan on transferring Amex points to Hawaiian with a 20% bonus?
RT US East to LHR in Upper Class for 125K is fine if no fees and available.