Hawaiian Airlines and Barclays are offering a great bonus at the moment on their co-branded business credit card, as flagged by Frequent Miler. This offer could be worth taking advantage of, even if you wouldn’t otherwise earn HawaiianMiles, given that these could eventually become Alaska Mileage Plan miles.
In this post:
Hawaiian Business Card offering great bonus
The $99 annual fee Hawaiian Airlines Business Mastercard, which is Hawaiian Airlines’ co-branded Barclays business credit card, is offering a bonus of up to 70,000 miles:
- Earn 60,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 within the first 90 days
- Earn an additional 10,000 bonus miles after a purchase is made on an employee card within the first 90 days
See this post to learn more about general Barclays credit card restrictions.
Hawaiian Business Card rewards & perks
The Hawaiian Business Mastercard offers some potentially useful perks, though I’m guessing for most people these won’t be worthwhile. These include:
- 3x miles on Hawaiian Airlines purchases, and 2x miles on gas, dining, and office supply purchases
- No foreign transaction fees
- 20,000 bonus miles when you spend $50,000-99,000 on the card in a cardmember year, and 40,000 bonus miles when you spend $100,000+ on the card in a cardmember year
- A one-time 50% discount on a published full coach roundtrip fare for a companion, with taxes and fees not included; this is good for 13 months from account opening, and is valid between Hawaii and the rest of North America
Frankly there aren’t really any benefits there I consider to be especially compelling. There are cards offering better bonus categories, and even when you factor in the annual bonuses for spending, there are better cards for everyday spending.
Why I’d consider applying for this card
I don’t find Hawaiian Airlines’ HawaiianMiles program to be particularly lucrative. Yes, it’s fine for redemptions on Hawaiian, though saver level award space is tough to come by. Furthermore, while some partner redemption opportunities are possible, they’re limited, and not very flexible or competitive.
The reason I’d consider applying for this card is because Alaska is in the process of acquiring Hawaiian, and the plan is potentially for Mileage Plan to become the combined frequent flyer program of the two airlines. There are lots of great uses of Mileage Plan miles, and my expectation would be that these miles could eventually be redeemed that way.
Now, of course I should mention that things can still go wrong, and there are unknowns. While it seems highly likely that the merger will happen, it’s not over until it’s over. It’s also anyone’s guess when points will be transferable between the two programs. But if you ask me, it’s a risk worth taking.
Bottom line
The Hawaiian Business Mastercard is offering a solid welcome bonus, as you can earn up to 70K bonus miles. While I don’t get very excited about the HawaiianMiles program, I find this offer more interesting than in the past, given Alaska’s imminent(ish) takeover of Hawaiian, and the carrier’s plan to make Mileage Plan the surviving frequent flyer program.
Do you plan on picking up the Hawaiian Business Card with this offer?
Or you could take advantage of the 20% Amex transfer bonus thru 8/31 and use 59K MR points to get 70K Hawaiian points
I'm tempted! The Hawaiian Air business class seats is SO much better than Alaska Air premium economy. 2 seat rows! Waay better cushioning. Just wondering how long the offer will last.