With the Alaskan Airlines acquisition of Hawaiian airlines there has been some uncertainty on what will happen to the Hawaiian Airline credit cards. VFTW got the opportunity to talk to Alaska’s Vice President of Loyalty, Alliances, and Sales Brett Catlin about the plan for these cards and it’s as follows:
- They will keep the two separate card issuers (Barclays for Hawaiian and Bank of America for Alaska Airlines) until the two programs merge into a single loyalty program. This is intended to happen pretty quickly
- Bank of America will purchase the back book from Barclays and those cardholders will transition over to the Bank of America Alaska card. There is “no immediacy for that to transition” and it will “happen over a period of time.”
- Rumor of a Premium Alaska Airlines card in the future
Separately Bank of Hawaii also has a Hawaiian airlines card that is issued and managed by Barclays, this card is only available to residents of Hawaii. It’s unclear what will happen with that arrangement as Bank of America do not operate any branches in Hawaii.
I still have not seen anyone answer what will happen if I have both cards already. Will I have two Alaska cards? And two companion fares a year? Or will one turn into a different BofA card?
When the merge into a single loyalty program is complete does that mean they won’t issue any Hawaiian Airlines cards anymore and it will all change over to holding an Alaska Airlines card instead?
So even though I got rejected by BoA for the Alaska CC it looks like I’m going to get one anyways since I got the Hawaiian CC. Oh how the tables turned.
Should we double-dip and open both Alaskan and Hawaiian cards for SUB?
P1 and P2 here are out in front of that.
Yes, many travel credit card podcasts have suggested opening both credit cards. Then you can transfer your points from Hawaiian Airlines to Alaska Airlines at 1:1 basis.
I would. I hit both of fairly recently before the merger.
Signed up for the personal Hawaiian card recently for the nearly no-spend sub, but am not interested in keeping the card. Conversion to the Alaska card could be nice if it lets me then convert it to another BoA CCR card since I’m in the BoA preferred rewards ecosystem.
never thought of it like that that’s a good idea.
tried this and couldnt convert to ccr
I’ve seen mixed data points with people both reporting success and denial when it came to requests to convert the Alaska card to a CCR. Definitely seems like you should go in expecting to HUCA. If I’m forced to cancel it’s not the end of the world.
This is my thinking as well. Also got the Hawaiian card with no-spend sub. When the card converts to the BofA Alaska card, hopefully we have the option to product change to CCR. It might make sense to grab a BofA Alaska card sub right before the Hawaii card becomes Alaska card.
Side note: If you have family or friends with Alaska miles, you can open Hawaii miles accounts for them, then move the AS miles to Hawaii. With the Hawaii card, you can consolidate those miles for free to your Hawaii account. Then move those miles back to your Alaska account.
I have a Alaska BoA Business Card and Hawaiian Word Elite Master Card. If the Hawaiian Master card convers to a Alaska BoA Personal card, do you think it is worth to keep both an Alaska Personal and Biz card or should I get rid of one?
Bank of hawaiii cards are not only for Hawaiians. I got one and live out of Hawaii.
Was it an instant approval? The T&C’s state limited to residents of Hawaii..
A couple of months ago when news broke out, I got both Hawaiian cards (personal and biz), when can I cancel these cards without a clawback and before the merger? Trying to avoid a conversion to Alaska cards and denying me of getting the Alaska bonus when signing up for the new Alaska card.
They’ll send you an email before converting telling you they’re converting and if you don’t want to convert email, mail, or call a specific number by a specific day. Happens all the time.
Awesome!…thank u!
Off topic but SW referrals are going to 20k from 25k next year. https://i.imgur.com/rxk05El.jpeg
Bank of Hawaii also issues a Hawaiian Airlines debit card. I have one. Also no mention of what will happen to those, but I imagine it’s not a major concern for them.