Combining airline miles with those of another traveler is rarely a good idea. In most cases, the cost associated with the transfer far outweighs the value of the miles being moved, and that's typically true when it comes to sharing Alaska Airlines miles. But there's a backdoor way to pool Alaska miles right now without paying an extra fee.
Alaska's merger with Hawaiian Airlines has created a limited-time opportunity to earn a bunch of Hawaiian miles and then kick them over to Alaska. But even more importantly, Hawaiian is one of the few airlines that gives you the option to “Share Miles,” which allows any HawaiianMiles member to give miles to a Hawaiian Airlines co-branded credit and debit cardholders at no cost – miles which you can then move into your Alaska account. If you tried to combine miles between accounts with Alaska directly, you'd be on the hook for a $25 service fee plus a charge of $10 per 1,000 miles transferred. Do the math and using Hawaiian Airlines to move your miles around can pay dividends – in a hurry!
There is one catch: To use Hawaiian's Share Miles free of charge, you'll need to have the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® or a Bankoh Hawaiian Airlines® Visa® Debit Card. Without one of those, you'll be subject to nearly identical fees to what Alaska charges and moving miles around likely won't be worth the cost.
But having a Hawaiian Airlines co-branded card isn't exactly a bad thing … even if you don't have plans to travel to Hawaii. With a big 70,000-mile bonus after spending $2,000 in the first 90 days, you can easily transfer those miles to Alaska to book domestic flights within the U.S., or take advantage of one of Alaska's outstanding partner redemptions to travel abroad in style!
Here's what you need to know about Hawaiian Airlines' Share Miles feature and how you can use it to freely transfer Alaska miles.
Related reading: Japan, Fiji, Europe & More: 6 Sweet Spots to Book with Alaska Miles
Using Hawaiian Airlines to Share Alaska Miles
Not only is it more convenient for families to have a single pool of miles, ensuring awards are all booked on one reservation, but it also allows you to build up a stash of miles quicker to cash in for a ‘free' trip.
With Alaska and Hawaiian airlines in the process of merging, this is a (likely) temporary opportunity to receive Alaska (and Hawaiian) miles from anyone – free of charge. Given how valuable Alaska miles are – and how few ways there are to earn them in bunches – this is an awesome opportunity to stock up for future travels.
Sharing HawaiianMiles with another member couldn't be simpler. Simply log in to your HawaiianMiles account and navigate to the “My Account” page by clicking your name in the upper-right corner. Once there, you'll want to scroll down until you see the “Share Miles” option listed in the menu on the lefthand side.
After clicking on “Share Miles,” you'll just need to enter the last name and HawaiianMiles number of the person you're sending miles to – as well as the number of miles you intend to share.
Once you click continue, you should see a checkout screen confirming your transfer and any associated cost. As a reminder, if you're transferring miles to a HawaiianMiles primary cardholder, you won't be charged a fee. This includes the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® and the Bankoh Hawaiian Airlines® Visa® Debit Card, as well as the HawaiianMiles credit card that's issued in Japan.
If you're not sharing miles with a HawaiianMiles cardholder, you'll be charged a $25 service charge – plus, a fee of 1 cent per mile transferred. This means if you wanted to share 10,000 miles with a friend or family member, it would cost you $125 for doing so. Ouch!
Paying that steep of a fee for sharing miles will rarely be worth it.
After you agree to the terms and conditions associated with your transfer and click “Transfer Miles Now,” you'll receive confirmation that your miles transfer has been completed. The shared miles should be available in the other person's account instantly.
If you're planning to transfer your shared Hawaiian Miles to Alaska's Mileage Plan program, you can then do that through the shared miles transfer landing page. Just make sure you select the frequent flyer program to which you want to transfer miles. Since you'll be converting Hawaiian miles into Alaska miles, start by selecting Mileage Plan.
You will be prompted to log in with your Alaska credentials, after which you'll see this screen. From here, you can move the slider to transfer as many of your current Hawaiian miles over to Alaska as you want. You must transfer at least 50 miles – and in increments of 50 miles, too.
One final thing to note: HawaiianMiles cardholders can only accept miles 10 times per calendar year. This likely won't be an issue for most but if you have a lot of people in your family that you're trying to pool miles with, it could be an issue. You'll also want to be sure to share larger chunks of miles, instead of just moving over a few here and there.
Bottom Line
Most airlines make transferring miles from one member to another a costly endeavor, but that's not the case with HawaiianMiles. So long as you're transferring to a HawaiianMiles credit or debit cardholder, it doesn't cost a dime. And for the time being, this means you can also move Alaska miles from one traveler to another without paying a steep fee for doing so!
This makes it easy to pool miles with a friend or family member, getting you closer to your next vacation sooner.
