Hawaiian Airlines Blocking Membership Rewards Transfers

Update 9/27/24: Whatever the issues was has been fixed. I would still proceed with some caution because of the terms that Hawaiian has on their page now (pictured below).

I have been spending a lot of time writing about the Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merger lately. And for good reason, it opened up a potential windfall for what many consider the most valuable airline program out there. Once the DOT approved the merger, with their stipulations, it felt like a gift to those that had some points sitting in the Amex Membership Rewards accounts. That is because one of the stipulations of the approval was a required 1 to 1 transfer between the two programs. That meant we could do a Membership Rewards to Hawaiian Airlines to Alaska Airlines transfer. Which essentially turned our Membership Rewards into Alaska Airlines miles. Or, did it? Is Hawaiian Airlines blocking Membership Rewards transfers now?

Previous Transfers Seem To Be Fine

First off, I should squash some fears here. If you took advantage of the Hawaiian Airlines transfer bonus from Membership Rewards a few weeks back it seems like you are okay. I have a few confirmations that the miles moved between the two programs no problem. Here is the landing page to make your transfers by the way.

The interesting thing is that the Hawaiian Airlines page makes it seem like that might not have been the case. You know how attorneys love their ambiguous wording! My guess is that this was added once the transfers between Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines were live. Probably as a way to curb potential transfers into Hawaiian just to turn them into Alaska Airlines miles.

Is Hawaiian Blocking Membership Rewards Transfers?

It does seem like Hawaiian Airlines is blocking Membership Rewards transfers, at least for now. Some people are getting an error page right from the start. Others are able to go through the entire process and complete the transfer. The problem is that they receive a message that the transfer was refunded almost immediately. The Membership Rewards are added back into the account after a few minutes though.

It seems like this was planned by Hawaiian when you look at the terms addition above and the immediate cancellation of the transfer from American Express. Will this be a long term change? We don't know for sure yet. Weirder things have happened, but my guess would be that the MR > Hawaiian > Alaska train is dead.

Hawaiian Airlines Blocking Membership Rewards Transfers: ToP Thoughts

If you were planning on turning some Membership Rewards into Alaska Airlines miles I hope you took advantage of it over the last few weeks. Whether that was when the transfer bonus was going on, or if it was once the merger was approved by the DOT. You did get a week or so to do it without risk, but I am sure many thought they had more time. The lesson to be learned here is never wait another day when opportunity presents itself. We can hope that availability comes back once again, but I wouldn't count on it.

Let us know if you were still planning on making a transfer from Amex to Hawaiian Airlines over in the ToP Facebook Group.