Membership Rewards Transfers To Alaska Airlines

One of the biggest questions of 2025 has been when will Membership Rewards transfers to Alaska Airlines end? Well, the more existential question is when will Hawaiian Airlines cease to be a program? Because that is the bridge that allows people to transfer Membership Rewards to Alaska Airlines. They move them to Hawaiian first, which is an Amex partner, and then they move them over to Alaska from there. It has been one of the best deals of 2025, but it is coming to an end soon. How soon, that is the all important question though.

Update 6/30/25: It looks like they pulled this earlier than some members expected. I believe many people thought the ability to transfer to Hawaiian ended later this evening, although technically you could read it ending as of the morning of the 30th. Sorry to anyone that had it on their to-do list today. It is always best to go a few days early just in case for scenarios like this.

Hawaiian Airlines & Alaska Combine Programs In August

Yesterday TPG shared and interview that admitted Alaska is aiming for an August launch of the combined program. At this point we are not sure if the combo program will still be called Mileage Plan or something new. The Alaska executive in the article seems to hint that something new could be coming, but nothing has been confirmed. What will definitely happen at that point is the points from the two programs will be combined into one. Whether that is into Alaska's Mileage Plan program, or something completely new, is unknown at this point. The article made it clear that we should have until at least August before that happens. The problem is that it doesn't mean that we have until then to make transfers from Membership Rewards to Alaska Airlines though.

Why July 1st Is Another Date To Pay Attention To

A few weeks back Hawaiian Airlines announced a whole bunch of partnerships ending June 30th. This makes a lot of sense, because Alaska likely didn't want to take Hawaiian partners on – or at least wanted to start fresh with new agreements for the combined program. While it is not listed on the page, could that include Membership Rewards? It makes as much sense as anything.

Alaska Airlines has always been hesitant to join a transferrable currency program after all. They did eventually hook up with Bilt, but Bilt works outside the normal banking relationships. I doubt that Bank of America, who issues Alaska credit cards, would be too keen on them staying in the Membership Rewards ecosystem.

Best case scenario would be that the new Alaska combined program continues with Membership Rewards. I do think that is unlikely to happen though.

Update 5/16/25: it is now confirmed on the Membership Rewards page that transfers to Hawaiian end 6/30/25.

What I Am Planning On Doing

I am a plan for the worst and hope for the best type of guy. Because of that I plan to make any final Membership Rewards transfers to Alaska Airlines well before June 30th. I don't want them to pull the rug out from under me early after all. So, over the next few weeks I will transfer over anything I deem necessary for the next year or two. Yes, this is a speculative transfer. Yes, that is something we say to never do. This is a unique situation though, and I do use the miles often. I am not going to go crazy, mainly because we don't know what the new program looks like, but I will take a calculated risk here. If you have never used Alaska Mileage Plan before then I wouldn't start with a speculative transfer now. This is best done by grizzled veterans of the program.

I will do that and then play the wait and see game. It is possible that transfers stay open into August if they go on a month by month basis. Amex Membership Rewards wasn't listed on the announcement after all. It is also possible that Alaska continues on with Membership Rewards into the future with the new program too. Both would be great things, but I am going to plan on either coming true. I believe this to be the best course of action going forward with what we know now.

Membership Rewards Transfers To Alaska Airlines: ToP Thoughts

There is still a lot unknown with the Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines merger, but it is a bit less murky than it was. We know that some Hawaiian partnerships end on 6/30 and that the combined program launches in August. Based off of that we know a worst case scenario, a middle of the road option and a best case scenario. That is true at least when it comes to Membership Rewards transfers to Alaska Airlines (via Hawaiian Airlines). I would suggest planning on the end of June being your last chance. I wouldn't wait till the last minute though, since nothing is confirmed. Transfer what you need over the next few weeks, and then hope for the best!

Let me know your thoughts over in the ToP Facebook Group.