Amex offers 25% Transfer Bonus to Hawaiian Airlines

Through June 21, 2017, American Express is offering 25% bonus on Membership Rewards points transferred to Hawaiian Airlines.

Normally, the transfer ratio is 1:1. With this promotion, each 1,000 Amex Membership Rewards points will become 1,250 HawaiianMiles. A minimum of 1,000 points is required.

Hawaiian Airlines Award Chart to Hawaii

Hawaiian Airlines operates nonstop flights to Hawaii from the following cities in the continental U.S.:

• To Honolulu – Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York JFK, Oakland, Portland, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francscio, San Jose, CA, and Seattle.
• To Maui – Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle.
• To Big Island (KOA airport) – seasonal from Los Angeles and Oakland.
• To Kauai – Los Angeles, and seasonal from Oakland.

As you can see from the above award chart, one-way coach award flight to Hawaii from the U.S. costs 20,000 HawaiianMiles, or 17,500 miles if you hold the Hawaiian Airlines credit card. Whether you are flying from New York or California, the price is the same.

With the 25% transfer bonus, one-way coach award will cost only 16,000 Membership Rewards points, or 14,000 points if you hold the credit card. That is pretty good, even though it is not the cheapest redemption available. Other award redemptions to Hawaii include:

• 12,500 Avios on Alaska Airlines from west coast [SEE Using Avios to your advantage for a family trip]
• 12,500 Korean Air miles on Delta from anywhere in continental U.S.
• 17,500 Singapore Krisflyer miles on United Airlines from anywhere in continental U.S.
• 22,500 miles on United, Delta and American Airlines from anywhere in continental U.S.

Awards from Hawaii to International destinations

Hawaiian Airlines operate nonstop flights from Honolulu to Asia and South Pacific, including:

• Papeete in Tahiti
• Beijing in China
• Seoul in South Korea
• Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo in Japan
• Auckland, New Zealand
• Sydney and Brisbane, Australia

You can find the award charts here. Most destinations require 40,000 miles or more each way, with the exception of Papeete. Hawaiian Airlines operate one weekly flight between Honolulu and Papeete, and it cost just 27,500 miles each way, or 22,000 Membership Rewards points under this promotion. Award availabilities are usually excellent for this five-hour flight. You can really combine a trip to Hawaii and Tahiti for just 47, 500 Hawaiian miles each way, or 38,000 Membership Rewards points with the 25% transfer bonus.

Award flights on partner airlines

Hawaiian Airlines have partnership with All-Nippon Airways, JetBlue, Virgin America, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia. You can find the detailed award charts here.

Awards on partner airlines are only issued as roundtrip awards, and are based on availability (except JetBlue). Most of the redemptions don’t represent great value.

Conclusion

Whether or not to take advantage of this promotion depends if you have a need for Hawaiian miles. If you are planning to take the family to Hawaii and able to find award availability, you should definitely take advantage of this transfer bonus.

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