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Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!
Update, 6/30: You can still transfer points to Alaska via Hawaiian for now, but this can end at any time now!
Update, 6/29: Be sure to finish your transfers today! All details are in the post below. If you have a lot of AMEX points, this is a no brainer!
This should keep me in the air for quite some time!
You can also watch a breakdown here:
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A reader asked if they should transfer AMEX points to Avios with a 30% bonus or to Alaska at parity, before that transfer option ends for good on Sunday.
In general, I don’t recommend transferring miles to airlines, even if there’s a transfer bonus, unless you have a short-term plan to use those miles. The risks of devaluation are simply too great.
But this is a unique opportunity that was made possible thanks to Alaska’s merger with Hawaiian Airlines. You can transfer AMEX points to Hawaiian Airlines at a 1:1 ratio, and from Hawaiian to Alaska at a 1:1 ratio.
You can watch our podcast on how to best use Alaska miles.
For at least the next 6 years, the DOT is requiring that Alaska miles never expire. The DOT also requires that “The combined airline must maintain a minimum dollar value for all miles in the new loyalty program, measured by the guest-facing value of miles redeemed for carrier-operated flights” and that “The combined airline must not impose change or cancellation fees on rewards redemption tickets for travel on carrier-operated flights.”
There are no guarantees in life other than death and taxes, but I would say it’s a pretty safe bet that Alaska will take some time before devaluing their miles, due to that agreement and the close watch that the DOT will have on them.
I’ve been constantly using Alaska miles since they launched an awesome new partner airline award chart last year.
While other airlines devalue without warning and remove their award charts, Alaska has done things the right way.
It means that if I need a last-minute flight to NYC, instead of paying $411 one-way…
I’ll pay just 4,500 Alaska miles in coach or 9,000 Alaska miles in first class:
That compares favorably to Avios, which no longer has a published award chart, and devalued their miles without warning. It would take 12K Avios in coach or 24K Avios in first class:
That redemption values my Alaska miles at 8.71 cents each, which is an incredible value, especially as I earn between 2 and 5 points per dollar on my AMEX spending.
I’ve booked dozens of such flights over the past year, and it’s why I transferred another 999K AMEX points over to Alaska, despite still sitting on about a million Alaska miles.
AMEX does charge a transfer fee of .0006 cents per point for domestic airlines. The fee is capped at $99, so there’s no additional charge to transfer more than 165K AMEX points, up to the cap of 999K AMEX points per transfer. But that fee is a pittance compared to the value of Alaska miles.
And that was after I speculatively transferred over 500K AMEX points to Hawaiian last year before the merger was finalized or approved, after doing some wonky number crunching.
That’s a decent amount of exposure to devaluation, but hopefully the DOT agreement will stave that off.
Alaska allows for free award cancellations and changes, but they do charge a non-refundable $12.50 partner booking fee. I have yet to eat that fee on a cancellation, as I always just change my flight instead of cancelling it. That gives the miles a powerful advantage over paying cash.
You can view just how good Alaska miles are compared to other miles for booking OneWorld travel in this chart.
Let’s take a look at some more sample redemptions with Alaska’s award chart.
Chart 1: Americas
Americas zone 1 (0-700 miles) sample award: NYC to Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Montreal, Pittsburgh, or Toronto; Chicago to Newark or Philadelphia; Dallas-Denver, or New Orleans-Miami on AA for 4.5K miles in coach or 9K miles in first.
Newark to Chicago costs 4.5K Alaska miles in coach or 9K Alaska miles in first:
Compare that to 16K BA Avios in coach or 32K BA Avios in first:
Americas zone 2 (701-1,400 miles) sample award: NYC to Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, or Miami; Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, or Kansas City to Miami on AA for 7.5K miles in coach or 15K miles in first.
NYC to Miami or Fort Lauderdale costs 7.5K Alaska miles in coach or 15K Alaska miles in first. Compare that to 16K BA Avios in coach or 32K BA Avios in first.
Americas zone 3 (1,401-2,100 miles) sample award: Chicago to LA, Dallas to Hartford, Phoenix to Philadelphia on AA for 12.5K miles in coach or 25K miles in first:
Chicago to LA costs 12.5K Alaska miles in coach or 25K Alaska miles in first. Compare that to 18K BA Avios in coach or 40K BA Avios in first.
Americas zone 4 (2,100-4,000 miles) sample award: LA or Phoenix to Honolulu, Chciago to Anchorage on AA for 17.5K miles in coach or 35K miles in first:
LA to Honolulu costs 17.5K Alaska miles in coach or 35K Alaska miles in first. Compare that to 20K BA Avios in coach or 50K BA Avios in first.
Chart 2: Europe, Middle East, and Africa:
Europe/Middle East zone 1 (1-1,500 miles) sample award: Venice or Zurich to London for 7.5K miles in coach, 10K in premium, 15K in business, or 22.5K in first.
Venice to London costs 7.5K Alaska miles in coach or 15K Alaska miles in first. Compare that to 12.75K BA Avios in coach or 22.25K BA Avios in first.
Europe/Middle East zone 2 (1,501-3,500 miles) sample award: JFK to London, JFK to Iceland, NYC or Cleveland to Dublin for 22.5K miles in coach, 30K in premium, 45K in business, or 67.5K in first:
NYC to London is a bargain with Alaska miles in all cabins:
Want to use BA Avios to fly AA first class? Instead of 67.5K Alaska miles+$19, you would have to cough up 82.5K Avios plus $1,183!
NYC or Cleveland to Dublin costs 22.5K Alaska miles in coach or 45K Alaska miles in business class:
Once again, that compares favorably to a BA Avios redemption:
Europe/Middle East zone 3 (3,501-5,000 miles) sample award: JFK to Rome or Casablanca for 27.5K miles in coach, 35K premium, 55K business, or 82.5K first.
NYC to Rome or Philadelphia to Venice costs 27.5K Alaska miles in coach, 35K in Prmeium, or 55K Alaska miles in business class:
Once again, 55K Alaska miles+$19 is a bargain compared to 77,250 Avios+$1,058:
Europe/Middle East zone 4 (5,001-7,000 miles) sample award: Philadelphia to Doha for 35K miles in coach, 45K premium, 70K business, or 105K first:
That’s a fraction of the cost with BA Avios:
Chart 3: Asia Pacific
Asia Pacific zone 1 (1-1,500 miles) sample award: Melbourne to Sydney or Sydney to Queenstown, NZ for 7.5K miles in coach, 10K premium, 15K business, or 22.5K first:
Asia Pacific zone 2 (1,501-3,000 miles) sample award: Sydney to Nadi, Fiji for 25K miles in coach, 32.5K premium, 50K business, or 75K first:
Asia Pacific zone 3 (3,001-5,000 miles) sample award: Seattle to Tokyo, Honolulu to Tokyo, Los Angeles to Tahiti, Melbourne to Hong Kong, or Tokyo to Sydney for 30K miles in coach, 40K premium, 60K business, or 90K first:
Asia Pacific zone 4 (5,001-7,000 miles) sample award: Chicago to Tokyo or Tokyo to Melbourne for 37.5K miles in coach, 50K premium, 75K business, or 110K first:
Asia Pacific zone 5 (7,001-10,000 miles) sample award: Melbourne to Los Angeles for 42.5K miles in coach, 55K premium, 85K business, or 130K first:
- Open a new Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® Credit Card and receive a Buy one ticket, get one for just the taxes and fees ($0 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) and get 50,000 bonus miles with this offer. To qualify, make $3,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account. Read more here.
- Open a new Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Card and earn 60,000 bonus miles plus Alaska's Famous Companion Fare™ ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after making $4,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of opening your account. Read more here.
- The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is offering a rare bonus to earn 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership and offers 2 points per dollar spent on up to $50K spending annually 1 point per dollar thereafter, plus transfer points to airlines and hotels and keep AMEX points alive. Terms apply. Read more here.
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is offering a 150K bonus for spending $20,000 in the first 3 months, as well as monthly credits, lounge access, and much more. Terms apply. Read more here.
- American Express® Business Gold Card is offering a 100K bonus for spending $15,000 in 3 months, monthly business credits, Walmart+ membership, up to 4 points per dollar spent with a $150K annual spend cap, and more benefits. Terms apply. Read more here.
- Business Green Rewards Card from American Express is offering a 15K bonus for spending $3,000 in 3 months. Terms apply.
- The Platinum Card® from American Express is offering as high as 175K bonus for spending $8,000 in the first 6 months and offers monthly credits, lounge access, and much more. Terms apply. Read more here.
- American Express® Gold Card is offering as high as 100K bonus for spending $6,000 in the first 6 months, monthly credits for Uber and Grubhub, and more. Terms apply. Read more here.
- AMEX Green Consumer Card is offering a 40K bonus for spending $3,000 in the first 6 months and offers up to $199 in annual CLEAR Plus® credits, $100 LoungeBuddy credit, plus transfer points to airlines and hotels and keep AMEX points alive. All information about the AMEX Green Card has been collected independently by DansDeals.
There are many other great bargains to be had! What are your favorites? Will you transfer points from AMEX to Alaska by Sunday?
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106 Comments On "Final Hours! One Of The Best Ever Mileage Deals Is Ending! Points Bargains Across The Globe Is Why I Just Sent Another 1,998,000 AMEX Points Over To Alaska Airlines!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Devaluation?
Discussed in the post. 🙂
Dan are you keeping them in HA or are you moving them already into AS?
Moved to Alaska.
Wouldn’t it become alaska miles automaticly after 6/30?
Eventually, yes.
FYI, we just booked Alaska for
NYC-LHr 22.5k
BUD-NYC w BA 55k for business class.
Nice!
Is this targeted? Don’t see Alaska as a transfer option at all and Hawaiian is 1:1.
See the 3rd paragraph of this post.
American has the most generous awards of the three legacies, by far…..this is what allows Alaska to offer such good deals. American won’t be giving away this value forever.
How much are they worth per point when selling
I tried but it says im not eligible
Wondering why i have been charge a $25 booking fee pr passenger ticket when u write of a fee of only $12.50
$12.50 per direction.
So it must have been an error, they charged $25 for each my 2 one way tickets, is that common to happen?
What options do we have if we don’t have Amex points?
I have chase points
T4
I’ve been trying to sign up for the Alaska Airlines Mileage program, but it’s requiring me to put a “preferred departure city” and nothing is working. Any ideas?
do it on a PC SEEMS TO BE ONLY ISSUE WITH APP
It worked for me on Edge, but not on Chrome.
Dan, if i may please ask you, I see that in the post you are only comparing alaska vs BA, but not vs AA redemption. If I have plenty of AA miles do you still recommend transferring over Amex to Alaska? How do big of a value is alaska vs AA?
Typically Alaska is much less, but not always.
DTW to San or sfo Alaska is a lot higher then AA. Any way to transfer Amex or Chase to AA? Or delta?
You can’t transfer to AA. Amex transfers to delta.
If Im in middle of working on spend for a 250k sign up bonus for amex biz plat, would they forward me some of the points to transfer?
Can I transfer AMEX points from my wife’s account to my Alaska account?
Its possible thru alaska miles sharing
Just transferred 165k AMEX to Alaska. Thanks
What percentage of your total Amex MR points did you transfer ? For perspective!
Chart at link shows for quite a few routes Finnair is even better, no?
I transferred 300K MR to AS a few months ago and just now moved 300K more. It’s most of my MR, but they are pretty easy to accrue. Thanks for the nudge to do this. Shabbat Shalom!
How can you use these to get to Eretz Yisroel?
Have 1.7M Marriott points from the old Starwood days mostly sitting and collecting dust. Would you still recommend moving Amex points or I’ll get my value from transferring Marriott-Alaska 60k-25k?
For someone who lives in Israel, there seems to be very little potential value from Alaska miles because there are so few One World options out of TLV (other than redeeming on BA with huge fuel surcharges). Am I wrong? Are there value spots I’m missing?
I have 2 mil MR and 600k AS. What would you do?
Transfer 999k MR to AS or buy a 20k elal biz flight and get voucher? Or neither.
Thanks!
I had some trouble finding the link for transfering the Hawaiian Airlines points to Alaska mileplus, it is here: https://storefront.points.com/mileage-plan/en-US/exchange/success
Can I transfer my avios points to Alaska? Thx!!!
@dan what would you consider the next best program to transfer after alaska? TIA
@Dan, I recently applied for the Amex Business Platinum and completed the $20K minimum spend just two days ago. Do you think I’ll still receive the bonus points as expected, and will I be able to transfer them soon? Also, do you think it’s worth calling Amex to see if they can expedite the bonus? Appreciate your thoughts!
why dont you call and try ?
got 2 biz/1st tix to BCN, with alaska
(then elal to EY with capital1)
(from EY elal via flying blue to VIE)
from VIE 2biz tix with alaska VIE-LHR-JFK
YASHERKOACH TO DAN FOR THE CHINUCH TIPS
What about the excise tax? Annoying to have to pay fees to use my miles…
@dan does it pay to transfer Marriott (SPG) points to Alaska?
Better question: @JJ how are you generating 6mln AMEX points?! Teach us your ways!!!
Lol, those are Dan’s.
what can you sell them for per pt?
Bump
I only have 91,000 AMEX points. Is it worth transferring and paying 99 fee.
The fee will be lower than that for 91K.
Thanks it costed me $54. Not bad at all. Now I have a total of 589k points in Alaska airlines
Do you recommend transferring all Amex points to Alaska like 500K? Most of my flights are from NYC to FL.. and since Israel is not really an option from NYC, unless fly to London with a stopover.
Are they devaluating?
Just transferred 100k of my 170k points! I’ve used Amex/Alaska to get from the Midwest to ny a bunch of times.
Thanks Dan!!
@dan/JJ what % of total amex would you move over to Alasak, in this case.
wondering the same
Too personal of an answer to say.
been trying to do the transfer now for more than a month and each time I try to transfer I get a message “There was an error”
Dan, how do you earn 2-5 points for spend? Travel portal?
When will the Hawaiian credit cards stop accepting new applications? There are 2 personal and 1 business cards that one can get.
This is in addition to the Alaska airlines cards themselves, biz and personal.
I was about to transfer a bunch of miles but I decided to first check on Alaska to see how many I would need for various possible upcoming trips. I checked LA-London, LA-Rome, LA-Tokyo and a few more on a dozen random dates in the fall and winter and I couldn’t find anything in business without either a minimum $990 fee in addition to 70K miles (very rare to find even those in business) or seats for 250K -350K miles. The premium flights were more reasonable (about 45K miles plus $39) but that’s not what I save my miles for. Just out of curiosity I checked some of the same flights on the AA website and they were almost always less both in $$ and miles. It looks like I am going to pass on this deal.
If my home airport is ATL does it still make sense? Every week AA removes another direct flight from here. Outside of cheaper fares to the West Coast I’m not seeing much other value. What do you think, still worth it?
Nearly all my travel is coast to coast. Is Alaska still the best option in my case? I’ve been using United, although, I’ll admit flying into ewr is getting old.
Should I do the same with Citi THANK You?
If I transfer the amex points to Hawaii and just leave them there. Will they automatically be merged into my Alaska Airlines account or do I have to proactively move them over?
Do you have to fly Alaska Airlines, or are you able to use these miles with other airlines? Sorry, new to this miles thing…
You can fly with any of their partners like AA, BA, and more
any way to cash out chase points on this deal?
seems like finnair is often as good or better than alaska, from dan’s chart– anyone else notice this and holding out on transferring more of their AMEX??
There are some cases where that may be true, though not on short-hauls. But also keep in mind that you can’t easily book partner awards with Finnair, you need to contact a rep to book them, vs the ease that you can book and change Alaska awards online.
Finnair can also devalue at will, while Alaska is somewhat locked in due to its DOT merger agreement.
I didn’t trust you when their was a bonus to Hawaii and regretted it. Not making that mistake again, just transferred 400K.
Thank you Dan!
I have 200k amex. Should I leave some over for flying blue or some other use, or just transfer all?
May also be that all this value is ONLY retained for Alaska operated flights but not the partner flights that we are all banking on… (“combined airline must not impose change or cancellation fees on rewards redemption tickets for travel on carrier-operated flights.”)
Wow big red flag
I’m sitting on about 2 million AMEX points but I already have 600k Alaska points mostly from the 20% Amex bonus to Hawaiian last August. How much more should I transfer in?? I know Alaska miles are unbelievable right now and people are transferring in more, but I’ve got 133 short-haul trips already, am I really going to take more than that before they devalue or AA starts blocking awards? Tough one…
Can I leave the miles in Hawaiian or do I have to switch it ASAP to Alaskan
You can do that later.
I just don’t see good availability from Newark. American which I have a lot of miles on pretty much sucks. Availability-wise during holiday periods there’s nothing that’s amazing that I want to move tons of miles or points from Amex. What am I missing. Maybe this is great from Cleveland
United is the only airline with a significant presence at EWR.
There’s plenty of flights from LGA and JFK.
I feel poor with my 175k compared to you 3M+ points.
Don’t forget to do your good deeds before the end of the semester.
Ever thought about being a philanthropist and give away some of them?
You must have voted for me!
When is it ending? 12am est?
It’s crazy that could be 200 business class flights
Transferred 200k out of about 1.5 million. Don’t want to keep all my eggs in one basket.
When did Amex start charging exise tax for transfers to US airlines?
Since always.
Can I still transfer?
Was able to transfer after 12am, still going
I just transferred and transfer was successful
How does Alaska compare to United on longer haul domestic flights out of NYC (I have United CCs)?
Too late to transfer? I Don’t even know how to do this!
Still live for now.
Too late! Hawaiian no longer listed as an amex partner.
Why am I getting an error when I try to transfer from Hawaiin to Alaska?
Name and address must match exactly.
I’m getting the error before even logging in.
I don’t see Hawaiian on Amex platinum account please advise
It’s dead.
Any ideas at this point where to transfer the points?
Me too. It only allows me to transfer half of my total Hawaiian balance. Trying to transfer any more gives this error message- “There was an error. Unfortunately, you have an insufficient balance to perform this transaction.”
Just transferred 325k and it worked Thank you!
I keep getting error message trying opening my Alaskan account.
Error.
Please enter a valid preferred departure city. I tried on my phone and PC…
I had trouble transferring from amex to Hawaiian yesterday. Trying to speak to chase. Anyone else also did. Any luck with them?
Looks deed to me
Amex removed Hawaiian
How much is nyc to tlv on Alaska miles?
amex says they can’t help me. Lost case? ? Tried transferring last night almost 300k and it didn’t go through do to a passcode issue