35,000 Miles Hawaiian Air Cards Are Back!

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Thanks to Marilyn B for emailing that you can get 35,000 Hawaiian Air miles after spending $1,000 on either the Hawaiian Air personal card or the Hawaiian Air business cards!

Should I Apply For The Hawaiian Air Card ASAP?

Bank of America used to issue the Hawaiian Air cards, but lost the contract a few months ago.  Barclaycard now issues the Hawaiian Air credit cards.

Barclaycard is also getting stricter on approving folks for multiple Barclaycard cards.  So I wouldn’t rush to get the Hawaiian Air cards unless you have a specific need for Hawaiian Air miles.

If you’ve never applied for any Barclaycard credit card, I’d suggest getting the Barclaycard US Air card for 35,000 US Air miles after your 1st purchase before getting other Barclaycard credit cards.

That’s because Barclaycard will stop issuing the US Air credit card very soon.  US Air miles will eventually become American Airlines miles because of the US Air and American Airlines merger.  So this is your last chance to stock-up on US Air miles with the Barclaycard credit card!

Note that the 35,000 mile offer does NOT pay me a commission, but is a better offer for you than the public version for 30,000 miles (which does pay me a commission).

Hawaiian Air Credit Cards

Link:   Hawaiian Air Personal Credit Card

Link:   Hawaiian Air Personal Card Terms & Conditions

Link:   Hawaiian Air Business Credit Card

Link:   Hawaiian Air Business Card Terms & Conditions

1.   Sign-Up Bonus

You get 35,000 Hawaiian Air miles after spending $1,000 within 3 months.  

2.  Free Checked Bag

You get 1 free checked bag when you use your Barclaycard Hawaiian Air credit card to buy tickets directly from Hawaiian Air.  

This appears to be valid only on the personal credit card and not for the business credit card card.

Unfortunately, this isn’t as lucrative as the free checked bag from other credit cards.

• The terms say that you have to buy the ticket directly from Hawaiian Airlines. You won’t get the free checked-bag if you buy the ticket from third parties such as travel agencies (online booking sites such as Expedia, etc.)

• You have to buy the ticket with your Hawaiian Air personal card

• But the worst restriction is that the free checked-bag is only for the primary cardmember.  This means that a family of 4 with only 1 cardholder in the family, will get only 1 checked bag for free.  In contrast, the Delta credit card gets up to 9 folks on the same reservation 1 free checked bag.  Perhaps this is Barclaycard’s way of getting more than 1 person in a family to sign-up for the card!

However, Hawaiian Air elite Gold and Platinum members and Premier Club members get 1 extra bag if they have the Barclaycard Hawaiian Air card.

3.   50% Off Companion Discount

You get a 1-time 50% discount towards the CASH price of a coach round-trip ticket for a companion.  This isn’t valid for award bookings, but it could help save some cash for trips to Hawaii.

The screenshot below is of the 50% discount certificate from my Bank of America Hawaiian Air card, but it appears to have the same restrictions as the new certificate with the Barclaycard cards.

However, this isn’t as lucrative as the companion ticket on the Alaska Air card because you only pay taxes and fees for your companion (instead of 50% of the cost) with the Alaska Air companion ticket.

This discount is only valid on round-trip coach flights between Hawaii and North America (inter-island flights don’t qualify!) booked through the primary cardholders account.  And the primary cardholder has to travel with the companion.

The 50% discount is valid for 13 months from when it is issued and will show up in your Hawaiian Air account.

4.   Discounted Award Travel

The terms say that you get discounted award flights for having the Hawaiian Air credit card.  This appears to be valid only on the personal credit card and not for the business credit card card.  

But you can only view the discounted awards by logging on to the Hawaiian Air website.

In practice, this means that you get access to very limited awards for 17,500 miles 1-way to Hawaii instead of the usual 20,000 miles.

5.   Share Miles for Free

Most airlines charge to transfer miles from someone else’s account to your account.  But you can receive miles from a friend or family member for free, up to 10 times a year.

This is a nice benefit, but remember that your friend or family member can usually book award tickets for anyone!  So you don’t have to consolidate miles in one account.

6.   $100 Statement Credit for Hawaiian Air Elite Members

Hawaiian Air elite Gold and Platinum members can get up to $100 in annual statement credits towards in-flight purchases.

This appears to be valid only on the personal credit card and not for the business credit card card.

In-flight purchases include meals, drinks and entertainment.  They do NOT include paying extra to select seats or for upgrades to first class.

But this isn’t as good as it seems because the terms and conditions say that you are allowed a maximum credit of $10 per day.  So you have to be traveling on 10 separate days to get the full credit (which should be possible if you’re an elite member).

7.   Annual Fee

However, the $89 annual fee is NOT waived for the 1st year.

8.   Foreign Transaction Fee

There is no foreign transaction fee (usually 3%) for charges not in US dollars.  More cards should have no foreign transaction fees!

9.  Anniversary Bonus

A.  Bonus Miles

You earn an extra 5,000 Hawaiian Air miles if you spend $10,000 or more within your card anniversary year.  Your card anniversary year usually starts when you are approved for the card and ends 1 year later.

An extra 5,000 miles is a very small incentive to spend $10,000 on your Hawaiian Air card!

If you have the business card, you get an extra:

• 20,000 miles for spending $50,000 to $99,000 or
• 40,000 miles for spending $100,000 or more

B.   $100 Companion Discount

You also get a $100 discount off one companion ticket for each year you have the Barclaycard Hawaiian Air card.  This appears to be valid only on the personal credit card and not for the business credit card card.

This discount is only valid on round-trip coach flights between Hawaii and North America (inter-island flights don’t qualify!) booked through the primary cardholders account.  And the primary cardholder has to travel with the companion.

10.   Earning Hawaiian Air Miles

You earn:

• 2 miles per $1 spent for direct purchases on Hawaiian Air
• 1 mile per $1 spent for everything else

In addition, you may earn up to 10 miles per $1 on purchases by shopping with select Hawaiian Air partners.

Using Hawaiian Air Miles

Link:   Hawaiian Air Award Chart

Link:   Hawaiian Air Partner Airlines Award Chart

Link:   Hawaiian Air Non-Airline Awards

A.   For Hawaiian Air Flights

It costs 20,000 miles for a 1-way coach award from North America to Hawaii. And 7,500 miles for a 1-way inter-island flight.  Hawaiian Air also flies to Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and China.

B.   On Partner Airlines

You can redeem Hawaiian Air miles for travel on different partner airlines including American Airlines, Virgin America, Virgin Australia, etc.

It costs 35,000 Hawaiian Air miles for a round-trip in coach on American Airlines between North American and Mexico or the Caribbean.

35,000 to 40,000 Hawaiian Air miles will also get you an award on Jet Blue worth $260 6o $339.

However, you have to book partner awards on the phone by calling 877-426-4537.  The call center is open only from Monday to Friday between 8:00 am to 4:00 pm Hawaii Time.  In my experience, you have to call multiple times before the agent is able to book awards for you.

C.   Transfer to Hilton

You can transfer Hawaiian Air miles at a 1:1.5 ratio to Hilton hotel points in 10,000 mile increments.  This means that 10,000 Hawaiian Air miles will transfer to 15,000 Hilton points.  However, you have to call Hawaiian Air at 877-426-4537 to make the transfer.

Other redemption options includes redeeming for hotel, car rental, and other gift cards.  These aren’t a great value, but could be useful to some.

Bottom Line

It is nice to see the Hawaiian Air personal and business cards return with a 35,000 mile bonus.

It is worth applying for these cards, but I’d study the Hawaiian Air award chart to see if applying for the card makes sense for you!

PS:  I just got back to the US, and will try to reply to email and comments as soon as possible.