When it announced its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines promised that elite members of each program would be able to status match.
That status match is now live, as first flagged by Gary Leff at View from the Wing.
The airlines will eventually have one loyalty program, but in the meantime, reciprocal elite status is pretty cool.
It’s fairly straightforward. You just need to go to this special status match landing page, log in to your Alaska Mileage Plan account, and then log in to your HawaiianMiles account.
If you have status with Alaska Mileage Plan or HawaiianMiles, you can match that to elite status on the other carrier.
| If you have | You’ll be matched to |
|---|---|
| Alaska Mileage Plan MVP status | HawaiianMiles Pualani Gold status |
| Alaska Mileage Plan MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K or MVP Gold 100K status | HawaiianMiles Pualani Platinum status |
| HawaiianMiles Pualani Gold status | Alaska Mileage Plan MVP status |
| HawaiianMiles Pualani Platinum status | Alaska Mileage Plan MVP Gold status |
Even if you don’t have status with either airline, there’s also an opportunity here to combine your earnings in both programs into one level of status. For example, if you’ve earned 20,000 miles with Alaska and 20,000 miles with Hawaiian, you’d have 40,000 miles in a combined account. That’s enough to get you Alaska Airlines MVP Gold status.
Remember that members will retain their current miles and can now also transfer their miles between accounts at a 1:1 ratio.
Alaska says members will soon have the ability to earn HawaiianMiles miles on Alaska flights and Mileage Plan miles on Hawaiian Airlines flights. There will also eventually be additional redemption options and the ability to enjoy select elite benefits across both airlines.
This will be helpful as the airlines begin operating flights for each other. For example, I noticed that my upcoming Alaska Airlines flight to Hawaii in April had been hit with a schedule change. When I called Alaska to figure out what was up with the flight, the agent told me that the Bay Area flights currently being flown by Alaska would soon be operated by Hawaiian Airlines.
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I don’t currently have elite status with either airline. But if I did, I would have been happy to get Hawaiian Airlines status so that I could pick better seats on those flights that will now be operated by Hawaiian.
Because of my American Airlines status, I was able to choose extra-legroom seats on Alaska flights. Alaska’s partnership with American Airlines means that when I fly on Alaska flights, the carrier recognizes my top-tier American Airlines AAdvantage status. That won’t work with Hawaiian.
Related: Last-minute strategies for earning Alaska Mileage Plan elite status
You can also still status match from other airlines to Alaska
One other thing to note: Alaska is still offering a status challenge if you have elite status with another airline. You’ll earn instant status for 90 days by matching from your current airline elite status; there’s an opportunity to extend that status through the end of 2025 if you fly as few as 5,000 miles on Alaska-operated flights (20,000 miles for MVP Gold 75K). Since I have top-tier Delta Air Lines Diamond Medallion status, I might consider it.
More reasons Alaska Mileage Plan looks interesting now
In fact, I am considering going for Alaska status next year. There are a lot of appealing developments from Alaska Mileage Plan and from the merger.
Alaska is now the only major U.S. airline that lets you earn elite status from flights based on actual flight miles. This makes earning top-tier Mileage Plan status easier if you don’t buy a lot of expensive plane tickets. Alaska also made several positive changes on the status-earning front. Alaska Mileage Plan members will now earn miles on award redemptions, and there will also be new ways to spend toward status.
As of Jan. 1, 2025, cardholders with the current Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card will earn 1 elite qualifying mile for every $3 spent, up to a total of 30,000 EQMs each year on qualified purchases. That could get you a good part of the way toward top-tier 100K status, which requires 100,000 EQMs.
Related: Why I applied for 2 Hawaiian Airlines cards on the same day
Note, too, that Alaska is offering waitlist access for a new premium card that it says will help holders accelerate their path to status.
One other thing to keep in mind for now: Hawaiian Airlines remains a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards. I’m considering transferring some points to Hawaiian that would turn into Alaska miles.
In the meantime, if you have status in either program, it probably makes sense for you to status match.
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