Don’t Link Your Hawaiian and Alaska Accounts Until You Read This

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While most of the buzz around the Alaska–Hawaiian partnership has focused on mileage transfers—especially the workaround to transfer AMEX Membership Rewards points to Alaska Airlines via HawaiianMiles—there’s another feature of the partnership that hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention: reciprocal elite status.

If you hold elite status in either program, linking your accounts lets you enjoy comparable perks across both airlines. And even if you don’t have status yet, you might still earn it based on your combined flying activity.

Here’s how it all works.

How Elite Status Matches Between Programs

If you’re already elite with one airline, linking your accounts will unlock matched status with the other:

That means perks like free checked bags, priority boarding, preferred seats, and even lounge access in some cases will now extend across both airlines. Not bad for a simple account link.

More Than Just a Match: How to Earn Status in Both Programs

Even if you don’t currently have elite status with either airline, you may still be able to unlock it, thanks to a smart twist in the partnership.

🌀 Seamless Status Matching
Link your Alaska and Hawaiian accounts, and if your combined elite-qualifying miles (EQMs) total 20,000 or more, you’ll receive matched status in both programs—even if neither alone would qualify you.

⭐ Boosted Status Based on EQMs
If you fly frequently with both airlines, your combined EQM total might qualify you for an even higher status level than you’d earn with just one. Once your accounts are linked, Alaska and Hawaiian will automatically update your shared EQM total each month—no need to re-link or reapply. So even mid-tier elites can unlock useful benefits—make sure your accounts are properly linked through the official site.

And Now… My Mistake

While I don’t have status with either airline, I figured I’d link my accounts now. That way, when the programs eventually merge later this year, there’d be less risk of my miles getting lost or failing to transfer properly.

I already had a HawaiianMiles account, which I used to book our nonstop flight from Honolulu to Orlando. On the other hand, my Alaska Mileage Plan account hadn’t been touched in years. Since Alaska miles expire without activity, the account had been deactivated.

I successfully linked the two programs. Then I tried to transfer HawaiianMiles to Alaska, hoping to book a first class ticket on American using Alaska miles—because Alaska wanted fewer miles than American was charging for the same flight in economy.

The transfer failed. Why? Because my Alaska account was inactive.

So I created a new Alaska account to complete the transfer. That worked—but then I remembered I had linked my HawaiianMiles account to the old, inactive Alaska account. When I tried to fix the link, I got this message:

I tried calling Alaska and connected with a rep through the website’s chat. The chatbot responded first, and I explained the situation. After pulling up both my old and new Alaska accounts, the rep confirmed the problem, and it turns out this is a known issue.

Because I had already transferred miles from Hawaiian to my new Alaska account, the system wouldn’t allow the accounts to be re-linked. I was given two options:

1. Merge both Alaska accounts into the old account (the one linked to Hawaiian). This would preserve the link and reciprocal status, but I wouldn’t be able to transfer any more HawaiianMiles into Alaska.

2. Merge the accounts into the new account, which would allow me to continue transferring points from Hawaiian to Alaska—but I’d lose the link between programs and wouldn’t receive any reciprocal status benefits.

I chose the second option since I don’t have status in either program, anyway. My Alaska account is active and can receive transfers, but it’s not linked to Hawaiian, so I’m missing out on the status match.

So if you’re thinking of linking your accounts, especially if you have elite status in either program, do this first:
✅ Make sure your Alaska and Hawaiian accounts are both active and accurate
✅ Confirm which account you want to link before you do it
✅ Don’t initiate a miles transfer until everything is set up correctly

Otherwise, you might find yourself stuck like I did, with limited options and a call to customer service as your only way out.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary