There’s nothing quite like being offered free miles for doing something you were going to do anyway—just make a few purchases, and boom, bonus points in your account. So when I got a Barclays offer to earn 2,500 HawaiianMiles (soon to be Alaska miles), it sounded like easy money.
But I’m skipping it—and not because I don’t want the miles.
Why I Got the Hawaiian Airlines Card in the First Place
When the proposed merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian was first announced, I decided to take a bit of a gamble and pick up the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard®. The merger hadn’t received government approval at the time, but even if it didn’t go through, the worst-case scenario was that I’d be left with a stash of HawaiianMiles to burn on a future trip to the islands.
It wasn’t a slam dunk, either. I’d recently been approved for the Aviator Red card—another Barclays product—and applying for a second card from the same bank so soon after was risky. After some back and forth, I was finally approved. A few months later, the acquisition was finalized in September.
While the two airlines are still operating separately, they’ve announced that their loyalty programs will fully combine later this year. That means any HawaiianMiles you earn now will be folded into Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, giving them more flexibility and (hopefully) more value.
The Offer: An Easy 2,500 Miles
Barclays is known for tossing out targeted spending bonuses for their airline cards, and this one was straightforward: earn 10 bonus miles per dollar on up to $250 in purchases, for a maximum of 2,500 extra HawaiianMiles.
Will Run For Miles shared the same offer in this post, and there’s no trick or complicated requirement. Just spend like normal, and the miles will eventually land in your account.
And since those HawaiianMiles will soon be merged into Alaska’s Mileage Plan, this promo is essentially offering 2,500 Alaska miles with no hoops to jump through.
Why I’m Passing on the Offer
Normally, I’d be all over this. I’d just shift $250 of regular, non-bonused spending to the card and bank the miles. But this time, the timing doesn’t work in my favor.
I’m coming up on the one-year anniversary of holding the card, and the $99 annual fee is about to hit. The Hawaiian card was already on my 2025 chopping block as part of a plan to trim 25% of my annual fee cards, and this promotion isn’t enough to make me change that.
Even more frustrating, the terms of the offer clearly state that bonus miles can take 6–8 weeks after the promotion ends to post. That means I could spend the money, close the card shortly after, and never actually see the miles hit my account.
I could play it safe and keep the card another year, but that’s essentially paying $99 to lock in 2,500 miles. When you do the math, that comes out to 3.96 cents per mile, which is a bad deal when you can often buy Alaska miles for around 1.85 cents each, as One Mile at a Time notes.
Final Thoughts
Barclays continues to offer strong spending promos, and this one is no exception. Under different timing, I’d be all over it. But between the slow crediting timeline and the annual fee deadline, it’s just not worth the hassle.
The value isn’t there, and neither, most likely, would be the miles.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
