The Barclays Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard is a co-branded credit card issued by Barclays and Hawaiian Airlines. The standard welcome bonus on this card is 35,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles, but recently a best-ever 50,000-point offer has appeared. Hawaiian Airlines miles are not especially valuable, at around 1.2-1.3 cents/point. The award chart does not have many sweet spots either. The biggest one is that cardholders can redeem 17,500 miles for a one-way economy ticket between North America and Hawaii. Note that this redemption is really only a good deal from the East Coast; from the West Coast, redeeming with BA costs only 12,500 one way. This card also comes with a round-trip 50% off companion coupon between North America and Hawaii, so it may be worth a try if you have suitable travel plans. In addition, these miles can be transferred to Hilton at a 1:1.5 ratio.
【Application Link】Go to the Hawaiian Airlines website and pretend to book a ticket. After selecting payment by credit card, a 50,000-point welcome offer application link should appear on the right.
【Minimum Spend Requirement】Spend $1,000 within the first 3 months to earn 50,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles.
【Annual Fee】$99
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Barclays Hawaiian Airlines: Pros
- After approval, you receive a one-time 50% off economy round-trip companion coupon between North America and Hawaii. After that, you get a $100 off economy round-trip companion coupon between North America and Hawaii every year.
- When the primary cardholder uses this card to purchase Hawaiian Airlines tickets directly on the airline's website, the first checked bag is free. (Compared with UA and AA cards, this benefit feels quite stingy.)
- Earn 2x on Hawaiian Airlines purchases and 1x on all other purchases. Each year, based on your cardmember anniversary, spending $10,000 earns an additional 5,000 miles.
- Cardholders get 2,500 miles off a North America-Hawaii Super Saver one-way award ticket.
- If you already have Hawaiian Airlines Elite Status, holding this card gives you a $100 on-flight purchase statement credit each year.
- No foreign transaction fee.
- Other World Elite Mastercard benefits.
Barclays Hawaiian Airlines: Cons
- It has basically no value for everyday spending. Even when buying Hawaiian Airlines tickets, cards like Citi Thankyou Premier, Citi Prestige, AMEX PRG, and Chase Sapphire Preferred offer better returns than this one.
- Barclays cards can be somewhat difficult to get approved for, and during recon you may even end up with a second HP.
Should You Apply?
If you are planning a trip to Hawaii, then yes, go for it. That said, the welcome bonus on this card is a little awkward. The miles are only enough for one person's round-trip ticket, but the companion's 50% coupon only has value if you also pay cash for another ticket. So this works much better if three or more people are traveling to Hawaii together. If you do not have Hawaii travel plans, these miles can also be used for flights on AA, ANA, and Virgin Atlantic, but the redemption rates are not very exciting. One final option is to convert leftover miles to Hilton Honors points at a 1:1.5 ratio, worth about 0.75 cents/point. Overall, Hawaiian Airlines miles are not especially valuable, but they are fairly flexible and can definitely be used. Even if you cash out blindly into 75,000 Hilton points, that still reaches the level of the best-ever Citi Hilton welcome bonus. Of course, this card has no real long-term keeper value, so you can cancel it before the second annual fee posts.
【Application Link】Go to the Hawaiian Airlines website and pretend to book a ticket. After selecting payment by credit card, a 50,000-point welcome offer application link should appear on the right. Do any readers have experience applying for Hawaiian Airlines cards or redeeming Hawaiian Airlines award tickets? Feel free to leave a comment and share with us!