Hawaiian Airlines® Business Mastercard® Review: Is It Worth Its $89 Annual Fee?
Hawaiian Airlines® Business Mastercard® Review: Is It Worth Its $89 Annual Fee?
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Quick facts
- Welcome offer: Earn .
- Earning rate: Earn
- Annual fee:
- Companion certificate: Earn a one-time 50% off companion discount for round-trip travel between Hawaii and North America on Hawaiian Airlines
- Annual perks: Earn up to 40,000 annual bonus miles after meeting specific spending thresholds.
- Hawaiian Airlines benefits: Share miles for free with friends and family.
Pros
Cons
The information related to the , and has been independently collected by ValuePenguin and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply.
Is the worth it?
The is worth it for business owners who travel to Hawaii often enough to take advantage of its benefits and hefty welcome offer of 70,000 bonus HawaiianMiles.
The bonus miles alone could be enough for two round-trip tickets between the U.S. West Coast and Hawaii.
In addition to the miles, the provides a one-time 50% companion discount coupon, and you can also earn bonus miles every year with your card, depending on your annual spend. If vacationing in Hawaii is your goal, this small business card could be one for your wallet.
That being said, the comes up short in other ways. Its ongoing earning rates fall short of similar products, and there are limited options for redeeming your miles if you're not interested in free travel to Hawaii.
Sign-up bonus
This sign-up bonus can easily score you a round-trip flight to Hawaii.
The current welcome offer for the allows you to earn up to 70,000 bonus miles:
Earn .
We value HawaiianMiles at 1.2 cents each, so this generous bonus is worth around $840 when redeemed for Hawaiian Airlines award flights. With the access to discounted Hawaiian Airlines awards that your provides, the 70,000 bonus miles are enough for:
- Two round-trip tickets between the West Coast and Hawaii
- A one-way business class ticket from Hawaii to Japan, Korea, Australia or New Zealand
HawaiianMiles are on the average-to-lower end of the range of airline mile values, but the welcome offer competes well with other airline business cards. Comparable card welcome offers for Delta and American co-branded business credit cards are worth a similar amount.
How easy are these miles to redeem? Read more below
What it's worth: Around $840 in Hawaiian airlines fare
Who's eligible to earn this offer? Applicants must meet the credit score and income criteria to qualify for the card. The offer is not available to current cardholders and previous cardholders who closed their accounts in the past 24 months.
Earn 3X miles on Hawaiian Airlines purchases
With the you can earn .
The is pretty rewarding for an airline credit card. But you can earn more rewards with a flexible travel card like the .
Based on typical consumer spending patterns, the earns $0.016 per $1 spent in ongoing rewards. This is a decent earning rate for a co-branded airline credit card, though the actual return could be better or worse depending on how much of your spending falls into the bonus categories.
Here's how the stacks up against the competition. Note that the and the can potentially be much more rewarding, since they allow you to transfer points to a variety of airline loyalty programs (including Hawaiian Airlines):
Average Rewards per $1 spent
How much are HawaiianMiles worth?
By our estimates, Hawaii miles are worth around 1.2 cents each on average — that's a pretty good return on your dollar.
Redeeming miles
HawaiianMiles are fairly simple to redeem, though the number of miles required for a flight can vary drastically, depending on the date. However, Hawaiian offers a handy chart with award prices.
Hawaiian Airlines makes redeeming your HawaiianMiles a cinch at hawaiianairlines.com. The number of miles required for free flights depends on your origin, destination and date of travel.
Award flights start at 7,500 miles for the cheapest Main Cabin award between any of the Hawaiian Islands and can be as expensive as 140,000 for the most expensive Main Cabin category for flights between Hawaii and destinations in Japan, Korea, Australia or New Zealand. There are no blackout dates for Hawaiian Airlines award tickets; however, with variable award tiers, you can expect higher priced awards when revenue fares are higher.
Hawaiian Airlines uses variable award pricing — which means the number of miles required for a flight fluctuates depending on demand. However, the airline is transparent about what things should cost. Hawaiian publishes an award chart that lists the range of miles required for each flight class and region (for instance Main Cabin flights from the West Coast range between 20,000 and 90,000 miles):
One-Way Hawaiian Airlines award prices | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Category | U.S. West - Hawaii | U.S. Central - Hawaii | U.S. East - Hawaii |
| Main Cabin 1 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 30,000 |
| Main Cabin 2 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 40,000 |
| Main Cabin 3 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 |
| Main Cabin 4 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 |
| Main Cabin 5 | 60,000 | 60,000 | 80,000 |
| Main Cabin 6 | 80,000 | 80,000 | 100,000 |
| Main Cabin 7 | 90,000 | 100,000 | 120,000 |
| Main Cabin 8 | N/A | 110,000 | 130,000 |
One cool feature of the Hawaiian Airlines credit cards is that they provide access to discounted economy awards — you can save at least 2,500 miles each way between the mainland U.S. and Hawaii as a holder.
We've researched a good number of popular Hawaiian Airlines routes and have determined the typical value you can get for your miles for each.
Class | Origin | Destination (Hawaiian Island) | Mile value |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Class | Las Vegas | Honolulu (O'ahu) | 1.5 cents |
| Coach | Portland | Honolulu (O'ahu) | 1.1 cents |
| First Class | New York | Kahului (Maui) | 1.7 cents |
| First Class | Portland | Kona (Hawaiʻi) | 1.1 cents |
| First Class | San Francisco | Honolulu (O'ahu) | 1.1 cents |
Beyond free flights on Hawaiian Airlines, there are actually a handful of other ways you can redeem HawaiianMiles. Options include partner airlines award flights, gift cards, hotel stays and car rentals.
Hawaiian has the following airline partners:
- Japan Airlines
- JetBlue
- Korean Air
- Virgin Atlantic
- Virgin Australia
For non-flight redemption options, the value you receive is very poor. If you redeem for gift cards, hotel credit, car rental or in other ways, you'll receive just 0.5 cent per HawaiianMile.
Finding Hawaiian Airlines award flights
To search for award flights, you'll need to log into your HawaiianMiles account and key in your origin, destination, travel date(s) and number of passengers. The site provides features that make researching award flights easy:
- You can toggle between dollars, miles and "dollars and miles" (if applicable) to quickly determine the value you're getting for your miles.
- The search also supplies a one week ribbon at the top so you can quickly see which day(s) offer the cheapest awards.
Other benefits
Besides the ability to earn valuable HawaiianMiles that you can redeem for free flights, the offers a variety of additional perks.
In addition to the welcome offer, you’ll receive a one-time 50% companion discount toward one published full coach round-trip fare for a companion:
- Valid on roundtrip coach travel between Hawaii and North America, booked directly with Hawaiian Airlines through your HawaiianMiles Account.
- The cardholder must travel with their companion on the same flight itinerary.
- The offer expires 13 months after the account is opened.
- The offer is not valid on neighbor islands or international flights.
- The offer is not valid on codeshare flights with Hawaiian Airlines partners or on multicity itineraries.
- The offer is valid for revenue fares and cannot be combined with an award itinerary.
You can earn bonus miles each year by meeting the following spending thresholds within your card membership year:
- 20,000 bonus HawaiianMiles after making $50,000 in net purchases within a card membership year.
- 20,000 more bonus HawaiianMiles after making $100,000 in net purchases within a card membership year.
The bonus miles are based on total spending within the card membership year and will be applied at the end of your anniversary month.
The does not levy foreign transaction fees when you make purchases internationally. Credit cards often charge foreign transaction fees of typically up to 3%.
Do you run a business where your employees make purchases? The offers complimentary employee cards linked to your account that can help you keep track of business spending and earn additional rewards.
The consolidated statement offered by the Hawaiian business credit card shows all expenses for all cards under the primary account, making tracking business expenses much easier.
Drawbacks
- Annual fee of . There are business credit card options that don’t charge an annual fee, so if your business doesn't make a high volume of purchases, it could be difficult to justify this expense.
- Locked into earning HawaiianMiles. If traveling to Hawaii is high on your list, the is likely worth it. However, there are other products that let you earn flexible points, some of which allow you to transfer your points to HawaiianMiles if you want other rewards options.
- No free checked bag. Unlike the consumer version of the card, the does not give you any free checked luggage when flying on Hawaiian Airlines.
- No 0% APR offer. The card does not offer any introductory 0% APR window for purchases or balance transfers if you're looking to carry an interest-free balance for several months.
How does the compare to other cards?
If you're not sure whether the is the right product for you, here's how it compares to a few other similar products.
vs.
Verdict: A good alternative for West Coast travelers
For travelers based on the West Coast, the is a great option. Alaska Airlines operates many routes from the U.S. West Coast to Hawaii, which makes their business credit card a decent alternative to the .
Aside from a large sign-up bonus, the card offers various benefits when flying Alaska Airlines, including a free checked bag, 20% off in-flight purchases, travel accident and auto rental insurance coverages and an annual companion fare certificate.
How does it compare?
- Annual fee: (Better)
- Welcome bonus: Earn (Worse)
- Rewards earned/$1 spent: $0.016 (Same)
- Other benefits: First free checked bag, annual companion certificate, travel insurance coverages, 20% off inflight purchases (Better)
vs.
Verdict: The better option if you want more travel choices
The , issued by Chase, is an excellent choice for those who frequently fly with Southwest or want to use their miles for North American destinations besides Hawaii.
Hawaiian Airlines is limited in the number of mainland U.S. destinations they serve, while Southwest serves around 100 domestic and international destinations. As the airline with the second-largest domestic market share, Southwest Airlines is a popular carrier for many. They launched flights to Hawaii in 2019 and serve five Hawaii destinations.
The allows you to rack up Rapid Rewards points for free flights to Hawaii. In addition, the card provides 9,000 bonus points every cardmember anniversary and in-flight Wi-Fi credits, plus other excellent perks.
How does it compare?
- Annual fee: (Worse)
- Welcome bonus: (Better)
- Rewards earned/$1 spent: $0.018 (Better)
- Other benefits: Four upgraded boardings per year, 9,000 annual bonus points, 365 annual Wi-Fi credits, one Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® credit every 4 years, foreign transaction fees and travel and purchase insurance coverages (Better)
vs.
Verdict: A more rewarding travel card
Looking for flexible points instead of HawaiianMiles? The is a card worth considering. While the annual fee of is much steeper, the card offers far better earning potential. With the you can . The cool part is that you can transfer Membership Rewards to HawaiianMiles, if needed.
The card also gives you 25% of your points back when you book flights through American Express Travel on your selected airline and doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. Finally, you can enjoy peace of mind when traveling, as the card provides baggage insurance, car rental loss and damage insurance and trip delay insurance.
How does it compare?
- Annual fee: (Worse)
- Welcome bonus: (Better)
- Rewards earned/$1 spent: $0.038 (Better)
- Other benefits: Receive 25% of your points back when you book flights through American Express Travel on your selected airline, no foreign transaction fees, baggage insurance, car rental loss and damage insurance and trip delay insurance (Better)
- Terms apply.
Should you apply for the ?
For small business owners looking for a card that can get them free flights to Hawaii from a destination served by Hawaiian Airlines, the is a decent pick. The points from the welcome offer alone are enough for two round-trip Discounted Award tickets between the U.S. West Coast and any of the Hawaiian islands, and the one-time discount can also save you a bundle on another trip.
But the card may come up short for people who hardly fly to Hawaii or don't live near a city served by Hawaiian Airlines. The ongoing return for the card also falls short of other products, especially those that earn flexible points you can transfer to a variety of airlines beyond Hawaiian. If you prefer flexibility, you're better off with the or the , or another of our picks for best small business cards.
FAQs
How do I keep Hawaiian miles from expiring?
Effective April 12, 2021, HawaiianMiles no longer expire and qualifying account activity is not required. HawaiianMiles earned by program members will be available for use at their discretion.
What bank issues the ?
The and personal credit card are both issued by Barclays Bank Delaware. The cards also include Bank of Hawaii branding.
What is the best business credit card for airline miles?
The best business credit card for airline miles is highly dependent on the travel needs of the company or individual consumer. Check out our list of best business credit cards for travel which includes some cards that earn airline miles.
The information related to , , , , , , , and has been independently collected by ValuePenguin and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication. Terms apply to American Express credit card offers. See americanexpress.com for more information.
These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Advertiser Disclosure: The products that appear on this site may be from companies from which ValuePenguin receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). ValuePenguin does not include all financial institutions or all products offered available in the marketplace.
How We Calculate Rewards: ValuePenguin calculates the value of rewards by estimating the dollar value of any points, miles or bonuses earned using the card less any associated annual fees. These estimates here are ValuePenguin's alone, not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer.
Example of how we calculate the rewards rates: When redeemed for travel through Ultimate Rewards, Chase Sapphire Preferred points are worth $0.0125 each. The card awards 2 points on travel and dining and 1 point on everything else. Therefore, we say the card has a 2.5% rewards rate on dining and travel (2 x $0.0125) and a 1.25% rewards rate on everything else (1 x $0.0125).