Earlier this month Barclays announced the release of the new Hawaiian Airlines World MasterCard. Currently both the personal and business version of the card have a 35,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles bonus. There are a few differences between the two cards that we'll go over in this post.
Hawaiian Airlines World MasterCard gives card holders access to discounted (5,000 off per roundtrip) awards, so the 35,000 bonus could get you a free round trip to Hawaii. On top of that Hawaiian Airline miles can be transferred to Hilton Hotel points if your looking to top off your Hilton points account.
Tips for Applying for Barclays Credit Cards
Barclays has been getting much more strict on approving new cardholders, but they are also offering a few much better offers than in the past. Just in case, there are tricks to increase your chances on getting approved for a new Barclays credit card.
When you’re considering to apply, create an active statement. There has been a lot of talk about using a current Barclays credit card the month before applying for a new card. This creates an active statement and can help your chances of getting approved for a new Barclay credit card.
If you do not get an instant approval, call the reconsideration line immediately. The direct number to the reconsideration line is (866)408-4064 and you will route to a service rep. It always helps to be friendly and explain why you want the new card. For example, if you have the Arrival card and want the Hawaiian Airlines credit card, tell the rep why you think each card is valuable to you and how you’ll use the benefits of each. By explaining this to the rep, you’re more likely to get approved for an additional card.
From my experience Barclays is hit or miss with getting an instant approval, and calling into the reconsideration line as soon as possible can increase your odds of getting approved. There is no reason to wait for a letter in the mail!
Barclays doesn’t like to see multiple credit inquiries on your credit score, so it can help to apply for Barclays cards first if you’re applying for multiple new credit cards. If you have a handful of recent credit pulls, Barclays may deny your application, or you may have to explain each recent inquiry when calling into the reconsideration line.
By applying for multiple cards on the same day you can limit the number of credit inquiries the card issuer can see since they will not have posted to your account yet. This is one of the benefits of applying for multiple cards on the same day.
Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard - 35,000 Bonus Miles
Application Link: Hawaiian Air Personal Credit Card
35,000 Bonus Miles
You'll get 35,000 bonus miles after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. This is similar to past offers that were issued by Bank of America, but now the card is issued by Barclays. Also similar to the old offers the $89 annual fee is not waived.
50% Discount on Companion Ticket
One perk of the cards is that within the first 13 months of getting the card, you get a one-time 50% off a companion fare on a ticket between North America and Hawaii. Basically the cardholder has to purchase a full-price ticket and can purchase a ticket for a companion at half price. The tickets must be booked on the same roundtrip flights in economy.
This isn’t a jaw-dropping benefit, but it could be valuable to some who are booking a trip for the entire family and don’t have enough miles to cover everyone's tickets. Say you're booking a trip for four and you only have enough miles for two flights, you could buy your ticket as the cardholder and then get another ticket 50% off.
Share Miles for Free
As a cardholder you can receive miles from a friend or family member up to 10 times a year for free. Most airlines charge to transfer miles from one account to another. This can be helpful if you need to consolidate miles between family member’s accounts to have enough miles to book an award.
This a nice perk, but of course you can book award tickets for friends or family members or vice versa. So the real benefit of this is to simplify and consolidate accounts.
Free Checked Bag
Read the details carefully on this benefit. You only get a free checked bag when you use your Barclays Hawaiian Air credit card to buy tickets directly from Hawaiian Air. This means you won’t get a free checked bag if you buy the ticket from Kayak, Expedia, or any other third party travel site. Remember that you also have to purchase the ticket with your Hawaiian Airline credit card.
The real deal killer is that only the primary cardmember gets the free checked bag. This is a lot less generous than other airline credit cards that offer free checked bags. Also note that only the personal credit card seems to be eligible for this benefit (not the business credit card.)
However, if you are an elite Gold, Platinum member or Premier Club you’ll get one extra free checked bag with the Barclays Hawaiian Air card.
$100 Discount on a Companion Fare
On top of the 50% discount on one companion fare, you’ll get a $100 discount on a companion fare every year. This can cover the annual fee, but unless you plan on a trip to Hawaii every year it doesn’t seem very useful.
If you're loyal to Hawaiian Airlines or frequently travel to the islands this could be the deciding factor in keeping the card after the first year. Between the free mile transfers and the companion fare discount you could justify keeping the card for these two benefits alone.
Discounted Award Travel
You can get discounted award tickets if you’re a Visa Signature or Platinum cardmember. For instance, you will only pay 17,500 miles for a one-way award instead of the normal 20,000 miles. This makes it possible to book a free roundtrip flight with the 35k mile welcome bonus.
To get the discounted awards you have to be logged into your account on the Hawaiian Air website.
If the award space is there this is nice, but I don’t have a ton of experience finding or booking SuperSaver awards on Hawaiian Air, so truthfully I can’t comment as to whether this is of much value.
Discounted award travel also appears to be valid only on the personal credit card and not for the business credit card.
Anniversary Bonus
Each cardholder year you spend $10,000 on the Hawaiian Air credit cards, you get 5,000 bonus miles. Usually your card anniversary starts when your account is approved and ends one year from then.
This isn’t amazing, but it’s a nice benefit if you plan on keeping the card after the first year. Compared to some other cards’ annual bonus spending requirement the $10,000 annually is a fairly low requirement to meet.
Annual Fee and Foreign Transaction Fees
The Hawaiian Airline credit cards do not have foreign transaction fees, which is always nice if you plan on using the card on international trips.
However, the $89 annual fee is not waived for the 1st year.
Earn 2X miles on Hawaiian Airlines purchases and 1X miles on everything else.
With the cards you’ll earn 2x miles on Hawaiian Airline purchases and 1x miles on everything else. This is very standard across all airline cards, and I wouldn’t recommend using this card for everyday spending after hitting the minimum spending requirement.
Transfer to Hilton HHonors Points
One of my favorite options for using Hawaiian Airline miles is to transfer them to Hilton hotel points at a 1:1.5 ratio. This means that you will get 52,500 Hilton points from transferring 35,000 Hawaiian Air miles.
To make a transfer you have to call Hawaiian Air at (877)426-4537 and can only transfer in 5,000 mile increments.
One idea would be to use the companion fare on a cheap economy flight and transfer the 35k miles to Hilton hotel points. If you find a low-priced Hawaiian Air flight this could mean a super cheap vacation to Hawaii that includes some free hotel stays.
The Hawaiian Airlines Business Card
The major differences between the personal and business version of the Hawaiian Airlines credit cards is that you get the 35,000 mile bonus after your first purchase. The $89 annual fee is not waived the first year.
Most of the card benefits are the same, with the exception that the business card does not offer a few of the benefits the personal card has. These include discount award tickets, the $100 companion fare discount after the first year, and it also does to offer 5,000 bonus miles after spending $10,000 miles each cardmember year.
Recap
The return of the Hawaiian Airlines World MasterCard is nice to see and the 35,000 mile bonus may be worth it for some. If you're planning a trip to Hawaii or frequently fly to the islands this could be a good card for you. With the discounted awards from having the card the 35,000 bonus is worth a round trip flight to Hawaii. The other card perks are more valuable for frequent Hawaiian Airlines travelers, but if used could easily be worth paying the annual fee.
If you don’t have a need for flights on Hawaiian airlines you can always transfer the 35,000 mile bonus to get Hilton hotel points. By consolidating accounts by sharing miles for free or applying for both cards you could easily get 70,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles.
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