Status match with two U.S. airlines

Greetings, earthlings, from Yerevan, the freezing, beautiful, snow-covered capital of Armenia. 🥶

I’m kicking off the crazy journey I told you about last week, and I’ve got some fun updates from the points and miles world to share with you:

• ↔️ Alaska & Hawaiian reciprocal status match

• 🌎 My favorite travel website/app

• 🤔 I need your help

• 🎥 Video: Climbing the credit card ladder

↔️ Alaska & Hawaiian reciprocal status match

I LOVE the new Alaska loyalty program…

I’ve already told you about how it’s getting me TONS of benefits already this year, along with earning me valuable miles to use all over the world.

But there’s a new way to get even MORE value from it, thanks to a new “status match” between Alaska and Hawaiian.

It’s hard to call it a status match because Alaska now owns Hawaiian, and elite qualifying activity will continue to count toward Hawaiian status.

So what this means is that you don’t need to have status right now in order to benefit from linking your accounts… rather, you can link your accounts, and when you earn status in one program, it’ll automatically reflect in the other.

You can link your accounts here and see it reflected in both accounts instantly:

But here’s why this is very good.

Hawaiian Airlines has much lower requirements for its top-tier status, and it comes with some benefits that are super valuable when flying to or from Hawaii.

Here are the qualifying requirements to earn Hawaiian status, which only has two tiers:

With 40,000 qualifying miles, you’ll have top-tier platinum status.

But since Alaska EQMs now count toward this… you can reach it very, VERY easily.

That’s because Alaska allows you to earn EQMs (Elite Qualifying Miles) by flying on Oneworld partner airlines and even on award bookings using Alaska miles.

For example, this flight from New York to London on American Airlines only costs 22,500 Alaska miles.

By simply flying your (almost) free round trip to Europe, you’ll already have nearly 7,000 Elite qualifying miles in both Alaska AND Hawaiian.

As you can see, reaching the top tier with Hawaiian is well within reach for many people.

I have already earned more than 50,000 EQMs with Alaska this year and am sitting on Hawaiian Pualani Platinum status (since it only requires 40,000).

Once you have Platinum status with Hawaiian, you get two upgrade certificates that can put you from Economy class straight into First Class. 😎

I called Hawaiian and confirmed all of this, but basically, here’s how it works:

As long as you’re booked on any Hawaiian flight (even a basic economy flight booked through Alaska’s website), you can apply these upgrade certificates within 30 days of your flight.

Starting 72 hours before the flight, they’ll start confirming upgrades to first class.

So let’s say you book this flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu on Hawaiian’s new 787 Dreamliner for a super reasonable $134. 👇

You could then apply just one of your two upgrade certificates and end up sitting in a seat that could only be described as…

WAY better than economy… and would otherwise cost well over $1,000.👇

So here’s the bottom line:

You can now link your Alaska and Hawaiian accounts, where all of your elite qualifying activity will be reflected in both airline accounts.

Since earning status with Alaska is so easy, it’s also now easy to do the same with Hawaiian. Actually, it’s even easier since their requirements are much lower.

This is a great way to unlock some perks and upgrades and get some epic benefits and valuable miles along the way.

🌎 My favorite travel website/app

I’m going to do something a little different here… I want to tell you about my favorite app for booking travel.

It’s called Trip.com, and it’s freaking AMAZING.

And no, this is not sponsored by them (though I’m down if they’re reading) - I’ve just used it dozens of times in the past few months and need to tell you about it.

Obviously, you want to book directly with airlines and hotels when you’re trying to earn miles, maximize credit card rewards, and get elite benefits.

But when you’re just trying to book a cheap budget airline, a cheap hotel, or even travel activities, you just want to go with the cheapest and least-sketchy option.

For me, that option has consistently been Trip.com.

For example, I’m spending one night in Dubrovnik, Croatia, next week. It’s freaking expensive, y’all… so I was looking for a cheap hotel.

Thankfully, I found this really nice-looking place in the heart of the old town on Trip.com for just $63.

It was cheaper than the same hotel on other sites and even had free cancellation.

Last month, I booked a cheap flight on Korean Air from Seoul to Busan. Weirdly, the cheapest option was to book with Trip.com.

I ended up needing to cancel it, and guess what? They charged me a $3 fee and refunded the rest. It took one minute.

But another thing I LOVE about Trip is that they have a sort of “elite status” program that actually offers tangible-ass benefits.

For example, I’ve booked so much stuff with them that I am now a Diamond Elite member.

I know; I’m pretty cool. 😎

This “status” comes with things like free eSIM packages and even AIRPORT LOUNGE ACCESS.

And guess what? I actually had to use it.

When Tiffany, McKay, and I were in Kunming, China, there was no Priority Pass lounge and we were flying a budget airline with no alliance lounge access.

Thankfully, Trip.com got me into the lounge there for free… and I sweet-talked them into letting McKay and Tiffany in, too. 😉

I even used the app to book activities like the famous “Impressions of Lijiang” performance in front of the Jade Snow Dragon Mountain when we were in China together.

I was having trouble figuring out how to navigate getting there, getting tickets, etc., but Trip.com just had tickets in the app.

Boom. Easy.

It was pretty cool, by the way:

Plus, if you use a card like this one (my card of choice) to pay for things, you’ll still earn 3x points on all of this spend, which is pretty darn good.

What I also like is that they let you input your airline loyalty numbers right in the booking process, and so far, every flight I’ve booked through Trip has been credited automatically to each airline program.

In fact, I used Trip to book some of my flights for the SAS million-mile challenge last year:

Anyway, I wanted to tell you all about it because it’s something that’s been bringing me value as a traveler.

At this point, when I’m not booking directly with an airline or hotel program, I just go straight to Trip.com. 🤷🏼‍♂️

They have a good app, good prices, flexible policies, good rewards, and I’ve had amazing experiences with them.

Oh, and it’s literally the only app you can use to book trains in China… just a side note.

🤔 I need your help

Do you love Daily Drop? Do you enjoy the fun travel tips and tricks I write about? Do you read most of the emails I pester you with?

Well, if so, I have a request:

I’m always interested in hearing about what you like and dislike and would love to hear from you so we can continue to improve this fine newsletter.

Want to learn how to strategize around credit cards, welcome offers, and more?

Check out this week’s Daily Drop YouTube video, where we break down how to climb the credit card ladder in 2025. 👇

That’s all for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed these tips for saving money on travel and upping your game for travel to Hawaii.

Take care, and have a great day. I’ll see you bright and early for more fun travel stuff tomorrow.

Cheers,

40.1872° N, 44.5152° E