I'm not sure how the mix'n'match works (if at all), but I can tell you that availability to/from SYD is pretty bad. Sometimes there are some low awards close to departure, but generally availability is not very good.

Keep in mind Hhonors points are usually valued at about 0.5 cpm so 140k Hhonors points isn't equivalent to airline miles in terms of value. Still the 1:2 transfer ratio means even after the transfer you have arguably about the same amount of value, which is somewhat rare for transfers (SPG is also good except to UA/CO)

Thanks, didn't know about Virgin Atlantic. Continental is 5k.

Both at the same time?
 

I'm interested in these cards for building a base of HHonors points. Should I do both at the same time (i.e. singup for one, erase cookies and do the other)?

I'm not in a rush btw.


Thanks.

This is second hand experience, but I have read on this forum that if you apply for both Hawaiian cards the same day:
1) The company will call to verify that you did intend to apply for both
2) Both will most likely be approved
3) The inquiries will be combined into one inquiry on your credit report
4) You will get both bonuses

I applied for both cards on the same day -- BoA one was approved within a week, but got a pretty quick letter from FIA letting me know that my BoH app was denied (they gave me literally half dozen reasons why, I think they just listed everything they could think of haha). Anyway, called the FIA reconsideration number and after a disconnect and a few re-routings, I was hooked up with a supervisor. I answered a few standard questions including why I wanted both and, boom, went from denied to approved and got "the highest credit limit possible on the card" (5k, not sure if they were yanking my chain on it being the highest). I haven't looked at my credit report since the apps, but I did both on the same day (no need to clear cookies or switch browsers) and am hoping that I just get one pull since that seems to be the consensus around here. Now to see if all 70k miles show up quickly once I hit spend.

P.S. The Hawaiian Airlines mall/shopping portal has some pretty good miles/$ offers with common stores, including Amazon and Walmart. If you're planning on transferring to Hilton, you have to do it in chunks of 5k miles. With minimum spend ($1000 on each card at 1 mile per), you'll be roughly ~3k away from another block to transfer. You might be able to make up some of that by spending through the shopping portal. And, unlike Chase, you don't even have to use an HA card. I got 2mi per dollar on a Walmart purchase that went on my HH Amex before I even had the HA cards.

There is still some value in the miles even if you don't live on the west coast. For example, you can use 50k miles for a Virgin Atlantic flight North America to Europe, or 70k NA to anywhere else they fly. That's pretty good for a round-trip ticket, even if it's in coach.

This is all helpful info. Thanks everyone. My Credit Karma is showing 788 and 801 and I haven't done any apps for a 2-3 months. I may wait another month or so before I pull the trigger but this seems like a good approach. I have no credit outstanding with BoA so I don't think it will be an issue.

I'll post back when I apply.

Sounds like you may have been approved for BofH's Platinum version of the card. That card has a $5,000 maximum and only comes with 10,000 miles up front with a $50 annual fee. You might want to verify that before you try to meet the $1k spend requirement.

Thanks UA Fan for the OP. I put in for these two as part of a small app-o-rama yesterday (did the Chase Southwest personal and biz and Barclays AirTran too) and got approved for both (had to do reconsideration line for the BoH one but no problems). That's a nice and easy 140k HHonors for me.

Just FYI. I mentioned this elsewhere but thought it relevant to add.

In late Sept I applied for the Bank of Hawaii card only. Not instantly approved. Saw the Experian pull that day via TrueCredit. I figured it would be denied eventually, as I like many others have a lot of Experian pulls.

I get a letter two weeks later saying I'm approved based on my Equifax credit score - which they printed on the letter.

To this day there has been no FIA Card Services pull from Equifax, only Experian. The only Equifax pulls in 2 years are for Capital One from last February's 100K match bonanza. But FIA did give me my accurate Equifax score. I'm stumped.

Data point:

I applied for the BOH card in mid-October and received the "we'll let you know in 30 days", so I assumed to got denied. However, today, I received my card and verified the 35k bonus.

I did not apply for the BOA card

I applied for the BoA card and BoH card on the same day in October by the same BoA rep who also confirmed that it was 20K miles for first purchase, and 15K miles for $1K spend. I met the spend and the statement closed for the BoA card a few days ago and noticed on my Hawaiian Airlines account that only 25K miles posted. In calling them up, they could not locate the offer for 35K miles and are currently investigating the matter.
The statement for the BoH card has not yet closed, but I suspect I will have the same problem. Has anyone else had this problem?

Yes, I had the same problem. I met the minimum spend and only received 25k miles instead of 35k. I've sent 4 secure messages and keep form letter responses that my bonus will post in 6-8 weeks.

Do you have to pay fuel surcharges? If you redeem Virgin Atlantic miles on Virgin Atlantic, I believe there are large fuel surcharges.