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Hilton Honors adds nine new airline partners, drops 11 and improves the transfer rate on two

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Tomorrow, 2nd April, sees a number of big changes at Hilton Honors, primarily the scrapping of ‘points and miles’.   I will recap the key issues on Monday.

That is not new news.  What is new news is that Hilton is also making big changes to its list of airline transfer partners.  A lot come in, a lot go out and a couple see their transfer rates improved.

Whilst you can no longer earn airline miles from your stays, you CAN still convert your Hilton Honors points into airline miles. 

Hilton Honors airline transfer partners

Starting tomorrow, Hilton has nine new airline partners:

Air Asia – 10,000 Hilton points = 2,000 Air Asia Big points

Asiana Airlines – 10,000 Hilton points = 1,000 Asiana Club miles

China Eastern – 10,000 Hilton points = 1,000 China Eastern miles

Emirates Skywards – 10,000 Hilton points = 1,000 Emirates miles

Eva Air – 1,000 Hilton points = 100 Eva Bonus miles 

FinnairPlus – 5,000 Hilton points = 1,000 FinnairPlus miles

Garuda Indonesia – 10,000 Hilton points = 1,000 GarudaMiles

SAS EuroBonus – 8,000 Hilton points = 1,000 EuroBonus points

Turkish Airlines – 10,000 Hilton points = 1,000 Miles&Smiles miles

As a reminder (nothing has changed) for the two UK airlines:

British Airways Executive Club – 10,000 Hilton points = 1,000 Avios

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club – 10,000 Hilton points = 1,500 Flying Club miles

In addition, Lufthansa Miles & More and Singapore Airlines Krisflyer have improved their earning rate:

Miles & More – 5,000 Hilton points = 625 Miles & More miles (was 500 previously)

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer – 4,000 Hilton points = 500 KrisFlyer miles (was 400 previously)

The following are no longer Hilton transfer partners as of tomorrow:

  • Air Baltic
  • Air China
  • China Southern
  • Czech Airlines
  • Gulf Air
  • JetBlue
  • Multiplus
  • OK Cashbag
  • SriLankan Airlines
  • Thai Airways
  • TopBonus

Full details of these changes are on this page of hilton.com.

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How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2025)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit and debit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

There are two dedicated Hilton Honors debit cards. These are especially attractive when spending abroad due to the 0% or 0.5% FX fee, depending on card.

You also receive FREE Hilton Honors status for as long as you hold the debit cards – Gold status with the Plus card and Silver status with the basic card. This is a great reason to apply even if you rarely use it.

We reviewed the Hilton Honors Plus Debit Card here and the Hilton Honors Debit Card here.

You can apply for either card here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 30th April 2025, the annual fee on the basic Hilton Honors debit card is halved from £60 to £30. The sign-up bonus is also easier to earn – you need to spend £1,000 either in the UK or abroad within three months. The usual bonus rule requires you to spend the full £1,000 outside the UK.

NEW: Hilton Honors Plus Debit

10,000 bonus points, Hilton Gold status and NO FX fees Read our full review

NEW: Hilton Honors Debit

2,500 bonus points, Hilton Silver status and 0.5% FX fees Read our full review

There is another way of getting Hilton Honors status, and earning Hilton Honors points, from a payment card.

Holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card.  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.

We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton Honors points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points.

Category

British Airways and Avios, Emirates and Emirates Skywards, Finnair and Finnair Plus, Hilton Honors, Lufthansa and Miles & More, oneworld alliance partners, Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club

Comments (21)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • GenghisForPresident says:
    1 Apr1 April 05:13

    There was a comment on here the other day that said Hilton gives you status benefits based on date of booking, not date of stay. For example, if I am Diamond now and drop to Gold in May 2018, I could book some stays for 2019 and get Diamond benefits when those stays come around. Is this true? Is this what other people have experienced?

    • Rob says:
      1 Apr1 April 08:06

      I have experienced this too but it is not policy, more to do with their IT which seems to track status by booking date. I am sure the hotel can refresh the data but many don’t. Only a guess though ….

      • GenghisForPresident says:
        1 Apr1 April 08:50

        Thanks Rob – Happy Easter. Sounds like it is not worth the risk.

    • J says:
      1 Apr1 April 09:00

      Good idea worth a try because I had a similar thing where I had done a status match to diamond so jumped from silver to diamond but they still had me down as silver when I checked in.

    • George says:
      1 Apr1 April 09:22

      This is only indicative of one hotel’s IT system (Doubletree Leeds) but I had a complimentary Diamond status expiring on the day of my one-night stay (which, turns out hard-lands you to Silver afterwards) and what happened was that I was greeted as a Diamond, extended all the courtesies and benefits (including free breakfast), but, on check-out the following day I was asked to pay for the breakfast. After I said that I was told that the breakfast would be complimentary for Diamond members, the staff member checked a few things on his computer and said, ‘don’t worry, I’ll deal with it’ and merrily saw us off.

      So that hotel did refresh the database on that particular time…

      • Lady London says:
        1 Apr1 April 14:14

        I’m glad you shared this experience with the Doubletree Leeds. This means I’ll definitely have them in mind for my next stsy in Leeds. Such decent commonsense fair behaviour by a hotel should be rewarded with further business wherever possible!

    • RussellH says:
      1 Apr1 April 10:59

      A couple of years ago now my partner gold IHG Gold benefits due to a booking made when she still had that status, bus used some months after her status had lapsed.

  • Mark says:
    1 Apr1 April 05:21

    I have useless amounts of Thai airways and air Asia miles kicking around its a shame we can’t conver them from miles to Hilton points!

  • J says:
    1 Apr1 April 08:58

    As I am a travel agent IHG works so much better for me because I earn points from travel agent rates whereas Hilton you do not. I am therefore going to transfer my remaining Hilton points to Virgin then transfer them to IHG.

    • Genghis says:
      1 Apr1 April 09:14

      But Sir, the Holiday Inn is much better than the brand new Hampton next door…

      • Lady London says:
        1 Apr1 April 14:18

        Haha. Had many of those conversations with travellers at a bank I worked in. The bank’s expenses incurred by staff were an even higher percentage of revenue than was usual in investment banking, and subsequently they had to be acquired by another bank.

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:
          1 Apr1 April 18:33

          They had to be acquired just becauses of expenses? Which investment bank?

          Geez, we bought Bear Sterns but that was just because it was cheaper than buying their building in NY.

    • TripRep says:
      1 Apr1 April 09:58

      Really, sounds such a poor conversion rate.? I guess if you only have a handful you don’t mind, think I’d use them up for a HH redemption first, even using part pay option.

  • Jon says:
    1 Apr1 April 09:46

    Is anyone else finding Hilton’s web site (and especially the booking pages) has become impossibly slow recently?

    • TripRep says:
      1 Apr1 April 10:05

      Works fine for me, my own quibble is the phone app doesn’t allow flexible dates yet.

      I have found Hilton update their DB at 2-3am EST so balance info isn’t always available.

  • Paul says:
    1 Apr1 April 18:39

    Do point from the Hilton credit card count towards status?

    • Alex says:
      1 Apr1 April 18:44

      Silver for holding. Gold for £10,000 spend in a calendar year. Otherwise no

  • meta says:
    1 Apr1 April 19:41

    O/T but Hilton related. Anyone has experience of checking in through app? I can see that I’ve been upgraded, but I am not sure whether I should check in as I need to put my Hilton CC on file instead of Platinum to get extra 2500 points for first four stays?

    • TripRep says:
      1 Apr1 April 21:47

      used it a few times, often actually phoning the hotel to discuss room options and points earning prefs + selected CC

      • meta says:
        1 Apr1 April 21:59

        Thanks for sharing your experience.

        • Genghis says:
          2 Apr2 April 08:03

          Most of the time I’ve got a better upgrade by waiting and checking in at the hotel.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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