The Hawaiian Airlines® Visa Signature® card currently offers 20,000 bonus Hawaiian Miles after first purchase and an additional 15,000 bonus HawaiianMiles after making $1,000 in net purchases within four months of account opening for a total of up to 35,000 bonus miles.

In addition, you’ll earn 2,000 bonus miles every anniversary and a one-time 25% round trip discount between the mainland US and Hawaii for both you and a companion. Regular purchases will earn 1 mile per dollar, while tickets purchased directly from Hawaiian Airlines will earn 2 miles per dollar. You’ll also be able to earn up to 5 additional miles per dollar at participating Xtramiles partners. There is, however, a $79 annual fee which is not waived for the first year.

Using your Hawaiian Miles
You can use your Hawaiian Miles for award flights for as little as 7,500 for an interisland Coach SuperSaver one-way ticket or 20,000 miles for a Coach SuperSaver one-way ticket between the continental US and Hawaii. The full award chart can be found here.

It’s also possible to redeem your miles for various gift certificates for car rentals, dining, hotels, shopping and more, though you’re going to get a poor value for your miles if you redeem them this way.

Why is this an interesting deal?
What makes this offer interesting is that Hilton is one of Hawaiian Air’s partners and allows you to exchange 1 Hawaiian mile for 2 HHonors points in increments of 5,000 miles. This exchange ratio is valid only for miles that were originally Hawaiian miles (such as those earned by flying Hawaiian Air, flying on a partner airline and crediting to Hawaiian Air, or shopping through the Hawaiian Air’s shopping portal.) Fortunately, your bonus points from the Hawaiian Air Visa can also be exchanged at this rate, meaning that you can transfer your 35,000 Hawaiian miles for 70,000 HHonors points. This is significant because that’s a larger signup bonus than either of the co-branded Hilton cards themselves offer. (Hilton HHonors Surpass Amex’s current signup bonus is up to 60,000 HHonors points, while the Citi Hilton HHonors Visa offers a 40,000 HHonors bonus.)

If you are a regular Hilton customer, however, it still makes sense to get a Hilton-branded card for the other perks, such as additional points for spending at Hiltons or elite status. For example, you’ll automatically earn HHonors Silver status just for being a Citi HHonors Visa cardmember, while you’ll earn HHonors Gold status when you spend at least $20,000 on your Hilton Amex.

An important caveat
One other very important note is that if your credit doesn’t qualify you for a Visa Signature card, Bank of America may instead approve you for a Visa Platinum card, which carries a much lower 10,000 mile bonus after first purchase. Getting a Visa Signature card typically requires excellent credit, so if your credit is less than perfect, this is a risk you’ll want to consider.

Double the fun
Hawaiian Airlines currently has two separate credit card offers that are nearly identical, except for the issuing bank. Both Bank of America and the Bank of Hawaii offer their own versions of the card that provide virtually the same benefits. The Bank of Hawaii’s card does additionally allow you to make payments at a Bank of Hawaii branch and also to have your credit balance count towards Bankohana status, potentially reducing some of your banking fees.

Despite the fact that the Bank of Hawaii card is actually admistered by FIA, a subsidiary of Bank of America, you can still apply for both Hawaiian Airlines cards (each with a $79 annual fee) and get the bonuses for a potential total of 140,000 HHonors points.

For more info, see:

Hawaiian Air Visa Signature (Bank of America)
Hawaiian Air Visa Signature (Bank of Hawaii)

(via MMS)