HawaiianMiles program requirements have now been reduced. In order to achieve HawaiianMiles elite status for 2021, elite both miles and flight segment requirements have been reduced by 50%.
It is good news inasmuch as you’ll be able to retain status longer and achieve status more easily, with just half the normal requirements.
Today’s takeaway
If you can fly two round trips to or from Hawaii this year, you’ll achieve Pualani Gold for all of 2021. That’s a great deal. Here’s a list of all of the benefits of the elite levels.
Pualani Gold requirements
10,000 miles or 15 flight segments by the end of 2020 are required to be eligible for 2021. Normally it is 20,000 miles or 30 flight segments.
Pualani Platinum requirements
20,000 miles or 30 flight segments by the end of 2020 are required to be eligible for 2021. Normally it is 40,000 miles or 60 flight segments.
Mileage expiration extended
HawaiianMiles that were due to expire between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 are being extended. Any miles set to expire within this period will remain active. The standard expiration policy will restart on January 1, 2021, when balances expire following 18 months of inactivity (any earning or redemption counts as activity). Therefore, starting in January, any account showing no activity for the previous 18 months will have the miles expired.
HawaiianMiles Program Changes Effective 12/19
Hawaiian Airlines recently made significant updates to their HawaiianMiles awards program. We hoard our HawaiianMiles and any negative change is something that impacts our travel. Given the industry trend to make points less valuable, this change to dynamic award pricing is largely in step with other airlines. Here’s the new award chart. Changes took place in 2019. The good news is that the lowest priced award tickets costs have not changed. The bad part is that the price for less flexible and high season awards have increased a lot. And there’s more.
How we use HawaiianMiles
For us, one of the best use of HawaiianMiles, whenever possible, is their lowest cost awards, previously called Saver. Those require the most flexibility and are typically found in low season and mid-week. They can also sometimes be found at the last minute. To lower those prices further and get companion certificates, we carry the Hawaiian branded credit card.
The other way we use HawaiianMiles is for upgrades to their business/first class on long flights. We recently used the lowest fare economy ticket together with a saver type of upgrade to fly on lie-flat beds between Sydney and Honolulu. It was a very pleasant experience and a great use of our coveted miles.
Keep in mind that the lowest price awards can also still be upgraded with cash to Hawaiian premium economy, which is an option at the time of purchase. Those upgrades vary in price from $80 to $160 each way, depending on route.
How’s your luck working when trying to redeem HawaiianMiles or Alaska MileagePlan awards?
We were also recently able to obtain an international “saver” type award using Alaska points. But in order to find the availability we wanted, it took searching approximately 200 times over a period of 3 months. So remember too, that when looking for an award from any airline, perseverance often does pay off.
Updated 4/29/20.
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Hawaiian has been a shining star throughout this pan demic and I expect to see them continue to innovate and respond to the Pan demic as only a local airline can. Last night on TV Mufi Hannemann (CEO Hawaii Tourism and Lodging Association) talked about steps Hawaiian is planning to implement to protect the traveling public and Hawaii. He pointed out mainland airlines were resistant to do so because of the cost. I guess that’s understandable as they have a huge route structure and it isn’t as easy for them to implement.
I have to wonder if it makes sense to slowly open up with Hawaiian only flying non stop flights to Hawaii (with carefully vetted passengers) is the way to go before opening up to the extensive mainland route structure and the resulting mix of passengers from all over.
That is it for Hawaiian for us. I just compared our possible trip to mainland with Alaska sept-oct
70,000 rt on Hawaiian. 55,000 Alaska. it used to the 35,000 per ticket. we were able to get 2 tickets a year off of our card.
I used most of my Hawaiian Miles a couple of years ago for a one way trip to the mainland, coming back on another carrier. I had to drop my Hawaiian branded CC, because it has an annual fee I wasn’t recouping adequately. I still have a Hawaiian Miles account, but only my Foodland purchases are keeping it active; I doubt I will ever accrue enough miles again to get free flights. With the constant changes to mileage programs across the board, I can’t see trying to be loyal to any one airline only for mileage rewards.
Hawaiian is going in the wrong direction when Southwest is about to take them to the cleaners.
Over the years they have taken virtually all the benefits away from Gold holders and their inflight amenities are non-existent.
Don’t get me started on the crappy customer disservice provided by their off shore folks in the Filipines. All they can do is say “so sorry” and read from a script. At least 15 times I have asked to speak to a supervisor and the answer is always the same ‘so sorry all supervisors are busy”. The reality is there are no supervisors.
I suggest we all need to use our miles soon because Hawaiian is going to be going out of business before long.
Why are Hawaiian miles more from Long Beach to Honolulu more than from Los Angeles?
Will you be adding flights from Long Beach to Honolulu on a daily basis?
HA is full of caca with the new charts! Thank you for your articles!
Thanks very much for this article. Very surprising to me though – being a HA CC holder and having miles in my account, we were never notified that the redemption levels were changing. If it wasn’t for your article, I think I would have been quite shocked when I went to redeem them.
Always love getting updates from you, please keep up the Great Work!!!
Thanks,
JC
Hi Jeff.
Thanks for the nice words. We can’t speak to how Hawaiian handled this. You’re right there was no advance notification.
Aloha.
I’ve had problems finding availability with Hawaiian miles in the past when we fly, since we tend to fly near Thanksgiving. This year, however, we decided to use our miles to upgrade to first, because we’re traveling in October, and availability of seats is better–also flying mid-week. We have the Hawaiian Mastercard, so that helped, I think.
Hi there! You say “To lower those prices further, carry the Hawaiian branded credit card.” But I’m not sure how that works. Why, if you’re buying with miles, would having the credit card save you more? Thank you for your help!
Hi Tracy.
If you have a Hawaiian credit card, a discount is offered on the number of points required for each redemption. As far as we recall (couldn’t find any kind of chart) or replicate the the savings on trying just now. It isn’t a lot, but is a few thousand points on a mainland round trip. If anyone recalls the exact savings, please let us know.
Aloha.
You say “To lower those prices further, carry the Hawaiian branded credit card.” But I’m not sure how that works. Why, if you’re buying with miles, would having the credit card save you more?
Thank you for all of your insight regarding flights to Hawaii. I “bit the bullet” and booked my flight today, after hoping against hope that there would be a big sale with the announcement of non-stops on Southwest from San Diego to Honolulu by the time I needed to book. My travel dates are not flexible (coming up, in June) because of a family event. I ended up booking two one-ways on Hawaiian for under $300 each; outbound from SFO and then the return flight home to San Diego and I used Southwest points for a flight to get me up to SFO the morning I leave. I think that I did OK given how stinking high most of the prices are (on all carriers) on the days I have to travel; I didn’t feel I could hold out any longer for the “big sale” that now may never come, at least not in time for me–and I know this thanks to y’all. Mahalo!
Hi Janice.
Thank you. Yes fares are generally quite high at the moment. This latest delay at SW has given all the other carriers some breathing room before the real competition gets underway. Maybe you can plan another trip when the deals happen.
Aloha.