HONOLULU (KHON2) — Hawaiian Airlines wants its Hawaiian miles members to rest assured – your miles are safe. But there are some changes coming as the airline has big plans for its future.
One thing is clear about true Hawaiian Airlines customers – they are dedicated and loyal.
“Hawaiian Airlines is the best airline the United States, actually in the world,” said Brad Motooka, traveler. “I fly Hawaiian Airlines the best I can, as much as I can.”
While Hawaiian and Alaska work through the logistics of their merger, some are worried about the future of their Hawaiian miles.
“I really haven’t heard much,” said Motooka. “I haven’t done much research on it. Really I just log into Hawaiianairlines.com and basically book my flights, so we’ll see what happens.”
“You don’t have to be worried, your Hawaiian miles are safe,” said Travis Furumoto, Hawaiian Airlines Loyalty Project Manager. “They’re coming with us, they’re coming with you.”
Hawaiian officials say some partnerships are ending today. Like with Delta, Virgin and Japan Air. They say you can sign up for Alaska’s rewards program to take advantage of its Oneworld Alliance partners including American Airlines and Japan Air.
However, Hawaiian wants to be clear that many of its local partnershps are still available.
“So you’d still be able to go to Foodland, shop on your Hawaiian airlines credit card earn miles,” said Furumoto. “You can still redeem your Foodland Maikai certificates for miles. You’d still be able to go to the gas station, Hele gas, earn miles.”
Just to be clear, the Hawaiian miles reward program will remain, as will Alaska Air’s mileage plus program, at least for a few more months. Officials say later on in the fall, both programs will merge into one.
“When that time comes when the Hawaiian miles program does transition to this new single loyalty program, your miles are gonna come with you,” said Furumoto. “It’ll be transferred. You’re not gonna lose anything. They will retain its value.”
Details of that rewards program will come out later. Hawaiian says be on the look out for emails in the coming months.
“We totally intend to bring guests along on this journey, keep them updated on what’s happening, what the program changes are or when they’re coming,” said Furumoto.
The goal is to be the most generous loyalty program in the industry – exactly what their loyal travelers expect.
“Free flights, no I’m just kidding,” said Motooka. “Actually I just want the same program. Same benefits. That’s really been the mainstay for us.”