Hawaii-based Airlines - Premier Club Questions

I am a frequent traveler to both KOA and OGG and usually fly AA to HNL and then transfer to the inter-island portion on an AA codeshare that is flown by HA. I travel my my SO, who is also an EXP on AA. We are scuba divers, so we each have 2 checked bags. We are not charged any baggage fees by AA and up until recently, even when checking in at HA for the return leg, we were not charged any baggage fees.

The last time we were in KOA, we were hit with the baggage fee (fortunately just $17 for each of the second bags). I am now considering purchasing a Premier Club membership to avoid the charges (we fly often enough to generate enough baggage fees that it would cover the membership fee), but I do have some questions:

1) We typically split our PNR's on AA to make upgrades process individually, but would this mess up my plan to only have one Premier Club membership and not have HA allow an exemption to the baggage fee because we have split the record?

The baggage FAQs at this link state the following:

http://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1150/related/1

Customers flying on the same reservation as someone with exempt status, regardless of HawaiianMiles status or fare type.

2) Are Premier Club members (and accompanying passengers) able to standby for an earlier inter-island flight with no fee?

3) We would be on HA, but they would be AA code share flights (with our AA FF# attached), would this affect how things are processed?

4) Are Premier members allowed to upgrade to first class?

2) Are Premier Club members (and accompanying passengers) able to standby for an earlier inter-island flight with no fee?


I asked the same question some time ago, and never got an answer.

-David

1) We typically split our PNR's on AA to make upgrades process individually, but would this mess up my plan to only have one Premier Club membership and not have HA allow an exemption to the baggage fee because we have split the record?

The baggage FAQs at this link state the following:

http://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1150/related/1

Customers flying on the same reservation as someone with exempt status, regardless of HawaiianMiles status or fare type.

2) Are Premier Club members (and accompanying passengers) able to standby for an earlier inter-island flight with no fee?

3) We would be on HA, but they would be AA code share flights (with our AA FF# attached), would this affect how things are processed?

4) Are Premier members allowed to upgrade to first class?

I'll give this a try and answer your questions based on my experience, but i'm sure more seasoned HA insiders can chime in.

1. If splitting your PNRs means having two separate reservations, then yes it would mess things up a little as the passenger without Premier would have to pay the bag fee.

2. If I recall, Premier Club, Pualani Gold elites, Pualani Platinum elites and passengers flying on corporate reservations can standby at the gate for an earlier flight for free. You would need to register/notify the gate agent and ask to be put on the standby list. I think if you have separate PNRs, the non Premier would have to pay. I think if you are corporate you also need to call the corporate desk as well. This is all from distant memory of a work email I got long ago from HA corporate reservations of the change in policy. Of course, I have also seen HA staffers not follow policy to charge for standbys and simply ask if anyone wants to volunteer to go on an earlier flight for free...depends on the HA agent you get at the time. I mostly see this at the neighbor island HA stations and rarely at HNL.

3. I don't think it would as long as you show the HA agents you Premier Club card. Things might get challenging if you have separate reservations as disscussed in your first question.

4. Yes you can...anyone can. Question is, are you willing to pay for it? Im a Pualani Gold elite and my interisland upgrade costs $25 OW. Not sure of the cost for Platinum or regular Premier Club, but I would presume Platinum would be cheaper and Premier Club would be more expensive. I think non-status passengers are charged $50 OW. Also upgrades go fast as there are only 8 seats in F on the 717 as you can snag one up at OLCI at the 24 hour mark. Depending on the flight and time (especially early AM and late afternoon), i'm willing to bet that you'll see that most if not all passengers in F are Pualani Golds or Plats who are business travelers flying to other islands for work or meetings.

In my personal honest opinion, paying to upgrade for interisland first class is only worth it if you are Pualani Gold and Pualani Platinum elites and you did not pay for the base coach ticket and you want to upgrade with your own money. As an example of my opinion, I fly regularly for business and my company pays for coach interisland tickets via HA corporate reservations on company expense. I almost always upgrade to F class with my personal money...to me it is worth it since I didn't pay for the base ticket. Sometimes I think that the reason HA keeps F class on their 717 interisland flights is to please the local business travelers who fly regularly (and there are a lot of them) and to squeeze some extra revenue from the tourists who buy into paying full fare F for a 20-40 minute flight. I'm sure others have different opinions, but this is just mine.

Hope this helps, again I am sure some of the more seasoned HA insiders can chime in and correct me if anything is in error.

I do believe that corporate ressies aren't entitled to "standby" (unless the fare rules allow it) but must now call the corporate desk 90 minutes prior to departure to change the flight without penalty.

I've been told that you have to standby atleast 30 mins before the flight you wish to take. I haven't had to call the corporate line.

I also believe Pualani Gold upgrades to first class i/i are $25 o/w, while plats get them free.

Premier club members are allowed 2 free bags, while pualani gold & plats are allowed 3 bags