Hawaii-based Airlines - 9/1/11 HA will only credit actual miles flown inter-island (except for status pax)

From an email this morning:

Effective September 1, 2011, members will earn HawaiianMiles equal to
the actual distance flown on all Hawaiian Airlines flights.
Pualani Platinum, Pualani Gold, Premier Club, and Hawaiian Airlines Visa
Cardholders are exempt from this change.
The new policy will go into effect for travel on or after September 1, 2011.
Tickets purchased prior to September 1, 2011 will earn the current mileage.

One-Way Flight Pualani Platinum, Pualani Gold, Premier Club & Hawaiian Airlines Visa Cardholders All other members
Interisland
Honolulu - Hilo 500 216
Honolulu - Kona 500 163
Honolulu - Lihue 500 102
Honolulu - Kahului 500 101
Lihue - Kahului 500 201
Hilo - Kahului 500 120
Kona - Kahului 500 84

http://www.hawaiianair.com/HawaiianMiles/pages/fly-with-hawaiian.aspx

Stingy!! At least 250 or maybe 200 would be nice.

How long before other airlines follow suit?

Stingy!! At least 250 or maybe 200 would be nice.

How long before other airlines follow suit?

Agree.

However, I do like the fact that they exempted Visa card holders (not just premier/status members).

IMO, the Visa card is already a good deal in that it allows you to move miles from family members to a Visa card holder at no cost (great if you travel a lot with kids/family, and consolidate the miles).

At the end of the day, changes like these from the airlines don't surprise me anymore....

I'll probably get flamed for this but...I actually like this. In a way it "rewards" the high value or loyalty conscious customers more...those that fly a lot interisland and generate the most revenue for HA versus someone that flies less or hardly at all. Yes, HA's Pualani/Premier Club program leaves a lot to be desired when compared to other carriers, but for some travelers namely heavy interisland flyers it works good enough.

I would take this similar to what Southwest recently did when they revamped their program...reward those that generate more revenue more versus everyone on an equal footing regardless of revenue.

For tickets purchase on or after September 1, 2011, all non-stop continental U.S. to/from the Bay Area will receive actual miles flown: Sacramento to Honolulu is 2,460 miles, San Francisco to Honolulu is 2,397 miles, San Jose to Honolulu is 2,415 miles, Oakland to Honolulu is 2,407 miles and Oakland to Kahului, Maui is 2,347 miles.

Right now, miles earned is 2500.

Stingy!! At least 250 or maybe 200 would be nice.

How long before other airlines follow suit?
Most likely, go! Mokulele will hold out for a while...;)
https://www.iflygo.com/goJoin2.aspx

Ironically, some of HA's code share partners (eg. Delta and United Continental) will still give 500 frequent flyer miles to their non-elites that fly interisland on Hawaiian metal. :p

During the first quarter of 2011, HA saw a 55.6% increase in fuel costs. Other airlines, like United Continental, only saw a 28.4% (or less increase in fuel costs)...:(
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hawaiian-holdings-reports-2011-first-quarter-financial-results-2011-04-26
http://ir.united.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=83680&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1553146&highlight=

Those new Airbus A330-200s aren't exactly the most fuel-efficient planes to fly from the West Coast of the U.S. to Hawai'i, compared to something like a Boeing 737-800. The A330-200 uses approximately 5.44 gallons of jet fuel per mile flown, while the 737-800 uses approximately 2.25 gallons of jet fuel per mile flown. In addition, HA's former VP of planning and revenue management, Avi Mannis, goofed when it came to hedging fuel costs. Instead of promoting him to VP of marketing, where he gets to screw around with the HawaiianMiles program, Mannis should have been let go. :rolleyes:
http://investor.hawaiianairlines.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=82818&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1559878&highlight=

Although Andrew Watterson was brought in to clean up some of Mannis's mess, it might be a little too much for him to handle...:eek:
http://www.hawaii247.com/2011/05/12/watterson-appointed-vp-planning-and-revenue-management/

new Airbus A330-200s aren't exactly the most fuel-efficient planes to fly from the West Coast of the U.S. to Hawai'i, compared to something like a Boeing 737-800. The A330-200 uses approximately 5.44 gallons of jet fuel per mile flown, while the 737-800 uses approximately 2.25 gallons of jet fuel per mile flown

While gallons per mile figures have some appeal at face value, one needs to compare the specific fuel consumption of the aircraft in question. Regardless, the a332's fuel burn numbers will always be higher, but to quote such numbers without also noting that one a/c carries an average of 160 more passengers (almost 2x as many) and offers almost 4000cuft more revenue cargo space is misleading to say the least...

HA would have little use for a 738 sized aircraft as their growth and market expansion are already on the verge of outgrowing its 763 fleet.

I'll probably get flamed for this but...I actually like this. In a way it "rewards" the high value or loyalty conscious customers more...those that fly a lot interisland and generate the most revenue for HA versus someone that flies less or hardly at all.

As an ITO-based DL platinum who routinely flies through HNL due to DL's lack of direct service to ITO, I just see this as HA pressuring me to switch programs. If they had a better assortment of partners globally, I'd consider it.