thehoax

Last summer, Hawaiians marketing department said that significant changes were coming soon to the Pualani platinum and gold members and asked us to hold tight. In Sep/Oct the FA i spoke with were told from the top that big changes were coming to increase value to the stagnant programs. These changes have not materialized and it is a new EQM year....should we trust that value will be added soon and focus on maintaining status again this year?

Hawaiian is doing well for itself as it has added a bunch of significant revenue routes in Asia last year and todays announcement of a new Osaka route on july 12th 2011. When a company looks to improve revenue and increase its future growth, shouldn't it also look to the long haul loyal customers who helped them get there? The old saying that it only costs 10% to keep a customer may be hard to prove. However existing customers maintain revenue, send more referrals, and take up less of your time. They are the lifeblood of any established business. So while it may not matter exactly how much you need them, when you know that you definitely do need them? I say...don't speak of adding significant value if you cannot put up.

flyhi152

HA is sending me letters telling me how much they appreciate my business .... blah, blah, blah - and what a valuable customer ("Pualani Gold") I am for them, on the other side they never answered a complaint that I sent to their "Consumer Advocate" and to their CEO regarding false advertising on their website. The only answer I ever got was an email from their "Consumer Advocate" telling me "this case is closed" - she did not address the issue at all. She could as well have told me "We have enough customers and don't care a s**t about your business. Go to hell...." This is the message that I got, especially after even sending a certified letter to their CEO, Mr. Dunkerley, without ever getting a response.

yahrite808

Just got an updated February 2011 letter...
effective Mar 1, 2011 - plat(member only) get 3 free bags, gold(member only) 2 free bags
plat and gold members +1 guest may list for preferred seats at no charge at check in or departure gates btwn HI - Mainland (based on availability)
plats now get 2 free one way comp upgrade to first class btwn HI- Mainland(certs are mailed to member)
....
but you now have to fly 60 segments/40,000mi for plat or 30 segements/20,000mi for gold.

HA/UA_Flyer

The website has also been updated:
http://www.hawaiianair.com/HawaiianM...ip-levels.aspx

I'm glad that the preferred seats will be free for plat and gold. So you now need to fly 10 more segments to reach plat? Wasn't it 50 before? I'd rather see plats get 4 o/w F upgrades and gold get 2 o/w upgrades instead of what they are offering now.

pkincy

As my flying is normally transpac, I suppose I most appreciate getting preferred seats.

However they will not be available when booking. Only if not bought by the rank and file passenger and than available only on a standby basis the day of the flight.

The reason I value my other Platinum status so much is that I can either get a first class upgrade with it or if the upgrade is not available than I can get a choice bulkhead seat and reserve it online. Therefore my 10's of thousands of air miles are done relatively comfortably.

With HAL, these 10's of thousands of miles are incredibly uncomfortable and appear that they may stay that way.

We do now get 2 first class upgrades to use during the year that is new.

Frankly I would have hoped they would have added a higher status with more benefits or even moved the Platinum qualification up to 75,000 miles and given reasonable perks.

Perry

pkincy

A letter arrived today with my 2 first class upgrade chits and a $200 off First Class (whoopee since it can't be used against the $225 upgrade fee) for most Transpac routes.


Perry

pkincy

I have followed the directions on my first class platinum upgrade cert and called the Phillipine Call Center and been on hold for about 30 minutes.

They acknowledge that the upgrade certs exist but simply noone yet knows how to apply one.

I will keep you posted.

Although there are only 2 I figured to try and use both on this month's trip as they might be hard to use once everyone gets theirs in the mail.

Perry

Edit: It worked. Actually was able to use both on this month's trip. Will post details in a separate thread.

thehoax

A delayed response but the certs worked for me as well. They have some confusion at the call center with the exact window of time they can be utilized. It took a supervisor to approve its use as the agent wasn't confident on the time frame. The service was good but this 2 one way cert is an incredibly weak effort by HA corporate to "take care" of it's top tier status pax.

yahrite808

I was able to use mine last year. Called two days before my flight and was upgraded. Did not have to turn in the paper cert at the airport.
Disappointed that I didn't get two certs again this year tho

thehoax

I guess i didn't pay attention to no certs this year. Is that a final decision by HA?

yahrite808

I emailed HA, their response was that the coupons would be mailed out in February

EZR2BALOHA

I wanted to use my 2012 certificates on a recent February trip to the mainland. After contacting the call center numerous times, I was informed that the certificates would be loaded on to my Pualani Platinum profile on 02/20 and would be available for use starting 02/21.

Personally, I would use them on the A330's...

hawaii777

Once they were available last year, the upgrade rules on the certificate stated that the ticket being upgraded had to have been purchased/ticketed after the date that the upgrade certificates were issued (so if the upgrade certificates had been issued/added to your profile on 2/20/11, you had to upgrade a ticket that had be purchased after 2/20/11.) If you had bought a ticket in December, 2010 for travel after 2/20/11, some agents weren't allowing the upgrade citing this requirement. Actual results seemed to vary based on the agent you talked to, with the sharper agents enforcing this requirement while the less savy ones would just put the upgrade through even if it was ticketed earlier than February.

hawaii777

The 2012 Certificates that were posted to Pualani Platinum accounts allow upgrade confirmation as early as 7 days prior to travel. ^

yahrite808

Where are you seeing this posted in your account? I received two paper coupons...