My daughter had her HawaiianMiles expire because of the same confusing disclaimer on the HawaiianMiles statement page. Unfortunately, HA is not providing the same accomodating resolution. Here is her correspondence with the Consumer Affairs Office at Hawaiian:
Hawaiian Airlines Consumer Affairs Office
P. O. Box 30008
Honolulu, HI 96820
Dear Hawaiian Airlines Representative:
I had 2,859 miles in my HawaiianMiles account last month and was nearing the three-year expiration deadline, so I logged into the HawaiianMiles website and noted that the expiration policy as stated on the HawaiianMiles Mileage Statement web page indicates:
*Miles do not expire with activity within a 3-year period.
I perused the site to look at my options for generating activity to my account and discovered that I could donate miles. I proceeded to make a 9 mile donation and retained an account balance of 2,850. As I am hoping to travel on Hawaiian again this summer and also saw earning opportunities in the HawaiianMiles Mall, I saw value in maintaining my balance and hopefully building enough miles to ultimately redeem them.
I was very surprised when I logged in today and discovered that my miles had been forfeited due to the expiration date. I spoke to an agent in the HawaiianMiles Service Center who explained that the “activity” had to be “earning” activity. I pointed her back to the Mileage Statement page on the website and she agreed that the word “activity” is imprecise, but indicated that I must write to Consumer Affairs to plead my case for reinstatement of the 2,850 miles.
If your expiration policy requires “earning activity” within the three-year timeframe, I think the statement that I copied above from the website should be clarified with the word “earning” in front of activity since deducting miles via a donation or magazine order is also activity against the account.
I appreciate your understanding and my attempt to generate activity to maintain my HawaiianMiles balance. While it’s a small number of miles to reinstate, I will be truly grateful for your understanding and hope that you could clarify the short policy statement so that others don’t follow my logic.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Ms. OAKman
Here is the response:
Dear Ms. OAKman:
This is in response to your letter received on October 24, 2008.
We are sorry to hear of your mileage expiring prior to usage. If a Member fails to earn any miles for thirty six (36) consecutive months, Hawaiian Airlines will expire any accrued mileage on the member’s account.
As of current, you have 2, 859 HawaiianMiles. You have not had any flight activity with us since 2003, however you did travel on America West in 2005.
Our HawaiianMiles Department is offering a one-time courtesy to reinstate your mileage provided you agree to purchse 1,000 miles for $32.25. You need to contact them directly at 1-877-426-4537 and have a credit card handy for processing.
Ms. OAKman, it was a pleasure to assist you with this matter and we look forward to serving you in your future travels.
Sincerely,
KT
Consumer Affairs Office
Hawaiian Airlines
She responded as follows:
Dear Ms T:
Thank you for your letter dated October 29, 2008. I appreciate your offer, but I made a good faith effort to generate activity on my HawaiianMiles account before the three-year expiration date and I don’t feel that paying $.03 per mile for 1,000 miles should be required to reinstate my modest balance of 2,850 miles.
Your letter did not address the point that I made regarding the ambiguous wording on your website and the benefit that you could make to all of your HawaiianMiles customers by clarifying that the “activity” must be “earning activity”.
*Miles do not expire with activity within a 3-year period.
Since this footnote appears under the Mileage Summary section of the Mileage Statement on your website, it should clearly state the program terms. Since it is open to interpretation (and I made the mistake of interpretting it incorrectly), I wonder why you have not clarified it as I suggested. Do you want to intentionally mislead your customers so that their miles expire? I doubt that is the case, but your silence on this point and your suggestion that I buy back my expired miles lead me to believe that you don’t care to fix this problem.
Furthermore, the statement in your letter:
“If a Member fails to earn any miles for thirty six (36) consecutive months, Hawaiian Airlines will expire any accrued mileage on the member’s account.”
is much clearer than the footnote on your website that never mentions the word “earn”.
I appreciate your understanding and assistance in reinstating my prior balance. I am willing to “earn” miles before the end of 2008 to prove my intentions to comply with the terms of the program, but asking me to buy back the miles is disingeneuous.
Sincerely,
Ms. OAKman
And then this very unfriendly response:
Dear Mr. OAKman:
This is in response to your fax received today, November 6, 2008.
We understand that you are displeased with our reply. We are concerned
when our customers feel that their complaint has not been handled to their
satisfaction. However, based on the facts of your case, Hawaiian Airlines
considers its decision to be fair and appropriate.
Our HawaiianMiles Department offered to assist with this matter by allowing
you to purchase miles instead of reaccrue from the beginning. We allow
passengers to purchase miles in 500-increments at a discounted price so
that they don't have to buy miles dollar-for-dollar as in our credit card
purchases.
Respectfully, Hawaiian Airlines considers this matter closed.
Sincerely,
KT
Consumer Affairs Office
Hawaiian Airlines