I got a really good fare into LIH last week. The catch being that in/out of HNL was on Hawaiian Air. Those flights when I ticketed had four digit codeshare flight numbers assigned by UA. It has been a number of years since I have flown on Hawaiian and of course I was curious about the upgrade procedure or frankly if it was even available. I also wanted to upgrade since I was in/out of LIH within a less than five hour period. In for dinner.

The evening before my flight I was able to get my boarding passes which included the Hawaiian flight. The boarding pass had just the regular Hawaiian Air flight number. Not the codeshare flight number. Upon arrival into the Hawaiian Air gate area at HNL went to my gate and asked about the upgrade. Told I would need to speak to someone at the customer service booth. Waited in line and was able to upgrade for $50. I then used my boarding pass to enter the Hawaiian Airlines Lounge.

My return out was not available at HNL but I was told to check in LIH. Upon arrival into LIH still not available but did get my seat improved to more forward in the cabin. After being drop off from dinner went to the counter anyways and the seat was available. Another $50. Someone had broken the coded lock for the Lounge so it was not available.

Now this all being said F inter island is nothing special except for a little more room. I welcome it as I had room for my roller and briefcase under the seat. Also off the plane quick. For me it was worth it. At least there is a way to upgrade off a UA codeshare.