Originally Posted by
zurfer
Really unfortunate timing on my part to become a Puulani Platinum for the first time. This year Hawaiian Airlines devalued certificates so now two certificates (instead of one) required for one way upgrade to or from BOS and JFK. Secondly, HA implemented a bidding option to upgrade to first class. Very likely, I lose my complimentary certificates to someone bidding $300 for the same seats.
Interesting data points in this thread, given that HA is a lesser known frequent flyer program. Seems like inter-island upgrades would be the biggest perk, but really too bad to hear they do this with the upgrade certificates for their top tier elites.
On the other hand, it sounds like they've simply gone out of their way to strictly capacity-control these upgrades, which other U.S. airlines already do (e.g. AA with SWUs, AS with GGUs, DL with GUCs, etc.).