HA Pacific upgrades: cost and ff earning
 

In a few months I have a one-way day flight HNL-PPT, and I could not justify the fare difference to buy First Class seating when it is a five hour flight which arrives at 10 pm.

Having said that, by the time I check in online at the Royal Hawaiian my head will be on vacation, and if we are offered a paid upgrade we might just take it.

Which leaves me with two questions, as follows:

1. How much does the airline offer as check-in upsells on its routes of this sort of length, and

2. Do you earn miles at the upgraded or originally purchased rate?

If the upsells are more than $490 and the miles awarded are at coach rates then I would do better to just buy the dearer ticket.

I don't know all the answers to your questions but my experience has shown the following:

1. Upgrades offered at check-in are normally cheaper than if you do them via the call centre in advance. From my experience if we call to do an upgrade from Honolulu to Sydney they will want $800. If there is availability at the airport they will sell the same upgrade for $500.

2. You will earn no additional points for the upgrade, points earned will be for economy class travel. Only benefit would be if you have a Hawaiian Airlines credit card you would earn points that way.

BTW will you be able to checkin online the day before as won't it be an international flight? Only reason I ask is I don't think I have ever been able to check in online when I go to Sydney.

BTW will you be able to checkin online the day before as won't it be an international flight? Only reason I ask is I don't think I have ever been able to check in online when I go to Sydney.

The flight to PPT is an international flight and you will not be able to check in online.