With elite matching now available and route optimization well underway, we’re seeing our first Hawaiian Airlines loss as 2024 comes to a close. That loss is Hawaiian’s lounge membership program as Hawaiian Air bids aloha to Premier Club. However, they do have a nice parting gift for impacted passengers.
Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club is their version of a club lounge membership. However, it’s actually more than that. After all, Premier Club members receive:
- Access to Hawaiian Air Premier Club lounges for you and up to two guests
- 24/7 priority reservations line
- Discounted award flight rates
- Complimentary access to preferred seats
- Premier Club/First Class check-in access
- Two free checked bags with priority handling
- Priority security lines at select airports
- Two one-time passes to the Plumeria Lounge
- CLEAR membership at $159/year
- Zone 2 priority boarding
- 25% discount on in-flight Pau Hana car purchases
- Minimum earnings of 500 miles per inter-island flight
The cost of a membership was $299 to start and $249 to renew. You could also redeem miles at 40,000 and 35,000, respectively. That, to me, is an excellent deal for someone who travels on Hawaiian enough to take advantage of the complimentary preferred seats and/or baggage benefit, but doesn’t travel enough to earn Pualani Gold status and doesn’t have the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Mastercard. After all, in my opinion, Premier Club is sort of a Pualani Gold Lite™ status, as it has most of the same benefits, except for complimentary upgrades, complimentary fare-hold, and bonus mileage earnings, among others.
So, that Hawaiian Air bids aloha to Premier Club is a bit sad, as it eliminates a potentially clever travel hack.
Hawaiian Air Bids Aloha to Premier Club
Since I’m not a member, I didn’t get the email that Hawaiian Air bids aloha to Premier Club. However, I saw a post about this on the Hawaiian Air sub on Reddit. The email is a bit confusing, but it states that Premier Club will no longer be available to new members or renewals beginning on January 1, 2025. That’s TOMORROW. So, if you want to nab a membership while you still can, do so NOW.
That said, to soften the blow since Hawaiian Air bids aloha to Premier Club, they’re offering existing members Pualani Gold status. How this works is a little murky, though, as the email states:
To express our gratitude for all your support, we’re pleased to offer you complimentary Pualani Gold status once your current Premier Club Membership expires that will be valid through the 2025 program year.
Say, what? The way I’m interpreting this is that when your membership runs out in 2025, you’ll be elevated to Pualani Gold status. However, that status will expire on the normal renewal date in 2026 unless you re-qualify for it.
Whether you can renew early isn’t clear, as that would extend your membership to the end of 2025. That said, Pualani Gold would be better to have thanks to the few things that differentiate it from Premier Club. And if your Premier Club membership expires early in 2025, then kudos to you, as you’ll get to enjoy Pualani Gold for longer!
Replacement
With the consolidated loyalty program coming soon, it makes sense that Hawaiian Air bids aloha to Premier Club now. After all, with all the aforementioned overlap with Pualani Gold, such a program is untenable in the wider Alaska Air Group. However, replacing the program would be kind of interesting, as the closest Alaska Air analogue is Alaska Lounge+. However, Alaska Lounges are far superior to Hawaiian’s Premier Club lounges, and lumping them into Alaska Lounge+ access would be a bit of a slap in the face to members.
Of course, Alaska Air has said that they are going to build an Alaska Air lounge in Honolulu. So, will this truly be an Alaska Air branded lounge that’s separate from the Hawaiian Premier Club lounge in Terminal 1? Or, will it takeover that existing space and upgrade it? If it’s the former, then will we see a less expensive version of Premier Club made available? Or will it remain an exclusive benefit for elite members and first class passengers? The elite perk route might be for the better, as these spaces are already overcrowded, and with elite members between two airlines, crowding will likely worsen.
Hawaiian Air Bids Aloha to Premier Club, Final Thoughts
That Hawaiian Air bids aloha to Premier Club isn’t all that surprising and is likely representative of further changes we’ll see as integration work between it at Alaska Air continues throughout 2025. It just would’ve been nice to have more of a heads up. Alas, at least they’re giving existing members an upgrade this year!
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