With the upcoming Alaska Airlines acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, along with changes made to Alaska Mileage Plan effective January 1, 2024, it is crucial that you remember to earn Pualani status in 2024, as doing so in the new, combined loyalty program will likely be more difficult.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Alaska Mileage Plan is superior to HawaiianMiles in almost every way. Yet, both programs have very similar elite status qualifications. True, as of January 1, Alaska Mileage Plan no longer allows members to earn status via segments flown – you can now only earn status through flights and credit card spend. That shouldn’t be a big deal for current Mileage Plan members, especially since miles flown with ANY Oneworld Alliance member or Alaska Air partner is counted the same as flying on Alaska metal. But for HawaiianMiles members, this isn’t a good change.
Remember to Earn Pualani Status in 2024
While the inability of Mileage Plan members to earn status via segments has no impact on HawaiianMiles members, remember that when Alaska’s purchase closes – and I do believe it will close – Alaska executives plan on consolidating Mileage Plan and HawaiianMiles into one program. And there’s good reason to believe that the combined program will be Mileage Plan as we know it today with a new name. The fact that they’re still rolling out changes to Mileage Plan today further supports this assumption. That’s why it’s important to remember to earn Pualani status in 2024.
Alaska’s acquisition is expected to close in 12 to 18 months – anytime from December 2024 to June 2025. Once this happens and the combined program is launched, it is largely expected that HawaiianMiles members will receive an equivalent status in the new program. Today that looks like this:
- Pualani Gold = MVP
- Pualani Platinum = MVP Gold
Of course, Hawaiian does have additional bonuses for Pualani Platinum members at certain thresholds, but these are all determined by miles and not segments. So, if you fly enough to earn these, you don’t need to worry about the elimination of segment-based qualifications and should be able to attain MVP Gold 75k or 100k. But if you don’t, such as those of you who commute between the islands a lot, this could be your last chance to earn status.
As a reminder, you need 30 segments or 20,000 miles to earn Pualani Gold or 60 segments or 40,000 miles to earn Pualani Platinum. And, any status earned this year will be good through 2025, meaning you’ll have your status until status resets in early 2026.
I know flying Hawaiian has been more arduous than it used to be, and I know some of you have moved on to other carriers, such as Southwest. But if you like to travel internationally on any Oneworld member airline or Hawaiian, it’ll benefit you greatly in the future if you remember to earn Pualani status in 2024.
Final Thoughts
If you’ve been fiercely loyal to Hawaiian all these years and have no experience with larger airlines, I assure you that things will mostly be changing for the better. You’ll have far more earning/redemption options, while you’ll receive elite benefits on 16 airlines post-merger if we count Alaska and Hawaiian as separate entities. That is why it’s critical that you remember to earn Pualani status in 2024 – especially if you earn status via segments rather than miles.