Mileage plans hit costlier tickets
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Business and first-class travelers to and from Hawai'i can expect to be among the most affected when more cuts to frequent-flier programs take effect in May and June.
Some of the changes will require 15,000 to 30,000 more miles to travel between Hawai'i and the Mainland on selected tickets.
Starting in May, for example, American Airlines award mileage levels for "plan ahead" first and business class tickets will jump from 60,000 to 75,000 miles.
Award travel between California and Hawai'i for those tickets, however, will continue to be available at the current mile levels through Dec. 31.
Beginning June 4, Continental's standard roundtrip ticket in first and "BusinessFirst" class also increases from 60,000 to 75,000. Its EasyPass roundtrip ticket in first and BusinessFirst class goes from 120,000 to 150,000 miles.
The standard economy class tickets that many travelers use appear untouched for now at 35,000 miles for both Continental and American.
The changes follow a move by United last summer which increased ticket upgrades to Hawai'i from 5,000 to 8,000 miles.
Tourism to the state has slowed since the start of the war in Iraq and a reduction in travel related to the respiratory illness SARS.
"Obviously we'd like them to get here using only three miles" said Hawai'i Tourism Authority executive director Rex Johnson, but he added that he does not think the changes will have a major effect on travel to the Islands.
"The bad news is it'll cost people more miles to get to Hawai'i. The good news is that Hawai'i is such a premier destination that the airlines obviously feel that they can charge more miles to come here" he said.
Frank Lavey, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa, said stricter terms of frequent-flier mile programs in recent years have cut back on the number of people who use miles for trips to Hawai'i. Because of that, he said, the latest changes would likely not have as big of an impact.
"I'm sorry to hear that because I've got a lot of miles" Lavey said of the stricter requirements. Still, he said, "I don't think it'll prevent people from going."
