The HawaiianMiles program has officially ended and has been replaced by Atmos Rewards, the new joint system under Alaska and Hawaiian airlines.
Some Hawaiian Airlines fliers may have noticed that they weren’t able to log into their accounts this past week.
The airline temporarily cut access to all accounts between Sept. 26 and 30 to transfer account data to the new program.
Among the worried customers who couldn't log in was longtime HawaiianMiles member Amber Tynanes. She told HPR she has not heard anything about Atmos Rewards and did not know the previous program was ending.
“It was odd. I tried logging in over and over and over again. When you're on the road and things aren’t making sense, and then you can't get in, it makes traveling difficult,” Tynanes said.
As of Oct. 1, all members have regained access to their accounts, but it is now under the Atmos Rewards website, rather than Hawaiian Airlines.
Those who did not link their Hawaiian and Alaska Air accounts prior to Sep. 26 should be emailed a new member number to log in going forward.
Alisa Onishi, the managing director of Hawaiʻi marketing at Hawaiian Airlines, reassured passengers that their miles will transfer and keep the same value.
“As you log into your Atmos account, you'll see all of your miles are still there — they've transferred, one mile is now one point, they have the same value, and they don't expire,” Onishi said. “It's just a new account under the Atmos Rewards program. You're really not losing anything through this process.”
Under Atmos rewards, users can choose to earn points in three ways:
- Distance-based: 1 status point for each mile flown
- Revenue-based: 5 status points for every $1 spent on flights, excluding checked luggage and other external fees
- Segment-based: a minimum of 500 status points for each trip
Onishi said there are aspects of Atmos tailored toward Hawaiʻi residents. She pointed to the segment-based option for point accrual, saying that the 500-point minimum could earn fliers five times the points they would have previously gotten on an interisland flight.
“We know we have guests that don't travel very often to the continent or internationally, but maybe do travel a lot through interisland,” Onishi said. “Especially for them, the option of choice is a good one, and we are dedicated to creating very specific benefits for the people of Hawaiʻi.”
Other Hawaiʻi-specific aspects include partnerships with local businesses, a 50% point bonus for Huakaʻi by Hawaiian members who fly interisland, and the continuation of point accrual on Hawaiian Airlines credit cards.
But for Tynanes, who had memorized her HawaiianMiles number, she said the end of the program feels deeper than a name change and a new point system.
“Maybe it works great, but I haven't had the opportunity to even get to that point yet. We just have to wait and see,” she said.
