My Appeal for Redemption Successes
by Andrew Ingersoll
This week I thought I found another great award redemption, then I hit a brick wall. I’m hoping some of you may be able to provide some insight.
In my last credit card churn, I received the Bank of America Hawaiian Airlines card (35,000 bonus frequent flier miles) in addition to the Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Airlines card (also 35,000 bonus). I made my minimum spends on both of them and now have more than 70,000 miles in my newly created account.
The award table for partner airlines on the Hawaiian Air website is HERE. What struck my interest was a round-trip coach ticket between mainland US and anywhere serviced by Virgin Atlantic for 70,000 miles.
Virgin Atlantic flies daily from Sydney to Hong Kong, then continues on to London Heathrow as Flight 201. The return to Sydney from London is Flight 200, again via Hong Kong.
What I wanted to know was: Could I use my Hawaiian Airline miles to fly from Sydney to New York via Hong Kong and London for the 70,000 miles as stated on the Hawaiian Air website? Or alternatively, and importantly, could my father, mother, brother, sister, friends, or whoever fly from any of Virgin Atlantic’s US cities to Sydney for 70,000 miles (Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, Washington DC). I also wanted to know if such an award allowed for a stop-over in either London or Hong Kong.
So I rang the Hawaiian Airline Miles number and made my inquiries. Disappointingly, I received this response: “Virgin Atlantic has not provided us with this as a schedule for use with Hawaiian Airlines miles.” I was a bit confused as to what the agent meant by the word “schedule.” “Route” would make more sense. I asked about Sydney to New York and vice versa and received the same "computer says no" response.
Hawaiian made it seem as Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin group were not providing Hawaiian with seats for redemption. Or, really, was Hawaiian advertising an award redemption option that is not possible?
So my appeal to you, the readers, is this: What sort of luck have you had in redeeming Hawaiian Airlines Miles on Virgin Atlantic?
30,000 Delta Miles No First Year Fee
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| Kauai, Hawaii Coast, photo by Andrew Ingersoll |
by Andrew Ingersoll
This week I thought I found another great award redemption, then I hit a brick wall. I’m hoping some of you may be able to provide some insight.
In my last credit card churn, I received the Bank of America Hawaiian Airlines card (35,000 bonus frequent flier miles) in addition to the Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Airlines card (also 35,000 bonus). I made my minimum spends on both of them and now have more than 70,000 miles in my newly created account.
The award table for partner airlines on the Hawaiian Air website is HERE. What struck my interest was a round-trip coach ticket between mainland US and anywhere serviced by Virgin Atlantic for 70,000 miles.
Virgin Atlantic flies daily from Sydney to Hong Kong, then continues on to London Heathrow as Flight 201. The return to Sydney from London is Flight 200, again via Hong Kong.
 |
| Overwater Fishing Village, Lamma Island, Hong Kong, photo by Andrew |
So I rang the Hawaiian Airline Miles number and made my inquiries. Disappointingly, I received this response: “Virgin Atlantic has not provided us with this as a schedule for use with Hawaiian Airlines miles.” I was a bit confused as to what the agent meant by the word “schedule.” “Route” would make more sense. I asked about Sydney to New York and vice versa and received the same "computer says no" response.
Hawaiian made it seem as Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin group were not providing Hawaiian with seats for redemption. Or, really, was Hawaiian advertising an award redemption option that is not possible?
So my appeal to you, the readers, is this: What sort of luck have you had in redeeming Hawaiian Airlines Miles on Virgin Atlantic?
30,000 Delta Miles No First Year Fee
10 comments:
Andrew,
The first thing I would find out is if you can buy a ticket on VS from SYD to JFK(example). If not I doubt you can redeem the award.
This has come up recently with people using AA miles on Etihad. If they don't sell tickets between your origin and destination there is no way to book it as one award ticket. You have to book two separate award tickets.
Dan
I had a similar problem. Tried to use 6000 Virgin miles to book a round trip Hawaii inter-island flight. No award space available in either class for 3 different dates. Hawaiian site showed plenty of availability, but VA agent said none were available for their use.
@Andrew: There have been reports on FT in the HA Visa thread of success redeeming HA miles for VS flights. That said, have you checked for availability online prior to calling the HA agent? The first step in finding award seats would be to search the VS site for award availability prior to calling HA.
@Skoropi: The Hawaiian site shows more availability than VS or any other partners have access to. Try searching the CO website for a more accurate picture of availability made available to partners.
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your comment. I did double check to make sure I could purchase the ticket. It is roughly $2500 in economy on the Virgin Atlantic website from Sydney to JFK via LHR and HKG. So it is a purchase-able ticket just not purchase-able with award redemption. Seems like false advertising to me.
Andrew
According to their schedule you can fly direct from MCO to Manchester or Glasgow. Also LAS goes to one of those. Those appear to be the only non-London directs. Perhaps that is what is meant by the rest of the world that they service? I would hope not.
I think Hawaiian hires schoolgirls to work their phones. Probably just try again.
@Andrew: I didn't see any award availability on the VS website in the limited searching I did. I did find award availability between JFK and HKG, CPT, DEL, etc. I wouldn't expect HA to have access to award availability that VS isn't even showing.
@Anon: Actually, that may be an upgrade as I think some of them would be benefitted by being in school. HA phone agents rank right up there with Lucky's recent story of his US agent.
I also tried to fly HA intraisland using VS miles without success. Tried different dates on 3 different routes. HA site showed flights to be wide open but VS said that HA would not release seats. During last attempt, VS stated must book at least 7 days in advance.
How did you get both cards? When I go to the site, one is marked for Hawaiian residents and one for nonresidents. Thanks
Availability on VS is currently nonexistent. Folks are burning their CO miles before the CO/VS relationship goes away. IIRC, HA allows for a HA flight to connect with a partner award. Accordingly, find VS availability ex LAS/LAX and then call HA to book it. Rick has my contact info if you need help with this.
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