This is not new news, but it was new to me when I went to check out the portal this morning: The “Hawaiian Miles Online Mall” shopping portal has closed has of 6/2/20. There are still some limited online shopping partnerships, but it looks like the majority of options are now gone.
I stumbled on this today while responding to a reader who emailed to ask about what to do with their Hawaiian Miles given that they don’t expect to travel soon. I was going to send a link to the shopping portal to recommend making a small purchase now and then to keep the miles alive, but when I went to the the Hawaiian Miles Online Mall page, I saw that it now says the following:
Changes to HawaiianMiles Online Mall Program
Effective 6/2/20, the HawaiianMiles Online Mall program will be discontinued. You will be able to earn bonus HawaiianMiles for your Online Mall purchases through 6/1/20. Please allow 4-6 weeks for miles to post to your HawaiianMiles account.
If you have the MileFinder Plugin installed, we will be releasing an update to the Plugin at the end of the month. This updated will be installed automatically and, as part of the update, will uninstall the Plugin. No further action is needed on your part.
If you have questions regarding this change, please contact HawaiianMiles Service Center by calling 1-877-HA-MILES (1-877-426-4537).
That is disappointing as a small online shopping purchase once or twice a year can often be a good way to extend the validity of miles. That is true with many airline programs, though I’ve found it particularly useful with Hawaiian in years past as it was often the only activity I was likely to have for a couple of years at a time. It should alternatively still be possible to transfer Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian miles as a way to keep them active and avoid expiration.
There are still some “Hawaiian Miles Marketplace” options available for earning miles for online purchases here:
https://partners.hawaiianairlines.com/PartnerDirectory.aspx
At the time of writing, there are only 35 partners listed above. Partner landing pages suggest that you need to use a Hawaiian Miles credit or debit card, though I don’t think that is actually true. Still, the limited number of partners will make that a little less useful.
Notable also is that in addition to that list, Hawaiian Airlines lists some “Specialty Partners” with online offers to earn Hawaiian Miles. At the time of writing, that list includes some options for buying flowers and gifts. Find the specialty partners here.
While the loss here is obviously not a huge blow, it is still disappointing. If you were flying to Hawaii from the East Coast on a paid ticket, you would likely earn enough miles on a round trip flight for a free inter-island flight at some point on a future trip. The tricky part is just keeping those miles alive until your next trip to Hawaii. Again, that can still be done via Membership Rewards or some limited shopping partners, it will just be a bit more limited than before.
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It’s not a good price per point, but you can buy 500 points for $15. And it’s good for those of us who procrastinate as the points post immediately.
You can keep your miles alive by occasionally taking a 5 or minute (or less) survey through “Opinions Take Flight”.
You can keep your miles active by donating a small amount to a charity listed on their site
Can you keep your miles “alive” by simply charging a purchase on your Hawaiian card?
Yes.
Hey Nick. Why not join Opinions Take Flight and take a poll once in a while to keep your Hawaiian points alive at no cost.