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Headquartered in Haikou, China, Hainan Airlines is the fourth largest airline in China in terms of fleet size (behind Air China, China Southern and China Eastern). However, among these four Chinese Airlines, Hainan Airlines may have the most robust frequent flyer program: the Fortune Wings Club program. This program is especially lucrative because it’s used not only by Hainan Airlines, but also by Grand China Air, Tianjin Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Lucky Air, Capital Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines, Suparna Airlines, Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines, Urumqi Airlines, Air Changan and West Air, all of which are smaller Chinese airlines.
So, regardless of whether or not you’re a Chinese citizen, if you’re planning to do any domestic travel in China, you should consider signing up for the Fortune Wings Club program. Between the many airlines that use this program, you can earn Fortune Wings Club points on nearly any domestic route in China. Hainan Airlines also operates a large network of international routes that are eligible to earn points. Fortune Wings Club members can even earn points on flights with Alaska Airlines, Etihad Airways and Virgin Australia.
Once you rack up a balance of Fortune Wings Club points, you can then redeem those points for award flights on any of the Fortune Wings Club member airlines as well as award flights with Alaska Airlines, Etihad Airways, TAP Air Portugal and Virgin Australia.
For most of our readers, the Fortune Wings Club program certainly won’t be your primary frequent flyer program. However, if you often travel to China or you’re planning an extended trip around China, then the Fortune Wings Club should be on your radar. In terms of earning rewards on travel around China and redeeming rewards for flights around China, the Fortune Wings Club is a great asset.
In the following sections, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about the Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club program, including elite status, how to earn points, how to redeem points and which redemption methods offer the best value per point.
Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club Program Overview
Hainan Airlines was established in 1989 under the “Hainan Province Airlines” name and was financed by the Hainan government. The airline began its scheduled services in 1993. In 1995, American Aviation LLC, controlled by billionaire George Soros, became the majority shareholder of Hainan Province Airlines. Not long after, the name was changed to Hainan Airlines.
In 2016, the Fortune Wings Club program was created to reward travelers who frequently fly with member airlines, including Hainan Airlines, the largest airline in the program. Currently, the list of airlines participating in the Fortune Wings Club program is as follows:
| Air Changan | Hong Kong Airlines |
| Capital Airlines | Capital Airlines |
| Fuzhou Airlines | Suparna Airlines |
| Grand China Air | Tianjin Airlines |
| Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines | Urumqi Airlines |
| Hainan Airlines | West Air |
Fortune Wings Club members can earn rewards points with any of the airlines listed above. However, you can only redeem points with 9 of them. In addition to these Chinese airlines, members can earn and redeem Fortune Wings Club points with the following international airlines:
- Alaska Airlines
- Etihad Airways
- Virgin Australia
Fortune Wings Club members can redeem points for flights with TAP Air Portugal (but you can’t earn points on TAP Air Portugal-operated flights).
The Fortune Wings Club program also allows members to work towards earning elite status when flying on any Fortune Wings Club member airline, Alaska Airlines and Virgin Australia.
Fortune Wings Club Elite Status Program
The Fortune Wings Club has its own elite status program that rewards travelers who frequently fly with Fortune Wings Club member airlines as well as certain partner airlines. There are currently three elite status tiers in the program: Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Elite status tiers can be attained either by accumulating a certain number of Status Qualifying Points (SQPs) or a certain number of Status Qualifying Segments (SQSs) within your validity period. Your validity period is 12 months and is based on the date you joined the Fortune Wings Club program or when you achieved your current elite status tier.
The following chart explains how many SQPs or SQSs you need to achieve each elite status tier or maintain your current elite status tier:
| Elite status tier | Required SQPs or SQSs |
|---|---|
| Silver | 30,000 SQPs or 20 SQSs |
| Gold | 50,000 SQPs or 40 SQSs |
| Platinum | 100,000 SQPs or 80 SQSs |
To illustrate, if you accumulate either 30,000 SQPs or 20 SQSs during your validity period (which is based on the day that you joined the Fortune Wings Club), you’d achieve Silver elite status. Then, that elite status would be valid for 13 months from the day that you earned it. For instance, if you earned Silver status on July 15, 2024, your status would be valid until August 15, 2024. If you wanted to maintain your Silver status after, you’d have to earn either 30,000 SQPs or 20 SQSs within your validity period, which would end on August 15, 2024.
If you wanted to move up to Gold elite status from Silver elite status, you’d have to earn either 50,000 SQPs or 40 SQSs within the validity period of your Silver elite membership.
SQPs are points that are earned on flights with Fortune Wings Club member airlines, Alaska Airlines and Virgin Australia, excluding award points or any other promotional points. SQP earnings are based on the distance of your flight (in kilometers), your booking class and the airline that you’re flying with.
For instance, here’s a points-earning chart for domestic flights on Grand China Air:
As you can see, if you were to take a 400-kilometer domestic flight in business class (fare code D) on Grand China Air, you’d earn 800 SQPs (400 kilometers flown x 2.00 = 800 SQPs).
Each qualifying airline has its own points-earning chart. So, if you want to know how many SQPs or SQSs you can earn on a flight with a specific airline, you can reference that airline’s points-earning chart and apply the formula used in the example above.
SQSs are segments that you earn on eligible paid tickets for flights with Hainan Airlines, Grand China Air, Tianjin Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Lucky Airlines, Capital Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines, Yangtze River Airlines, Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines and Alaska Airlines. As previously mentioned, if you want to know how many SQSs you can earn with a specific airline, you can reference that airline’s points-earnings chart.
It’s worth noting that a flight with a layover would be considered two segments. So, if you reference the Grand Air China points-earnings chart above, you’ll see that a domestic Grand Air China flight in business class (fare code Z) would earn you 3 SQSs (since each leg of the flight itinerary would earn you 1.5 SQSs).
Now that you fully understand what’s required to earn elite status in the Fortune Wings Club program, let’s take a look at why you might want to do so in the first place. The following table includes all of the benefits you’ll be entitled to at each elite status tier:
| Elite status tier | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Silver | • Two to three bonus points per 10 Chinese yuan on flights where points earnings are based on spending • 25% bonus points on flights where points earnings are based on distance • Priority waitlisting • Guaranteed full-fare economy seat up to 48 hours before scheduled flight departure on all domestic flights with Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines except Hong Kong Airlines and on international flights with Hainan Airlines and Grand China Air except charter flights and codeshare flights • 24/7 elite member customer service phone line access • Opportunity for a free upgrade to business class within 24 hours before scheduled flight departure on domestic flights with all Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines except Hong Kong Airlines when booked in economy class • Waived fees for changing domestic paid flights to another flight within four hours before or after scheduled departure time (doesn’t apply to flights to or from Hong Kong, Tianwan or Macau) • Waived fees when rebooking Fortune Classic Award tickets or award upgrades • Business class check-in counter access for member only • Elite airport lounge access for member only1 • Priority security lane access for flights operated by Hainan Airlines or Grand China Air departing from Haikou, Taiyuan or Urumqi • 20-kilogram in extra baggage allowance when weight concept applies and one extra piece of baggage allowance when piece concept applies • Priority baggage at designated airports for member only when flying with Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines • Priority boarding for member only when flying with Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines • On-board personal welcome from flight staff on certain flights • One complimentary domestic upgrade coupon • Invitations to members-only events • Ability to apply for preferential economy class front seats online when booked in economy class on domestic flights operated by Hainan Airlines or Grand China Air |
| Gold | • All benefits included with Silver elite status • Four to six bonus points per 10 Chinese yuan on flights where points earnings are based on spending • 50% bonus points on flights where points earnings are based on distance • Priority 24/7 elite member customer service phone line access • Business class check-in counter access for member and one companion • Elite airport lounge access for member and one companion1 • Complimentary access to Alaska Airlines Board Room service for member and one companion • Complimentary access to elite member long-distance shuttle bus service when departing from remote gates at Haikou, Xi’an, Taiyuan, Urumqi, Guangzhou and Shenzhen • 30-kilogram in extra baggage allowance when weight concept applies and one extra piece of baggage allowance when piece concept applies • Priority baggage at designated airports for member and one companion when flying with Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines • Priority boarding for member and one companion when flying with Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines • Two complimentary domestic upgrade coupons • Up to 6,000 points in overdraft allowance for award redemptions2 |
| Platinum | • All benefits included with Gold elite status • Six to eight bonus points per 10 Chinese yuan on flights where points earnings are based on spending • Earn 50% bonus points (on flights where points earnings are based on distance • Guaranteed full-fare economy seat up to 24 hours before scheduled flight departure on all domestic flights with Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines except Hong Kong Airlines and on international flights with Hainan Airlines and Grand China Air except charter flights and codeshare flights • Top priority 24/7 elite member customer service phone line access • Business class check-in counter access for member and two companions • Elite airport lounge access for member and two companions1 • Ability to reserve complimentary guiding service up to 12 hours before departure when taking Hainan Airlines and Grand China Air flights departing from Beijing, Haikou, Xi’an, Taiyuan or Urumqi • Priority baggage at designated airports for member and two companions when flying with Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines • Priority boarding for member and two companions when flying with Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines • One complimentary international upgrade coupon • Two complimentary domestic upgrade coupons • Up to 15,000 points in overdraft allowance for award redemptions2 • Ability to gift Silver elite status to another Fortune Wings Club member |
1Includes access to the Jinpengge Lounge for domestic flights departing from Beijing, Haikou and Xi’an operated by Hainan Airlines and Grand China Air. Includes access to the Haiyixuan Lounge for domestic flights departing from Hangzhou, Taiyuan, Urumqi and Guangzhou operated by any Fortune Wings Club-participating airline. Includes access to the HNA Elite Member lounges for domestic flight departures from Shenzhen operated by any Fortune Wings Club-participating airline. Includes Haiyitang Lounge access for international flight departures from Beijing operated by any Fortune Wings Club-participating airline. Includes access to Lucky Air-operated lounge for domestic flights departing from Kunming operated by Lucky Air. Additionally, in other cities, elite members can access contracted lounges of Hainan Airlines for both domestic and international departures.
2For instance, if you want to redeem Fortune Wings Club points for a specific award flight but you don’t have enough points in your balance to afford it, you can spend up to 6,000 points beyond your balance as a Gold member and up to 15,000 points beyond your balance as a Platinum member. All overdraft points will appear as a negative in your account balance.
If you fly around China often, you should be able to earn Fortune Wings Club elite status fairly easily considering how many Chinese airlines are eligible to earn SQPs and SQSs. Fortune Wings Club elite status comes with some pretty solid perks, including airport lounge access, complimentary flight upgrades, preferential treatment when booking at the airport and more.
As an elite status member, you’ll earn bonus Fortune Wings Club points on qualifying flights, which means you’ll reach that next award flight much more quickly.
How to Earn Fortune Wings Club Points
Of course, the most obvious way to earn Fortune Wings Club points is to credit flights from Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines to your account. However, you can also rack up points in a variety of different ways, such as spending on Fortune Wings Club co-branded credit cards, renting cars, booking hotels and more.
In the following sections, we’re going to look at all of the different ways to earn Fortune Wings Club points to help you get closer to your next award.
Flying with Fortune Wings Club-Participating Airlines
The most straightforward way to earn Fortune Wings Club points is to take flights on airlines that participate in the Fortune Wings Club program. These airlines include the following 12 Chinese airlines:
| Air Changan | Hong Kong Airlines |
| Capital Airlines | Lucky Air |
| Fuzhou Airlines | Suparna Airlines |
| Grand China Air | Tianjin Airlines |
| Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines | Urumqi Airlines |
| Hainan Airlines | West Air |
You can also earn Fortune Wings Club by taking flights with the following three international airlines:
- Alaska Airlines
- Etihad Airways
- Virgin Australia
For some of these airlines, the amount of Fortune Wings Club points you’ll earn for a specific flight is based on the amount of money you spend on airfare. However, with other airlines, your points earnings are based on the distance of your flight and your booking class.
Note that Fortune Wings Club members can earn Fortune Wings points only when taking Alaska Airlines flights with the code “AS.”
For example, here’s the points-earnings chart for Capital Airlines regional and international flights:
As you can see, Capital Airlines uses a spend-based earnings system. According to the chart above, members earn eight base points per 10 Chinese yuan spent on Capital Airlines regional and international flights. Fortune Wings Club Silver elite members will earn an additional two points per 10 Chinese yuan spent, Gold members will earn an additional four points per 10 Chinese yuan spent and Platinum members will earn an additional six points per 10 Chinese yuan spent.
So, if you were to book a Capital Airlines international flight that cost 2,000 Chinese yuan, you would earn 1,600 Fortune Wings Club points as a basic member. For the same flight, Silver members would earn 2,000 points, Gold members would earn 2,400 points and Platinum members would earn 2,800 points.
While some airlines accumulate points based on the cost of the airfare, other airlines employ a spend-based earnings system. For instance, here is the points-earnings chart for Virgin Australia flights:
For flights with Virgin Australia, Fortune Wings Club points are earned as a percentage of the total distance of the flight in kilometers. The percentage that is applied to the mileage depends on the booking class. For example, if you were to take a 1,000-kilometer flight on Virgin Australia in Choice Class, you’d earn 500 points (1,000 kilometers flown x 50% = 500 points). However, if you took the same 1,000-kilometer Virgin Australia flight in Business Class, you’d earn 2,000 points (1,000 kilometers flown x 200% = 2,000 points).
To view the points-earning chart for each eligible airline, you can visit the Air Companies Overview page on the Fortune Wings Club website and click on the airline you plan to fly with.
The Fortune Wings Club website also has a points calculator tool that makes it easy to find out how many points you’ll earn on some flights. You can simply input whether you’d like to calculate “accumulation” or “redemption” and then enter the airline you’ll be flying with as well as your origin and destination. This tool will show you your potential points earnings in each booking class for that flight.
It’s worth noting, though, that this tool doesn’t work for certain flights. In particular, it often doesn’t work for calculating point earnings on flights with Alaska Airlines, Etihad Airways and Virgin Australia. However, even though the points calculator tool doesn’t display points earnings for these airlines, you can still earn points on flights with them.
Spending on Co-Branded Credit Cards
There are currently three co-branded credit cards that earn Fortune Wings Club points. Unsurprisingly, these credit cards aren’t available to U.S. consumers. Nonetheless, here are the three credit cards that earn Fortune Wings Club points:
- BOC Hong Kong Airlines Visa Card
- BOC&HNA Co-Branded Credit Card
- ABC&HNA Co-Branded Credit Card
While the BOC Hong Kong Airlines Visa Card automatically earns Fortune Wings Club points directly, the other two credit cards listed above do not automatically earn Fortune Wings Club points. However, with these two cards, you have the option to have their rewards points automatically converted to Fortune Wings Club points.
We won’t dive any deeper into these credit card options as most of our readers will not be able to qualify for them. However, if you happen to be a Chinese resident, then you might want to consider signing up for one of these co-branded credit cards and racking up some points on your everyday spending.
Banking Partners
The Fortune Wings Club program has partnerships with three banks that allow you to convert their rewards points into Fortune Wings Club points. These are the program’s three banking partners and their respective transfer ratios:
- Bank of China (18,500 BOC Points = 500 Fortune Wings Club points)
- Cathay United Bank (450 Tree Points = 1,000 Fortune Wings Club points)
- Kasikorn Bank (4,000 K Points = 1,000 Fortune Wings Club points)
The Bank of China is a Chinese bank, Cathay United Bank is Taiwanese and Kasikorn Bank is Thai. So, if you happen to have a bank account that earns rewards with any of these three banks, you could convert those points into Fortune Wings Club points. In most cases, however, these banking rewards points are more valuable when redeemed through their native programs.
Hotel Stays
The Fortune Wings Club program is also partnered with several hotel chains that allow members to earn Fortune Wings Club points for eligible stays. You can convert several hotel rewards currencies to Fortune Wings Club. The following table includes these hotel partners and their respective earnings or conversion rates:
| Hotel partner | Fortune Wings Club points earnings |
|---|---|
| Accor Live Limitless (ALL) | • Transfer ALL points at a 2:1 transfer ratio (maximum annual transfer of 10,000 Shangri-La Circle points per year) |
| IHG One Rewards | • Earn 2X points per $1 spent at InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, EVEN Hotels, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hualuxe Hotels and Resorts worldwide • Earn 1X points per $1 spent at Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites |
| Jinling Hotels & Resorts | • Earn either 400 or 800 points per stay • Transfer JinlingPoints |
| Minyoun Hospitality | • My Club Silver members earn 1X points per 5 Chinese yuan spent on rooms • My Club Gold members earn 2X points per 5 Chinese yuan spent on rooms • My Club Diamond members earn 3X points per 5 Chinese yuan spent on rooms • Transfer My Club points at a 15:1 transfer ratio (minimum transfer of 7,500 My Club points) |
| Shangri-La Circle | • Earn 800 points per stay • Transfer Shangri-La Circle points at a 1:1.6 transfer ratio (minimum transfer of 2,500 Shangri-La Circle points) |
| Wanda Hotels & Resorts | • Earn 1X points per 4 Chinese yuan spent • Transfer Wanda Hotels points at a 4:1 transfer ratio (minimum transfer of 1,200 Wanda Hotels points) |
As you can see, all of the hotel chains above have their own rewards programs. So, before you decide to earn Fortune Wings Club points on your next hotel stay, you should consider whether you’d rather earn that hotel’s native currency instead. In many cases, the value of the hotel points you’d earn for your stay is greater than the value of the Fortune Wings Club points you’d earn for that same stay.
However, some people have no interest in earning hotel rewards points, in which case you should absolutely earn airline rewards on your next stay with any of the aforementioned hotels. You should also be aware that several of these hotels have other airline partners that you can earn airline miles with. In particular, Accor Live Limitless, IHG One Rewards and Shangri-La Circle all have long lists of airline partners. So, before you choose to earn Fortune Wings Club on your next hotel stay, you should check these lists of airline partners and consider whether you’d rather earn another airline rewards currency.
Car Rentals
The Fortune Wings Club program is partnered with rental car company Hertz, allowing you to earn Fortune Wings Club points for Hertz car rentals anywhere in the world. Here’s how many points you could earn on qualifying rentals:
- Earn 800 points on Hertz car rentals outside of Asia
- Earn 400 points on Hertz car rentals within Asia
- Earn 400 points on Hertz business contract or government agreement car rentals
Hertz rents cars in more than 150 countries. So, whether or not you’re a Chinese resident, you can definitely earn Fortune Wings Club points by including your membership number when you book your next Hertz car rental.
However, similar to hotel partners, Hertz has partnerships with many other frequent flyer programs. So, before you decide that you want to earn Fortune Wings Club points on your next rental, you should look at Hertz’s list of airline partners and see if you’d rather earn a different airline rewards currency instead.
Buy Points
According to the Fortune Wings Club website, members have the option to purchase up to 60,000 points per transaction and up to 80,000 points per year. On the “Points Buy & Gift” webpage of the Fortune Wings Club website, it says that you can purchase points by clicking the “Mile Purchase” button. However, as far as we could tell, no such button exists and we couldn’t find anywhere else on the internet to purchase Fortune Wings Club points with cash.
So, if you really want to purchase Fortune Wings Club points, your best bet is probably to call the Fortune Wings Club customer service phone line. However, it’s probably not worth it to do so as purchasing airline rewards points with cash is usually a very bad deal anyway.
How to Redeem Fortune Wings Club Points
Now that we’ve covered all of the different ways to boost your Fortune Wings Club points balance, let’s look at the many different ways in which you can redeem those points. In general, if you want to maximize the value of your Fortune Wings Club points, you should stick to redeeming them for award flights either with one of the Chinese Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines or with one of the program’s international partners.
Nevertheless, in the following sections, we’re going to cover all of your different options for redeeming Fortune Wings Club points.
Flying with Fortune Wings Club-Participating Airlines
The best way to maximize the value of your Fortune Wings Club points is to redeem them for Fortune Classic Awards with participating airlines. This includes nine Chinese airlines that participate in the Fortune Wings Club program as well as several international airlines. Here are the airlines with which you can redeem Fortune Wings Club points for award flights:
| Alaska Airlines | Hainan Airlines | Tianjin Airlines |
| Capital Airlines | Hong Kong Airlines | Urumqi Air |
| Etihad Airways | Lucky Air | Virgin Australia |
| Fuzhou Airlines | Suparna Airlines | |
| Grand Air China | TAP Air Portugal |
Each of these airlines has its own distance-based award chart on the Fortune Wings Club website except TAP Air Portugal. Oddly, while the TAP Air Portugal award chart is omitted from the Fortune Wings Club website, you can find this award chart on the Hainan Airlines website.
The Fortune Wings Club program offers two different types of flight awards: Fortune Classic Awards and Fortune Flex Awards. Fortune Classic Awards are priced according to distance-based award charts and offer the opportunity to get outsized value. Fortune Flex Awards, on the other hand, are priced according to the cash price of the flight and therefore offer a fixed value per point. Fortune Classic Awards, though, are typically available in much smaller quantities than Fortune Flex Awards. If you want to maximize the value of your Fortune Wings Club points, you’ll want to stick to redeeming for Fortune Classic Awards only.
To find out the award price of a Fortune Classic Award flight, you simply need to determine the distance of your flight in kilometers and then reference the award chart for the airline you wish to fly with. For instance, here’s the award chart for Virgin Australia:
So, if you were to fly one-way from Sydney (SYD) to Perth (PER) on Virgin Australia, which is about 3,300 kilometers, it would cost you 33,000 Fortune Wings Club points in economy class and 60,000 points in business class.
When it comes to booking award flights operated by Hainan Airlines and Grand China Air, you can do so through Hainan Airlines’ global website, the Hainan Airlines app and through the Hainan Airlines official WeChat account.
To book award flights on Lucky Air, Tianjin Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Capital Airlines, Fuzhou Airlines, Suparna Airlines, Guangxi Beibu Gulf Airlines, Urumqi Air and Changan Air, your best options are to use the Fortune Wings Club Chinese-language website (and then use Google Translate) or call the Fortune Wings Club hotline.
If you want to book award flights on Alaska Airlines, Etihad Airways, TAP Air Portugal or Virgin Australia, you’ll have to make your booking over the phone via the Fortune Wings Club hotline.
Unfortunately, the fact that partner awards can only be booked online makes it very difficult to search for award availability and identify sweet spots. If you want to book an award flight on Alaska Airlines, Etihad Airways, TAP Air Portugal or Virgin Australia with Fortune Wings Club points, we advise that you search for award availability through other partner frequent flyer programs.
For instance, if you want to find Alaska Airlines award availability, the American Airlines AAdvantage website is a good place to do so. Then, once you find award availability, you can call the Fortune Wings Club hotline and request to book that award flight.
You can also search and redeem for Hong Kong Airlines award flights directly through the Hong Kong Airlines website. Unfortunately, these flights often don’t provide very good value per point. For example, we found a Hong Kong Airlines-operated award flight from Shanghai (PVG) to Hong Kong (HKG) for 20,000 points plus about $36 in taxes and fees.
If you were to book that same flight on the same date with cash, it would cost you 925 Hong Kong dollars, which is equivalent to about $118 at the current conversion rate.
Thus, factoring in the taxes and fees that you’d have to pay to book this award flight, this redemption would give you a value of about 0.4 cents per point, which is very poor.
In general, the award flights that are going to provide the most value can often be a hassle to book. Nonetheless, here’s a quick list of some potential sweet spots that can help you get a lot of value out of your Fortune Wings Club points:
- Business class flights between the U.S. and China on Hainan Airlines for 95,000 points round-trip
- Business class flights between New York and Lisbon on TAP Air Portugal for 90,000 points one-way
- Business class flights between Brazil and Portugal on TAP Air Portugal for 100,000 points one-way
- Business class flight between New York and Hong Kong on Hong Kong Airlines for 150,000 points round-trip
Some of the aforementioned awards are much easier to book than others. But, if you have a balance of Fortune Wings Club points and you’re willing to do some searching, the routes listed above typically provide solid value.
Upgrade Awards
Fortune Wings Club points can also be used to purchase upgrades on certain Fortune Wings Club-participating airlines. These are the airlines with which you can redeem points for upgrades:
| Capital Airlines | Lucky Air |
| Fuzhou Airlines | Suparna Airlines |
| Grand China Air | Tianjin Airlines |
| Hainan Airlines | Urumqi Air |
| Hong Kong Airlines |
To view the prices for upgrade awards, you can click on your chosen airline on the “Award Tickets & Upgrades Redemption” page of the Fortune Wings Club website and then scroll down to view that airline’s upgrade award chart. For instance, here is the upgrade award chart for Hainan Airlines domestic flights:
In some cases, you can find decent value per point by redeeming for upgrade awards. However, most of the time, you’ll get better value by redeeming your points for award flights rather than upgrade awards.
Upgrade award redemptions on Chinese domestic flights must be made at least two hours before departure (subject to availability). Upgrade award redemptions on international flights must be made at least four hours before departure (subject to availability). All Hong Kong Airlines upgrade award redemptions must be made at least 24 hours before departure (subject to availability).
Cash Plus Points
Like many other frequent flyer programs, the Fortune Wings Club program allows you to purchase flights using a combination of both cash and points. This feature can only be used when booking travel through the Hainan Airlines website. Members can pay for up to 50% of their flight’s cash price (excluding taxes and fees) with points when there’s only one passenger on the booking. If there’s more than one passenger on the booking, then you can use points to cover up to 30% of the cash price of the booking (excluding taxes and fees).
Unfortunately, using your points in this way provides very little value per point. You’re better off paying for your flights entirely with cash or entirely with points.
Airport Lounge Passes
Fortune Wings Club members can also redeem points for airport lounge entry passes for themselves as well as companions that are booked on the same flight. You can only redeem Fortune Wings Club points for lounge passes on the day of your flight.
To redeem points for lounge passes, you can visit the Fortune Wings Club counter, Hainan Airlines counter or Tianjin Airlines counter at eligible airports. The following chart includes the eligible airports, the number of points required per person and the maximum number of passes you can purchase:
| Eligible airports | Points required per person | Max # of passes per day | Max # of passes per day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Special dates | Non-special dates | ||
| Beijing Capital Airport | 5,000 | 10 | 30 |
| Haikou Airport | 5,000 | 10 | 30 |
| Xi’an Xianyan Airport | 5,000 | 10 | 30 |
| Urumqi-Diwopu Airport | 5,000 | 10 | 30 |
| Taiyuan Wusu Airport | 5,000 | 10 | 20 |
| Tianjin Binhai International Airport | 4,000 | 10 | 20 |
The redemption rates listed above are available to all Fortune Wings Club members regardless of booking class and are the same for infants, children and adults. Lounge passes are available in limited quantities and are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Access passes to some of these lounges can be purchased with cash as well. Redeeming Fortune Wings Club points for lounge passes usually yields a value of less than one cent per point. So, generally, it’s better to pay for your lounge passes with cash if possible and save your points for award flight redemptions.
Optimal Seat Selection
Members can also use Fortune Wings Club points to pay for advance seat selection on flights booked through the Hainan Airlines website and operated by Hainan Airlines or Grand China Air. The cost of seat selection depends on your status in the Fortune Wings Club, the route you’re flying on, whether you’re flying domestic or international and the type of seat you’re trying to select.
Here is the seat selection award chart for international flights:
| Route type (branded fares excluded) | Seat type | Platinum | Gold | Silver | Basic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round-trip flights between China and North America, Europe (except Russia), Southwest Pacific and Middle East | Seats in the first row of economy class, economy comfort and emergency exit row | Free | 10,000 | 12,000 | 16,000 |
| Standard economy seats | Free | 2,000–4,000 | 3,000–5,200 | 4,000–6,000 | |
| Round-trip flights between China and Russia | Seats in the first row of economy class, economy comfort and emergency exit row | Free | 7,000 | 9,000 | 12,000 |
| Standard economy seats | Free | 2,000–4,000 | 3,000–5,200 | 4,000–6,000 | |
| Round-trip flights between China’s mainland and Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Thailand, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos (except branded fare routes) | Seats in the first row of economy class, economy comfort and emergency exit row | Free | 5,200 | 6,000 | 7,000 |
| Standard economy seats | Free | Free or 1,600 | 600–2,000 | 1,200–3,000 |
Here is the seat selection award chart for domestic flights:
| Seat type | Platinum/Gold | Silver | Basic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seats in the first row of economy class, economy comfort | Free | 2,000 | 3,000 |
| Standard seats in economy class front zone | Free | Free | 1,000–2,000 |
If the seat reservation is canceled due to itinerary rescheduling, the seat selection can be refunded fully through the original purchase channel.
Redeeming Fortune Wings Club points for seat selection typically doesn’t provide as much value per point as you can get by redeeming your points for award flights. We recommend paying for your seat selection with cash and saving your points for award flights.
Fortune Wings Airshop
You can also redeem Fortune Wings Club points for merchandise from a wide variety of merchants through the Fortune Wings Airshop portal. These products span several categories including household appliances, food and drinks, luggage, personal care, digital products and more.
Unfortunately, redeeming this way tends to provide low value per point. For instance, you can currently purchase a pair of Honor x5 Earbuds for 9,800 points. However, if you were to purchase the same product from the manufacturer through Amazon, it would cost you 1,999 Indian Rupees (since Honor is an Indian company), which is equal to about $24 at the current conversion rate.
Thus, this redemption would give you a value of about 0.2 cent per point, which is very poor. So, we recommend saving your Fortune Wings Club points for award flight redemptions rather than using them to buy merchandise.
The Bottom Line
In all likelihood, the Fortune Wings Club program isn’t a program that you’ll use very often if you’re a U.S.-based traveler. However, regardless of where you’re from, if you plan on doing any domestic travel around China or you plan to fly internationally with Hainan Airlines, Grand China Air or Hong Kong Airlines, you should consider signing up for this program and racking up some points.
The Fortune Wings Club program allows you to earn rewards points for flying with 12 different Chinese airlines, meaning you can earn Fortune Wings Club points on the majority of domestic flights within China regardless of what your origin and destination are. You can even rack up points by flying with Alaska Airlines, Etihad Airlines and Virgin Australia.
Unfortunately, redeeming Fortune Wings Club points can often be a bit of a hassle as you may be required to search for award availability through other frequent flyer programs and then call Fortune Wings Club customer service to confirm your booking. However, if you’re willing to do that, you can definitely find outsized value on Fortune Classic Award flights operated by Hainan Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and more.
If you have no plans to go to China in the future, then this program probably isn’t worth your time. On the other hand, if you fly to China often or you’re planning an extended trip to China in the future, signing up for the Fortune Wings Club program could help you quickly earn enough points for an award flight.
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Editors Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
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Editors Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
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