# Hawaiian Air has changed number of miles for flights!



## itchyfeet (Feb 19, 2015)

Hawaiian Air has increased the number of miles needed for flights--least number needed now is 20,000 one way to Kona (offered only on some Mondays).  I've never had a problem in the past booking at 17,500 on any day of the week.   Other days have increased to 30,000, 40,000, and 80,000 for coach seats.  Anybody know what's going on with this?  Not enough competition?


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## DeniseM (Feb 19, 2015)

itchyfeet said:


> Hawaiian Air has increased the number of miles needed for flights--least number needed now is 20,000 one way to Kona (offered only on some Mondays).  I've never had a problem in the past booking at 17,500 on any day of the week.   Other days have increased to 30,000, 40,000, and 80,000 for coach seats.  Anybody know what's going on with this?  Not enough competition?



Is that year round, or only high season?  Also, it may just be that the 17,500 seats are all gone.


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## DeniseM (Feb 19, 2015)

I checked, and it looks like the lowest one-way fare is now 20K miles.


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## Ken555 (Feb 19, 2015)

DeniseM said:


> I checked, and it looks like the lowest one-way fare is now 20K miles.




Time for you to consider the BA credit card where it currently only requires $10,000 in spend for a one way flight on AA from the west coast vs up to $20,000 (not counting various merchant type bonuses) via the HA cc.


Sent from my iPad


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## DeniseM (Feb 19, 2015)

Ken555 said:


> Time for you to consider the BA credit card where it currently only requires $10,000 in spend for a one way flight on AA from the west coast vs up to $20,000 (not counting various merchant type bonuses) via the HA cc.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad



I've already switched to Alaska Airlines.  Last year when Hawaiian had their strong arm transfer from Visa to Master Card, we got out.


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## itchyfeet (Feb 19, 2015)

Did some more checking for flights from Sacramento (the airport we use).  Flights to Maui seem to have more availability for 20,000 miles from here.  Availability of 20,000 mile flights is better to all islands from Portland & Seattle.  I'm  extremely disappointed--will be looking for  alternative to Hawaiian Airlines credit card.


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## Ken555 (Feb 19, 2015)

DeniseM said:


> I've already switched to Alaska Airlines.  Last year when Hawaiian had their strong arm transfer from Visa to Master Card, we got out.




Alaska also charges 20,000 miles for one way to Hawaii on their flights and 22,500 on AA and Delta, about double that of BA.

http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/award-chart/award-chart-hawaii.aspx



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## itchyfeet (Feb 19, 2015)

Did more research.  Looks like Sacramento International has become Hawaiian Air's least favorite--flights from Oakland and San Jose are a lot less.


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## SmithOp (Feb 19, 2015)

itchyfeet said:


> Did more research.  Looks like Sacramento International has become Hawaiian Air's least favorite--flights from Oakland and San Jose are a lot less.




or conversely, its travelers favorite so demand is up.  SMF is my home airport too.


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## Henry M. (Feb 19, 2015)

AA depends on the season. It is 22,500 miles on high season, 17,500 on low season. I'm not exactly sure when high season starts, but it ends around August 21 this year. A ticket before August 21 is 22,500 one way and 17,500 on August 22.


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## Ken555 (Feb 19, 2015)

emuyshondt said:


> AA depends on the season. It is 22,500 miles on high season, 17,500 on low season. I'm not exactly sure when high season starts, but it ends around August 21 this year. A ticket before August 21 is 22,500 one way and 17,500 on August 22.




http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/free-ticket-award-chart.jsp



> MileSAAver Level 1 (Off-Peak) award varies by date.
> Hawaii: January 12 - March 13, August 22 - December 15



But, Avios is just 12,500 each way anytime of year.


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## Henry M. (Feb 19, 2015)

Can you book BA FF tickets with AA miles? Transfer AA miles to Avios?

How easy is it to get a BA award ticket? AA miles have a reputation for being one of the easiest to redeem.

I earn most of my miles on AA. They are partners with BA in the Oneworld alliance, but I've never really explored traveling on BA, mainly because that would mean traveling through London and it's ridiculous taxes on tickets. I looked into some award tickets on AA and they cost almost $500 just in taxes if I go through London! Going to Frankfurt is just over $100 in taxes.


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## Ken555 (Feb 20, 2015)

emuyshondt said:


> Can you book BA FF tickets with AA miles? Transfer AA miles to Avios?



I believe you can book BA with AA. I don't think you can transfer to Avios from AA, but I've never looked into that option. 





> How easy is it to get a BA award ticket? AA miles have a reputation for being one of the easiest to redeem.



It seems that whenever AA has an award seat available, so does BA on AA. I haven't used my Avios to fly on BA, only on AA (and Aer Lingus). These tickets may be reserved via BA's website (for AA and most other BA partners, not including Aer Lingus).





> I earn most of my miles on AA. They are partners with BA in the Oneworld alliance, but I've never really explored traveling on BA, mainly because that would mean traveling through London and it's ridiculous taxes on tickets. I looked into some award tickets on AA and they cost almost $500 just in taxes if I go through London! Going to Frankfurt is just over $100 in taxes.




Yup, that's an issue to consider when flying out of London (on any carrier). This has nothing to do with my use of Avios to get seats on AA to Hawaii. 


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## BocaBoy (Feb 20, 2015)

Ken555 said:


> Alaska also charges 20,000 miles for one way to Hawaii on their flights and 22,500 on AA and Delta, about double that of BA.
> 
> http://www.alaskaair.com/content/mileage-plan/award-chart/award-chart-hawaii.aspx



But American charges only 17,500 coach and 37,500 business/first one way if you use American miles.

Isn't the 12,500 Avios only on flights from the west coast?  

I used up my BA miles about the time they switched to Avios because the availability on AA was awful.  Has this improved?


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## Ken555 (Feb 20, 2015)

BocaBoy said:


> But American charges only 17,500 coach and 37,500 business/first one way if you use American miles.



Yes, see the AA award chart link I posted. That's still more than 12,500 (or $10,000 in cc spend vs $17,500 or more in cc spend on the AA cc - which I've had for over 25 years and rarely use any longer). 



> Isn't the 12,500 Avios only on flights from the west coast?



Yes, as I posted earlier Avios awards are based on distance. This is the main reason why it's a great alternative for certain flights. Getting to the Bahamas on AA would be less for you than I. It's all relative.



> I used up my BA miles about the time they switched to Avios because the availability on AA was awful.  Has this improved?




There's no guarantee of availability on any award program. That said, I've only had a few issues finding seats to Hawaii on AA via BA. My latest was forgetting to book many months in advance and while I was able to get the return flight I had to keep checking for a few months until the seats only recently opened up for the outbound. Of course, AA and other carriers are not releasing all seats for award travel at once any longer so checking over time seems reasonable to me. The net result is that I've had little issue redeeming on AA via BA.


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## BocaBoy (Feb 20, 2015)

Ken555 said:


> Yes, see the AA award chart link I posted. That's still more than 12,500 (or $10,000 in cc spend vs $17,500 or more in cc spend on the AA cc - which I've had for over 25 years and rarely use any longer).
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It is all relative.  I have had bad luck using BA miles and almost always get what I want with American.


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## Ken555 (Feb 20, 2015)

BocaBoy said:


> It is all relative.  I have had bad luck using BA miles and almost always get what I want with American.




Huh? Your experience with BA was years ago.


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## SMHarman (Feb 20, 2015)

BocaBoy said:


> It is all relative.  I have had bad luck using BA miles and almost always get what I want with American.


Seems to me the data exchange has imprived greatly in the last 12 months. I saw the same on both carriers though AAanytime does not show to Avios. 

Historically if I could see it on AA.com but not ba a call got it booked on avios.


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## HatTrick (Feb 21, 2015)

itchyfeet said:


> Hawaiian Air has increased the number of miles needed for flights--least number needed now is 20,000 one way to Kona (offered only on some Mondays).  I've never had a problem in the past booking at 17,500 on any day of the week.   Other days have increased to 30,000, 40,000, and 80,000 for coach seats.  Anybody know what's going on with this?  Not enough competition?


Some of these show as 20K in the "fares by month" view, but when you actually select the date there are 17,500 options as well as 20K. Many more from SMF to HNL, but still some from SMF to KOA.


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## sewsue (Feb 21, 2015)

HatTrick said:


> Some of these show as 20K in the "fares by month" view, but when you actually select the date there are 17,500 options as well as 20K. Many more from SMF to HNL, but still some from SMF to KOA.


I was able to get 17,500 miles from Kauai to Sac for Oct. just this passed week. Still need going over to Kona and my inner island fare but figure I will pay for getting to Kona since they were all 20,000 at the time. I was going to wait to book hoping that fares come down a little. Seems like all fares out of SMF are higher even using Southwest to Arizona was almost double that of Oakland to Arizona.


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## BocaBoy (Feb 22, 2015)

Ken555 said:


> Huh? Your experience with BA was years ago.



Yes it was, as I said.  It was about four years ago.  Which is why I asked if it had improved.  My American experience is current, and it continues to be great.  And I don't live on the West Coast to get the shorter flight miles to Hawaii.  I don't understand the "Huh?"  It is like you think I said something ito offend you.


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## Tamaradarann (Feb 27, 2015)

*Supply and Demand*



itchyfeet said:


> Hawaiian Air has increased the number of miles needed for flights--least number needed now is 20,000 one way to Kona (offered only on some Mondays).  I've never had a problem in the past booking at 17,500 on any day of the week.   Other days have increased to 30,000, 40,000, and 80,000 for coach seats.  Anybody know what's going on with this?  Not enough competition?



I believe that the number of miles that Hawaiian Air requires depends on the supply and demand for particular flights which is related to the dates of the flight.  Christmas, New Years, President's Week, Easter Week, as well as weekend days are usually the highest.  I wouldn't be upset if I needed 20,000 miles instead of 17,500; that is a small difference.  However, when the seats are 80,000 I would pay the cash and save the miles for when you can get better value.  You can get 4 one way trips at 20,000 instead of 1 one way trip for 80,000 miles.


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