# Which FF Miles program best for Hawaii?



## jmatias (Feb 22, 2007)

Its one of the many prices we pay for living in paradise but I'd like to hear about TUGgers experiences with using FF miles to book their Hawaii trips.

We have most of our miles on Delta but recent experiences with using our FF miles to book trips or just plan out potential trips have been a pain.  Especially since Delta changed their computer program.

Yesterday I was on the phone with Delta for quite a while to figure out how best to use my miles to get 1st class to Orlando in September.  Basically, either I had to buy the $1300 ticket and then use 30K miles to upgrade or use 225K miles and a not so great schedule.

Then, 1 call to American and for $650 plus 30K miles I can get the tickets and my choice of schedules.

So....I'm seriously considering switching.  We rack up a lot of miles via Credit cards so that is a factor also.

I know United has a lot of flights to Hawaii but I don't have recent experience booking FF flights with United.

Who do you use to get to Hawaii?

Aloha,
Jen


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## Fletcher921 (Feb 22, 2007)

I have had no problem using United FF miles for Maui.  Delta is great for Europe - if you call way ahead.  For prime time like Summer, I try to mark down and call United 11 months ahead...  Although, now that I think about it, I booked last August for our November flights to Kauai and had no problem with availability.

I have found such reasonable fares recently with Aloha and Hawaiian that we've been buying the tickets and using our miles elsewhere.


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## talkamotta (Feb 22, 2007)

We are using Delta FF for our tickets to OGG this year.  The only problem I have with Delta (and Im sure I would have it with other airlines) is thier choice to change my flight over and over again.  I also have enough miles for 2 flights for our trip next year by using my American Express.  Now Amex has an extra bonus that if I charge a certain amount of money per year I will get extra miles, 5K or 10k, etc.  So thats a nice bonus.  I like Amex because of Costco. 

My son who is a Medallion member loves Delta; but then he always gets upgraded to first class.  But he is a spoiled brat.


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## DianneL (Feb 22, 2007)

I have both American miles and Delta miles.  I have used both to get to Hawaii.  We are leaving in about a month for Kauai (Pahio at the Shearwater) and are travelling on American ff miles.  The advantage for us with American when going to Kauai is that they fly directly from LAX to Lihue.  On the other hand, I believe Delta goes directly from the west coast to Maui.  I have found the trick to using miles is to book 331 days out.  Good luck.


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## DeniseM (Feb 22, 2007)

This recent thread on the Hawaii board might be helpful to you:  Best Credit Card for Hawaii Travel


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## philemer (Feb 22, 2007)

DL FF program sucks. I love UA's program. Always get seats to & from Hawaii. Switch to UA or AA. Look at your favorite destinations & see who has the most flights. JMHO.

Phil


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## jmatias (Feb 22, 2007)

Thanks for the replies!  Lots of factors to consider.

If I look strictly at # of flights to Hawaii then the winner is United.  

- Does the United CC have mile promos like Delta Amex?


I actually already have credit cards for Delta, American, United, Hawaiian, Marriott & Disney to cover all the bases.  Main card has been the Delta Amex.


Aloha,
jen


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## Fletcher921 (Feb 22, 2007)

Not a lot of promo's.  I do remember something good for education last year though.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 23, 2007)

jmatias said:


> Thanks for the replies!  Lots of factors to consider.
> 
> If I look strictly at # of flights to Hawaii then the winner is United.
> 
> ...



The winner is probably Alaska Airlines. Alaska doesn't fly to Hawai'i but their reward partners include Aloha, Northwest, American, Delta, and Continental.  I've seldom had trouble finding some flight arrangement that would work for us, though we often do need to bookend arrival or departure to match the flights.  But then, spending an extra day or two in Hawai'i really isn't much of a burden.


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## philemer (Feb 23, 2007)

Steve,
The one problem with accum. AS miles and then using their partners to fly to Hawaii is it will cost you MORE miles, except for a DL award (and those are tough to get). R/T to Hawaii on partners NW, CO & AA cost 40,000 AS miles. On HA it cost 50,000!!! http://www.alaskaair.com/mileageplan/AwardsHawaii.asp

Phil


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## pwrshift (Feb 23, 2007)

philemer said:


> ...Look at your favorite destinations & see who has the most flights. JMHO.
> 
> Phil


 
Good advice.  UA recently (last Oct) raised their point requirements for a lot of flights, especially in business class.  Hawaii business class is now 75,000 compared to 35,000 for economy - this jump in class represents a bigger percent increase in points than for other areas such as Europe where business class costs only 5000 more FF miles than to Hawaii.  The chart will show the variables, and it's interesting to note that in most cases UA's point requirements are still less than most other airlines with the possible exception of seasonal deals, and they have a wide variety of 'partners' on which you can fly with UA points (like Air Canada).  Oddly, it takes less UA points to fly on AC than it does with AC Aeroplan points!  I aways try to find business class on two class airlines rather than 3 class as they are usually better seats.

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,1142,00.html

Brian


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 23, 2007)

philemer said:


> Steve,
> The one problem with accum. AS miles and then using their partners to fly to Hawaii is it will cost you MORE miles, except for a DL award (and those are tough to get). R/T to Hawaii on partners NW, CO & AA cost 40,000 AS miles. On HA it cost 50,000!!! http://www.alaskaair.com/mileageplan/AwardsHawaii.asp
> 
> Phil



So, Phil, what is the value of a FF mile that can't be used for the time you want to travel??     I accumulate sufficient miles to get the rewards, and I've always been able to get flights that make a workable itinerary, even though we're almost always traveling in a peak time (early August).  We've always wound up on NW or AA.


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## Art (Feb 23, 2007)

Recently picked up first class AA seats for December '07.  BUF to KOA and LIH to BUF return.  Had to pay a few bucks extra to do this over the phone, but the AA person (actually two since I was at the 330 day mark and it took a couple calls) was quite cooperative.

I have also had first class Delta FF tix to Hawaii.

For me, at least, a part of the secret has been a search with Kayak (or the equivalent) ahead of time so that I knew all the possible itineraries and gateways before I called the airline.  I have found the airline people to be quite willing to consider alternate routings when they are suggested; including partner airlines.

Art

Art


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## jmatias (Feb 23, 2007)

I have to say that so far we have been able to get 5 FF saver tickets on Delta everytime I've tried.  Usually for travel to Orlando and this December to Salt Lake City.  Its just that its getting more difficult to get those seats with the new computer program and Delta no longer will let you hold the tickets for 2 weeks to get the return flight....only hold for a couple of days.  And it seemed like every flight we wanted we had to waitlist.

I really like the Delta Amex b/c you accumulate a lot of miles.  But all those miles don't feel so valuable when its so hard to get seats.  

Compared to when I called American and the ease of upgrading to First with miles and the ease of using their new online program to search for FF tickets really has me thinking that from now we should start accumulating miles with an Airline that really offers upgrades and FF seats.

After all your helpful comments and reading on Flyertalk it looks like United or American is the way to go and maybe the Starwood Amex for my Costco shopping.

Thanks again!
Jen


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## Larry (Feb 23, 2007)

philemer said:


> DL FF program sucks. I love UA's program. Always get seats to & from Hawaii. Switch to UA or AA. Look at your favorite destinations & see who has the most flights. JMHO.
> 
> Phil



Completely agree Delta FF program is awful and the only one I think that  is worse is Continental. I have also had great success with United for Hawaii and Europe and with American for the Caribbean and Mexico.


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## wrxdoug (Feb 23, 2007)

I have both American and Delta.  They tell you pick one and stick with it but I find I need both... they fly to different locations in regards to the ease of travel.  However, that being said, *American* is by far the more user friendly for securing frequent flyer miles award seats.  Much much much easier and has more available.  If I do not call 331 days out exactly for a delta flight to get a frequent flyer award seat and even sometimes when I DO!!! I do not meet with success.  It was very very difficult to secure my seats to Italy a year a ahead for the dates I needed with delta.  However, delta allows me to *get my miles* much easier on their partner airlines with minimal penalities whereas American often downgrades the amount of miles you get (if any) on their partner airlines.  SO.. on delta as long as I pay attention to the type of fare seat for most discounted economy fares I can fly continental or virgin airline or the partners and still get miles.  If I want to fly american's partner I either do not get miles at all or get severely downgraded in the amount of  miles when I fly partners.  So, as it stands I use my american frequent flyer miles to secure seats rather easily (and often) so they do not pile up that is for sure.  Whereas my delta miles pile up and are harder to secure the seats. But I did use them for italy this year which was hard to get flying partners airfrance there and alitalia back though not the easiest routes and a day off going and coming than I actual wanted but did finally after many many calls.  It turns out when you want to fly delta's partners you need to keep calling after the 331 days because the partner airlines do not give them the seats right at the 331 day mark.  No real set time.  I call american 331 days out I get the seats and on the partner airlines as well.  In the past I have been able to get seats to europe in the summer on american flights (and their partners) only six months before without doing the 331 day thing.  Never on delta, if I do not call 331 days out I will not get it at least in my experience since I travel at high season times ...summer in europe, warm locations for spring break, skiing on holidays like president's week.


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## elaine (Feb 23, 2007)

*always got AA FF seats*

have gotten seats 3X on AA.  When calling in the 330 day range, I had a number of options--maui, big island, etc. for 5 tickets.  Another month later, most options were gone. On Delta it was a bit harder to get 4 seats at the same time (july).


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## wrxdoug (Feb 23, 2007)

If you look at the ratings for frequent flyer programs american is well above delta.


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## wrxdoug (Feb 23, 2007)

The person that asked which was better for Hawaii should consider where else they like to fly to.  Pick the airline that works best for more than one place if you can.  United was also rated high but that airline does not fly to all the locations I need (Belgium, Fort Meyers, London, among others) with the frequency I need.  Therefore you should look at what other airlines fly to the other locations as well as Hawaii.  United is a good program too but if it does not fly frequently to other locations you like and american does that should make your decision.  Doug


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## jmatias (Feb 23, 2007)

wrxdoug said:


> The person that asked which was better for Hawaii should consider where else they like to fly to.  Pick the airline that works best for more than one place if you can.   Doug



Thanks for the replies Doug.  The reason we asked about programs for Hawaii is because we live in Hawaii    So its makes it that much harder for us to get those coveted Hawaii FF tickets.  

Aloha,
Jen


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## philemer (Feb 23, 2007)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> We've always wound up on NW or AA.



So why not accum. miles on NW & AA and forget AS? You'll get your Hawaii flights for 5,000 miles less.  

Phil


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## perktd (Feb 23, 2007)

Hi  I would seriously consider a Hawaiian airlines credit card.  I have miles on Hawaiian, Alaska, and Delta.  Hawaiian has by far the most availablity of frequent flyer tickets between the mainland and Hawaii.  You could then use their partners for easier to get mainland travel.  Hawaiian is the only frequent flyer card I know of that lets you pool miles between users at no cost.  When you have the Hawaiian airlines card you also get access to additional seat assignments and frequent flyer ticket availability that would not otherwise be available to you unless you had status on Hawaiian.   Don


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## Timeshare Von (Feb 24, 2007)

I am pretty much loyal to NWA and have never had problems getting 1st class to Hawaii (both Kona and Honolulu) from the Midwest, booking on the first day of availability (352 days out, I think it is) . . . and at the standard award travel level (75k miles per ticket).

I have a CapitalOne miles card but have never taken the free ticket.  I prefer to collect the cash ($300) when I reach a free ticket level because I rarely fly for pleasure on tickets that cost more than that.  That may change if airfares continue to climb . . . but right now, my best value is to take the cash.

Yvonne


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 24, 2007)

philemer said:


> So why not accum. miles on NW & AA and forget AS? You'll get your Hawaii flights for 5,000 miles less.
> 
> Phil



Because AS also gets us to MX and gets us trips up and down the West Coast. The free upgrades and $50 or $99 companion tickets are also valuable.


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## ricoba (Feb 24, 2007)

Steve, I always thought our Alaska partner was Hawaiian Airlines, so I went to the Alaska site and see that they are ending their relationship with Hawaiian April 2007.  So will Aloha be a new partner?


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