Just booked airline WKORV 2009 trip

[Troopers]

Well, after all of that, I ended cancelling the tickets. I secured tickets to the Masters!!! The Masters are in early April so I won't be able to go to Hawaii for 2+ weeks than fly home and than to Augusta. We'll have to change our WKORV 2009 reservation.

 

[clsmit]

Well, after all of that, I ended cancelling the tickets. I secured tickets to the Masters!!! The Masters are in early April so I won't be able to go to Hawaii for 2+ weeks than fly home and than to Augusta. We'll have to change our WKORV 2009 reservation.

That should be fun! We went a couple of years ago for one day. Even with a ton of rain the experience was very cool for this non-golfer.

Also, make sure you have some place to stay! You might think getting into HRA during spring break is hard --Augusta is a REALLY small town with very few hotels. A lot of people rent out their houses for the week. We were there as part of the DH's corporate hosting of clients, and they had rented a house with a guesthouse for the week. We also ended up flying into Greenville, SC instead of ATL because it was easier -- and just about as close a drive.

 

[Ken555]

FWIW, I just found lots of frequent flyer seats on American from LAX-HNL in Februrary and March. I've been trying to get from LAX-OGG and the return flights are completely booked for more than a month at that time. So I just reserved LAX-HNL and bought intraisland from Hawaiian for $150pp/rt.

I'm looking forward to this, since I've never been to Oahu - going a couple of days before check-in at WKORV-N and staying at the Sheraton Waikiki on C&P...

 

[Henry M.]

I had been trying to book my FF seats AUS-DFW-OGG on aa.com and was coming up empty. I decided to reserve to HNL and buy interisland. Even that only had Sunday travel going over and no return the dates when I wanted them. I made a reservation online and decided to call to see if the agent could help me with the return. When I did, the agent got me AUS-LAX-OGG-DFW-AUS right away, and on the exact dates I needed it. Somehow these flights did not show on AA.com but were available to the agent. It is possible that American's executive platinum desk has access to more seats than what show up online. This is perhaps a discussion for FlyerTalk. I'm just happy I got the tickets.

 

[Ken555]

It is possible that American's executive platinum desk has access to more seats than what show up online.

Glad to hear you got the tickets. I called AA about this earlier last week and they didn't see any more than I did; then again, I'm not Executive Platinum.

 

[Henry M.]

I think going to HNL is still a good deal and you get to see another island in the process! Your trip is much closer than mine so perhaps all the FF tickets are gone. Glad its all done and I hope you enjoy the Oahu stay.

This year I flew into HNL and purchased interisland tickets to get to Kauai and then on to Maui. Not quite as good as completely free airfare, but still much better than the alternative. I had the same situation as you trying to get into Lihue.

This doesn't matter to you, Ken, since you are staying in Oahu for a while. For others considering interisland flights I thought I'd recount my experience. This year American changed my itinerary several times. I had originally planned about an hour and a half for the connection in HNL. After it was all said and done I only had 45 minutes and that was cutting it short. American wouldn't check my bags through because they said it was an invalid connection time. I had to pick them up and recheck them with Hawaiian Airlines. I made it and even if I had had to wait for the next flight it would only have been perhaps 30 minutes, but it was a lot of running. The fact that I had completely separate itineraries for the flights made it a little more stressful to coordinate them. For a while American was really changing their itineraries around for their whole system, as they adjusted to the recent economic downturn. I think they're back to a stable timetable now. Do allow at least 90 minutes for connections if you decide to go through HNL on your way to another island, especially if you have to recheck your bags.

 

[Ken555]

Do allow at least 90 minutes for connections if you decide to go through HNL on your way to another island, especially if you have to recheck your bags.

Great advice. I called Hawaiian last night before booking online and asked them how much time they needed to transfer bags, etc. I'm staying in Oahu on the outbound but not the return. They said 45 minutes was enough time to transfer the bags. Well... I decided to book a flight that had me arrive in HNL 2 hours before the AA flight to LAX... in part because I've also seen time changes on the flights between booking and flight. I don't really want to be forced to spend another day in Hawaii, do I?...

 

[Henry M.]

American wouldn't accept 45 minutes to transfer bags to Hawaiian on my way over. The computer wouldn't allow the check-in agent to do it. If I had had a little more time the automatic bag transfer would have been a huge help since I wouldn't have had to leave the secured area at the airport.

You also don't want to have to find a hotel at the last minute and maybe on your dime when both airlines can claim it is not their problem you didn't make the connection. Neither one knew about the other connection so they won't want to cover the hotel.

 

[Ken555]

This is why I'm flying, as well. I was going to take the SuperFerry, but with the lack of consistent schedule and intermittent cancellations I wasn't willing to risk it in order to make the flight out of HNL. I think two hours should be enough time to handle any future time changes the airlines perform...at least, I hope so!

 

[LisaRex]

Thanks.

Yup, we're using the Amex Plat 2:1 deal. The flight came out to about $410 pp from SFO to HNL (on AA) and another $120 pp from HNL to OGG (on Hawaiian). Total came to a tad less than $550 pp. We're staying in HNL for several days at both ends of our WKORV trip (we also love HNL esp Waikiki). UAL from SFO direct to OGG was about $1200 and Hawaiian Air about $1000 from San Jose or Oakland.

Gotta love the Amex Plat.

Just wanted to report that as 11/15/08, AMEX is discontinuing the 2:1 companion benefit. If you happen to have one, you have until then to make your reservations. Major, major bummer.



http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=873621

 

[sjuhawk_jd]

Airfare to Cancun

Ok I am really frustrated, I have been trying to get cheap airfare to Cancun from raleigh for the last few weeks and can't find much under 750. I am considering the amex plat because we have 4 of us going. Does the Amex work for Mexico as well as domestic?

I have been monitoring airfares to Cancun for the last two months and they have been in the $700 range lowest. Yesterday, Continental dropped the price by about $200 per ticket (direct flight from Newark, NJ to Cancun). Total about $500 per ticket. I grabbed 3 tickets. Dec 19 - Dec 25th, so pretty decent peak travel time. So, it pays to wait a bit.

 

[Troopers]

Just wanted to report that as 11/15/08, AMEX is discontinuing the 2:1 companion benefit. If you happen to have one, you have until then to make your reservations. Major, major bummer.



http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=873621

Time to jump ship.

 

[LisaRex]

Time to jump ship.

Yup. Rats.

(Sorry for the really bad pun.)

 

[Ågent99]

The United Visa Mileage card isn't a bad deal. I got one for wifey and one for myself. Its $60 annual fee is waived the first year and we got 21,500 miles each for signing up. At about November time frame in 2007, I was able to secure Saver mileage flights (35k miles each) for my wife, daughter, and myself for July 2008 arrival. Total cost for tickets from SFO to OGG and then back (OGG--LAX--SFO) was $21.50! Of course, we had crappy flight times and the flight back was on the red eye but for essentially free tickets to Maui, how can one complain?! We treated ourselves to a Limo ride from SFO back home to San Jose...totally worth $120!

 

[LisaRex]

I also have the United Mileage visa. I signed up for the regular one that Agent99 speaks off, pocketed the bonus sign-up miles and then asked to be switched to the platinum card. It's $140/year, but you get double miles on groceries, drug stores, gas, AND dining. I've already racked up enough miles in one year to get 3, almost 4, saver tickets. Since United owns most of the Hawaiian market (60% is what I read), your chance of getting a saver ticket are better than with any other airline.

 

[Troopers]

I also have the United Mileage visa. I signed up for the regular one that Agent99 speaks off, pocketed the bonus sign-up miles and then asked to be switched to the platinum card. It's $140/year, but you get double miles on groceries, drug stores, gas, AND dining. I've already racked up enough miles in one year to get 3, almost 4, saver tickets. Since United owns most of the Hawaiian market (60% is what I read), your chance of getting a saver ticket are better than with any other airline.

I'll need to look into it since Amex canned the 2 for 1 program. Ugh.

 

[Ågent99]

I just signed into ual.com and noticed the United Mileage Visa bonus is now 30k miles! I wonder if I can cancel my current United Mileage Visa and then sign up for this one!

Hmmm, that Platinum card sounds interesting. Isn't it true that SPG points can be converted to miles at a favorable ratio? I thought it was and that is one reason we've moved most of our expenses onto the AMEX SPG card. Buuut, this Platinum card sounds interesting...didn't I just say that?

 

[LisaRex]

I just signed into ual.com and noticed the United Mileage Visa bonus is now 30k miles! I wonder if I can cancel my current United Mileage Visa and then sign up for this one!

Hmmm, that Platinum card sounds interesting. Isn't it true that SPG points can be converted to miles at a favorable ratio? I thought it was and that is one reason we've moved most of our expenses onto the AMEX SPG card. Buuut, this Platinum card sounds interesting...didn't I just say that?

Chase used to be one of the few companies that would give you bonuses for each new card you signed up for, and so Flyertalkers were notorious for churning accounts. Not sure if this is still true. Last I read a few months ago, Chase had started giving them for first time account holders, then switched back to giving multiple bonuses but with limitations, such as you had to keep the account open for x months or forfeit the points. No matter what, they allow you and your spouse (if any) to open up separate accounts and each pocket the bonus miles. That's what I did. Check Flyertalk for the latest.

The SPG Amex conversion ratio for UNITED (and Continental) is not favorable (2:1). Most other airlines, including Delta, American and Hawaiian have a 1:1 ratio. More details are on the Starwood website.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/account/starpoints/transfer/airline_partner_list.html