RT Air @ 330 days?

[TXTortoise]

When looking for RT air to Hawaii, e.g., now for next Feb 16th or so, do you wait until the return day trip becomes available or book outbound first, then the return, then have them linked?

Noticed some prime seats on the outbound get picked up early, but hard to book the RT since the return hasn't opened up yet.

Thoughts?

 

[mjm1]

We usually wait until we can book the entire round trip, but the main reason for that is we fly Alaska Airlines and use the companion ticket we receive from having their Visa credit card. If that weren’t the case, I could see booking the outbound flight first if I was looking for specific seats. We have done that when using miles to fly to Europe or Australia.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[JIMinNC]

The problem with booking one way is that usually, booking two one-way tickets costs more (sometimes considerably more) than booking a round-trip. Is there a way to book something as a roundtrip but with an open return, then fill in the return flights when those reservation days open? I've never seen a way to do that online on the American Airlines site - which is the airline we basically always use out of Charlotte since they control 90%+ of the flights here.

 

[TXTortoise]

You nailed my concern Jim. Guess I’ll just stay have to see what the numbers look like.

Thanks

 

[DavidnRobin]

The problem with booking one way is that usually, booking two one-way tickets costs more (sometimes considerably more) than booking a round-trip. Is there a way to book something as a roundtrip but with an open return, then fill in the return flights when those reservation days open? I've never seen a way to do that online on the American Airlines site - which is the airline we basically always use out of Charlotte since they control 90%+ of the flights here.

It is not true anymore that 2 one-way tickets are a lot more than RT. I do this all the time at the 330 day windows for both legs of trips.


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[slip]

All of the one that I looked, two one ways were always much more than a RT. The only times I have do the one way is with miles. Those don’t make any difference. I usually always fly United.

 

[controller1]

On American, two one-ways will equal the cost of a roundtrip. However, if you make two one-ways and need to change each one then you will be charged two change fees. If you need to change both the outbound and inbound flights on a roundtrip you will only incur one change fee.

 

[JIMinNC]

It is not true anymore that 2 one-way tickets are a lot more than RT. I do this all the time at the 330 day windows for both legs of trips.
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On American, two one-ways will equal the cost of a roundtrip. However, if you make two one-ways and need to change each one then you will be charged two change fees. If you need to change both the outbound and inbound flights on a roundtrip you will only incur one change fee.

Not true by my research. Using Charlotte to Maui, departing Feb 2, 2019 and returning Feb 9, 2019 as a pro-forma example:

Best fare 2/2/19 - American Airlines one-way CLT to OGG - $517
Best fare 2/9/19 - American Airlines one-way OGG to CLT - $568 TOTAL $1085 (main cabin) - this was also the lowest fare on any itinerary with just one stop/connection

Roundtrip CLT-OGG-CLT, same flights, same dates, TOTAL $943 (main cabin) also the lowest fare of any flights on this itinerary

Another more extreme example is the flights we have scheduled for our Mediterranean cruise from Barcelona to Rome this coming September. We are flying nonstop Charlotte to Barcelona, and then nonstop Rome back to Charlotte a couple weeks later. Here are the prices if we were to book that trip today (we booked our flights a few months ago as a RT, so our fare is even less than the RT fare shown below):

Best fare American Airlines 9/1/18 one-way CLT to BCN nonstop - $2764
Best fare American Airlines 9/15/18 one-way FCO to CLT nonstop - $3003 TOTAL $5767 (main cabin)

Best fare booked as roundtrip CLT to BCN, FCO to CLT same dates, same flights, TOTAL $1499 (main cabin)

 

[DavidnRobin]

Sorry - I was assuming using miles since the 330 day window was mentioned. Cash prices are not the best at 330 days anyway - so not sure why this is issue?


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[JIMinNC]

Sorry - I was assuming using miles since the 330 day window was mentioned. Cash prices are not the best at 330 days anyway - so not sure why this is issue?
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All reservations - cash or miles - are restricted to the 330 day window the airline reservation systems use.

I agree that with miles, two one-way = one RT. At least out of CLT though, getting Mileage Saver rewards is almost impossible to popular destinations. We have about 1.5 million AAdvantage miles between the two of us, and struggle to find trips where it makes sense to redeem miles. Cash always seems better. We just were able to use AA miles to buy our daughter a RT CLT to London to CLT ticket for 95,000 miles for her study abroad trip that starts in May. It would have been over $1,600 for her dates with cash. By contrast, our Sept CLT-BCN;FCO-CLT trip would have cost over twice that number of FF miles when we looked into using miles or cash.

As far as when cash prices are best, it depends on the destination. For our Europe trip, we found the cheapest fares were at 330 days. We waited awhile to see if they would drop, but the fares were slowly rising, so we went ahead and booked several months ago for our Sept 2018 trip. Fares are now over $200 more per person than when we booked in late 2017.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Using miles - my 1-way x2 trips were only a few $ more- but only about 6 trips over last few years (SFO/SJC-OGG, SFO/SJC-LIH, SFO-STT) YMMV


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[TXTortoise]

I was comparing recent RT Premium Economy and FC from SAT to OGG and it looks like there is a difference between 1x 2 and a RT, but not extreme.

From a cash standpoint, I'm seeing rates virtually the same as this time last year, though American's new Premium Economy is skewing the price up a bit, but is a better service than Delta's, which we did two years ago through LAX to HNL.

I also looked at the current summer rates as a comparable data point for high demand travel and don't see much difference.

Like Jim, I'm somewhat constrained in having to get out of San Antonio to a hub. The best service is the 777 direct from DFW to OGG (and priced accordingly), vs Delta to LA. AA through Phoenix or LA is on old metal 757s, etc. United is off the charts on pricing.

Last year, I did find a great FC fare for February 2018 on the 777 from DFW-HNL at $1550 RT, and adding the Hawaiian segments brought it up $1800 compared to $2100 for FC SAT-DFW-OGG now. My wife is spoiled, but I expect we'll be in premium economy this time around. ;-)
(I do sometimes ask her if it's worth $40/hr more for FC. ;-)

 

[JIMinNC]

Like Jim, I'm somewhat constrained in having to get out of San Antonio to a hub. The best service is the 777 direct from DFW to OGG (and priced accordingly), vs Delta to LA. AA through Phoenix or LA is on old metal 757s, etc. United is off the charts on pricing.

Unfortunately, Hawaii is one of the few places that we can't fly direct out of Charlotte on AA. As American's second largest hub behind DFW, we can go nonstop to most US and Caribbean destinations and many in Europe. Before the merger between US Airways and American, US Airways had tried a nonstop CLT - HNL, but it didn't generate enough traffic and got canned. Now we have to connect through DFW, PHX, or LAX.

As currently booked, our 2019 trip will start at Waiohai on Kauai, followed by Maui Ocean Club, then a HGVC Big Island stay that is still to be booked. We're trying to decide whether to add 3 nights or so on the front end or back end on Oahu. If we do the Oahu on front or back, we'll probably try to use the AA 777 via the DFW connection to fly into or out of HNL (AA also flies between PHX-HNL with an A330 widebody, so that's another option). Into Kauai or out of Kona is 757s from PHX or A321s from LAX, so we'll have to do at least one of those, depending on what we decide on when and if we do Oahu. We prefer flying direct to the mainland from Maui, Kona, or Kauai rather than having to connect in HNL. Maui is in the middle in all cases for our 2019 trip, so we'll definitely be flying Lihue to Kahului then Kahului to Kona on Hawaiian.

 

[Southerngirl528]

Last year, I did find a great FC fare for February 2018 on the 777 from DFW-HNL at $1550 RT,

Holy cow, TXTortoise! That is a crazy awesome price for that FC nonstop from DFW!!! How many months out did you snag that??

We always fly MCO to DFW and grab the DFW/OGG (or the DFW/HNL every few years if we are going to Aulani first before Maui) on AA as we find that class of service in FC worth the extra bucks. Used to be able to buy coach and upgrade with miles if I did it at 330 days, but like the other airlines, they rules have all changed and now one must go on a waitlist to try and upgrade to FC. Odd...

Speaking of pricey, my DD#1 is trying to book the ATL to HNL nonstop using their miles and for ONE way it is quoting her at least 90,000 to 110,000 miles for ECONOMY Comfort seats!! YIKES.

 

[TXTortoise]

(Updated) It was $1570 for FC on 30 Apr 2017 for a 27 Jan/8 Feb 2018 RT. Doubt I’ll stumble into that for a SAT-DFW-OGG direct.

The other constraint is there are two flights leaving DFW on Saturday, but only one on Sunday and our two weeks are Sun-Sun and Sat-Sat, so I’ve got an overlap on my transition Saturday. Haven’t been able to move the Sun reservation back to Sat and once I commit to air I won’t try. (MOC OF)

AA miles redemption for PE ir FC is grim for these DFW FC or PE flights.

Yup, while I’ve been chasing credit card points this past year, cash does seem to be king for PE or FC to Hawaii, if one is picky about what route you fly. Going through Phoenix or LAX I’m seeing FC at $1750 or so. Probably going up for Feb travel though.

I’ve got an old USAA legacy CC that pays up to $3200 in FC fare for 120k points, $120k spend. When we went EOY it was almost worth using for HI, though I’d prefer to save it for non-domestic FC.

Still waiting to see how effective I can be using my Ultimate or Marriott points for PE or FC after this 2019 HI trip.

 

[NTP66]

At least out of CLT though, getting Mileage Saver rewards is almost impossible to popular destinations.

...

As far as when cash prices are best, it depends on the destination. For our Europe trip, we found the cheapest fares were at 330 days. We waited awhile to see if they would drop, but the fares were slowly rising, so we went ahead and booked several months ago for our Sept 2018 trip. Fares are now over $200 more per person than when we booked in late 2017.

The same goes for PHL, and likely all other East coast airports (excluding the direct NY/NJ flights). I booked at 289 days out using AA miles because I originally planned on paying cash for the tickets; likely would have booked at 330 using miles. The only availability was AAnytime miles, which was the case up until one month ago, when a few MileSAAver seats opened up on one leg of each trip (PHL>LAX>OGG). I paid for an ExpertFlyer account this year and have had alerts setup since I booked, so it's unlikely that I have missed any availability. 140k miles/each was a tough pill to swallow, but I earn miles so quickly that I don't care as much about redemption value anymore. Unfortunately, AA will not allow you to swap your AAnytime awards with MileSAAver unless both legs of the trip have availability. The PHL>LAX leg always seems to open up throughout the year, but LAX>OGG is rare.

As for the cost of cash fares, I've been tracking them since 2011, and they've been going up about $50-100 per person each year since then.

 

[brianfox]

We always book one ways, for a few reasons:
Since we always use points, RT always equals 2x One Way. I have no idea if pricing is different but others have chimed in.
One Way gives more options for multiple airlines (i.e. fly out on AA and back on Hawaiian)
Also, when using points, if we need to make changes, I have always found it to be easier if you are trying to change/cancel a full One Way reservation vs half a RT.
Finally, waiting for full both ways of a RT to be at best point exchange is really hard to nail. Book one way when it's available and then the other later. Airlines are so wacky about having cheap point seats available for a day, then they're gone for 2 weeks then back. It's nuts.

We never see a good point deal 330 days out. 2 months out is when the good point fares start showing up (for us) depending on the airline. We always book LAX-LIH.

 

[TXTortoise]

I'm not sure any of us living mid-coast/east-coast want to even talk about fare access from LAX to Hawaii. ;-)

157K miles RT at the moment connecting with the 777 out of DFW to OGG, early Feb. ;-(

 

[NTP66]

I yell at my phone whenever I see hot fare alerts from the west coast via the Beat of Hawaii email list. I’m incredibly jealous.

 

[Southerngirl528]

I'm not sure any of us living mid-coast/east-coast want to even talk about fare access from LAX to Hawaii. ;-)

LOL! Agreed!! Flying from MCO/Orlando, it's RARE to see a great fare to Hawaii.

I yell at my phone whenever I see hot fare alerts from the west coast via the Beat of Hawaii email list. I’m incredibly jealous.

157K miles RT at the moment connecting with the 777 out of DFW to OGG, early Feb. ;-(

Is that for FC or Coach? My DD#1 is trying to use her Delta miles for the ATL/HNL non-stop for mid-Feb and for their Delta Comfort class (step up Coach), it is 110,000 miles ONE WAY!! Insane......

 

[TXTortoise]

FC, if I quoted it correctly. 90K and 67K each I believe. Going through LAX is about half. 110K is close to cash price, actually a bit more at .01/mile.

 

[talkamotta]

We usually wait until we can book the entire round trip, but the main reason for that is we fly Alaska Airlines and use the companion ticket we receive from having their Visa credit card. If that weren’t the case, I could see booking the outbound flight first if I was looking for specific seats. We have done that when using miles to fly to Europe or Australia.

Best regards.

Mike

I love Alaska and SWA. Both airlines are so easy to work with and make changes. This summer I'm taking my grandkids and their dad to Hawaii. I'm coming out of slc. They are coming from the Dallas area. It was cheaper to fly out of DAL instead of DFW. So try both airports. I used the companion pass for 2 of them total 1100. Then I used miles for one, 35,000. The tickets were for Sunday outbound and return on a thursday. My granddaughter just got accepted to BUY Hawaii so I bought her ticket for the end of August returning around Christmas.....It was 40k miles.

 

[Art]

When looking for RT air to Hawaii, e.g., now for next Feb 16th or so, do you wait until the return day trip becomes available or book outbound first, then the return, then have them linked?

Noticed some prime seats on the outbound get picked up early, but hard to book the RT since the return hasn't opened up yet.

Thoughts?

Don't know what departure airport is being used, but my DIL just bought two RT tickets for a 2/17/19-2/24/91 trip for a total of $1007 all in. There were on United for a Toronto-Honolulu flight.

 

[TXTortoise]

Coach from Houston to HNL for same dates is $1100-1300, RT.

Don’t ask about FC.