NoFlyZone

>A7 = 7 seats

I'm just going to offer one clarification. The above means there are 7 <u>or more</u> A seats available.

For several historical and operational reasons the maximum number shown is usually 2, 4, 7 or 9. Never higher than 9.

But when you see a lot of one of those, such as the prevalence of 7s above, then it is almost a certainty that 7 is the max they show on the availability.

rex

&lt;&lt;and yes, I will ask to be waitlisted for the OGG-ATL nonstop (I did not think to do that; I was still struggling with whether I wanted to give up the SkyMiles for my own ticket at all at the time)...&gt;&gt;

Well, even though it's late, I finally got around to calling Delta back to request this waitlisting - - and even though I had to sit on hold for dozens, and dozens of 60 second periods of on hold for &quot;I'm sorry sir I'll be right back sir&quot; - - for some reason, this was very challenging for their computer system or (more likely), the agent at the keyboard - - it turns out that rather than being waitlisted for the OGG-ATL nonstop, I ended up confirmed on that flight. Even though it cuts us 4 hours shorter, I decided that we should go ahead and take it - - always better to have 2 stop than 3 stop; we surely will arrive better rested than have to change in LAX at 4-5 am, &quot;body (Hawaii) time&quot; and then get on a flight (&quot;ordinary domestic first&quot, LAX to CVG. It dod require confirmation in <i>coach</i> for the final leg (ATL-SDF), but we are waitlisted for first on that (I bet we eventually get it).

So, thumbs way up to Patty, for reminding to look into that.

Now, I have to look into other choices for my inter-island travel.

Perhaps (a lirttle bit) sad to say.. I love all this wrangling!

rex

Hmmm... moderate bummer... striking out galore on inter-island flights using UAL MileagePlus for Aloha seats (coach) - - I may post on flyertalk or (and already posted this on my &quot;other thread, in the US forum) to get some sense of how my &quot;luck&quot;/odds of success might improve if I simply keep persistently trying.

Perhap even worth a second separate post to call attention to this separate question worthwhile?

AAFrequentFlyer

Did you try using AA miles for Hawaiian Airlines?

You will have to call AA. You can't do it on line.

rex

Initially, I struck out with AAdvantage miles for HA - - worth trying persistence on them?

rex

For anyone interested in this subject, it is getting some additional useful discussion on a flyertalk thread I started...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=471522

AceSugar

In flying to Hawaii last year, I called the NWA customer service several times over a couple week period. I found that each time I call that customer service person would look at different options - more stops, etc.. Was told once that the flights might not even be posted yet for ff miles. The good news was after several calls they found me two tickets for free w/out a lot of miles. Call the airlines, the customer service personnel helped me more than looking online.

Patty

Congrats on getting the OGG-ATL nonstop for your return. I bet you'll clear the waitlist for ATL-SDF too.

I don't have any advice for using UA miles on Aloha. I gave up rather quickly (after 3 attempts) earlier this year as it was taking so long for Aloha to reply to each request.

Last resort if you're determined to use miles instead of paying for the flights - 20K HA or NW miles will get you an unrestricted economy interisland award on HA. HA also has a restricted FC interisland award for 20K.

rex

Yeah... the thing is... in our family, we have rather skimpy mileage balances on NW. I have 19k, my wife has 48k, one daughter might be willing to chip in from her 22k.

And 20k, for a flight that costs $60-100? (each direction)? Can we use half that for a one-way? I don't think so.

25k, can in some cases mean the difference of buy or no-buy on a domestic roundtrip - - which, when needed on short notice might be worth anwyere from $300 to 2 or 3 times that!

We're FF hoarders, for occasions where buying air tix puts in a jam to get a good fare. Between the two of us, our three daughters and one son-in-law, we easily buy 10-20 (non-business) roundtrip air fares a year, seems like! Some end up inadequately planned, for one reason or another. That's why the UA award is so darn enticing, at 5000 (I only have 12,000 - - basically from car rentals)

Patty

HA has OW interisland awards for half the mileage requirement of a RT award, but not NW.

As for using 20K miles on an interisland award, I wouldn't do it either but just thought I'd mention it as an option.

I'm curious, with UA (or AA/NW for that matter) is your routing OGG-KOA, KOA-HNL (with +/- 8 hour connection), HNL-OGG allowed on a single award or would you have to use multiple awards?

rex

Okay - - making progress - - I got the OGG-KOA award seat on Island Air(earlier in the day than I wanted, at 9:50 am, but not exctly to cry about - - at least it doesn't botch up our 2nd night's dining on Maui) - - the award seat will be for my wife, and I am assuming I can buy a seat to match for myself (reimbursable).

Now, for the KOA-HNL and HNL-OGG - - since it has a &gt;4 hr gap in the middle, you're right, they won't treat is as a KOA-OGG one-way - - but they WILL consider it to be an open jaw, and since RT and OW are the same 5000 mile award, it comes out all the same.

I actually did get a confirmation from UA/ALoha for this last-day travel (KOA-HNL/HNL-OGG) - - but I am waffling over whether to be even more picky and hold out to try to get the 8:55 am departure instead of the 6:45 which they released to us. Driving a hard bargain over a free ticket, huh?

Lovin' all this decision-making! Already moving on to other decision -making (snuba, luau, Maui lodging) as fast as I can multi-task!