beachgirl1982

Hi! I'm looking to travel to Hawaii next year from the East Coast. I truly believe that getting there is half of the fun, but my boyfriend is a HORRIBLE traveler. He's never been too far from home, but expressed a desire to go to Hawaii (my favorite place).

I usually fly on United, but I was comparing flights on United and American Airlines, and its twice as much on United than American. ($978-United vs. $550 American)

I have enough miles with both airlines to upgrade to First Class- and since I want my beloved to be as comfortable as possible, I think its worth it.

Does anyone notice a difference between the American and United routes to Hawaii? Both seem to have the same amount of travel time...

Any thoughts? There must be some opinions out there...

Thanks!

fivestar

We fly from the east coast twice a year on American. We just has a horrible first class experience with them, but usually it is very good. It's a 12 1/2 hour flight not including any layovers. If you are using miles to upgrade do it as soon as possible. We just booked ours for six months aout and had to switch all our dates around because of the availability of upgrades.

beachgirl86

We have flown from Boston to Hawaii on American the last 2 summers, and will again this August. We fly Coach, so I'm sure you will have an even better experience in 1st class! We haven't had any problems with delays, etc...It's a long trip, don't get me wrong, but we have had pretty good experiences on AA.

acaigirl

I have flown American to Hawaii 3x and United once and didn't notice a real difference. American bumped me from the lowest class fare to First Class on one occassion, and both my husband and I got upgraded once to the "crew's seats" which were nice. I usually fly out of the East on the earliest flight, layover in Dallas/Ft. Worth, and am on the beach in Hawaii by 4pm. : )

If American is half the price of United, well...I think that says it all right there.

galle38

We are flying from Atlanta to Honolulu via Mpls/stpaul in June and was wondering,how can you get upgraded to first class without air miles?

beachgirl1982

Thank you all for your advice. I am going to go with American. Thanks!!

need2travelasap

Gall38, we go to Hawaii almost every year and fly NWA. They usually offer a paid upgade for about $200 or $250 pp. As for Beachgirl, we fly out of BWI and generally lay over on the West coast for a day or two in San Francisco, LA or Seattle this makes the long trip more pleasant.

paul20708

I agree with most of the responses -- have flown both United and American coach and first scores of time -- very smilar. Same for NW. BUT, just flew (12/7/06) Delta nonstop from Cincinnati (a scheduled 9.5 hour flight) business class and had the best flight of all.

beachgirl1982

Very interesting about the delta flight. COuld you describe in detail what made the flight so much more comfortable/relaxing/enjoyable?

Thanks!