Flying to Maui on Multiple airline carriers
 

Good morning!

My fiance and I are trying to get to Maui for our honeymoon, but coming from Florida the flights aren't cheap! DF's grandparents are graciously offering us their dividend miles (they have a TON of them), but dividend mile seats from FL to Maui are already sold out. So we are going to try and use the dividend miles to get us to the west cost (los angeles or san fransisco) and then pay for a flight from the west cost to Maui.

Hit reply too soon....here's the rest of my question. :) Well actually, nevermind. Surprisingly, flights are only marginally cheaper from the west cost, thus making it not really worth it. New question: Does anyone know of any inexpensive carriers from the west coast to Maui?

Thanks!

Go ahead a book your dividend miles to the west coast. The airlines usually open up seats at a later date that are not selling.

Have you checked all the partner airlines for FF seats? Can you change your honeymoon dates? Are you booking too early?

GoTravel,

Thanks for your reply. I don't think we are booking too early because when I talked to US Airways the agent said that *everyone* uses their dividend miles to go to Hawaii and people usually book a year in advance. And actually US Airways doesn't fly to Hawaii, just their partner United does - and that's who we were checking with.

If the cost of the 'moon, with airfare, ends up being more than we want to pay we are considering moving our dates later. Although it will have to be at least a month+ later because all of June is sold out.

June is peak honeymoon and family vacation time.

Have you tried asking the reservationist for any open space?

Friends got roundtrip on priceline for $500 per person from South Carolina and a girlfriend booked for her fiance (she had to go to Hawaii to work) $660 in August also from SC.

Can you use dividend miles through Hawaiian or Aloha Air? I know one of them is affiliated with United but not sure if that translates to USAir. If it does, you could try to use them from any of the cities they fly into on the west coast.

If you are planning to split up flights and pay for part, you could try to use miles to fly to Hawaii from cities other than Florida. Perhaps, Chicago or Denver since they are Unites hubs. You may have a better chance getting a seat... then just pay for a flight to that city.

Try www.pleasantholidays.com - they often have cheap west coast to Hawaii fares on ATA but sometimes discounts aren't available this far in advance (I assume you're traveling May 04). Also sign up for Hawaiian Air fare sale emails.

I don't know if US Air offers this option but another possiblity is to take whatever dates are currently available for FF awards and waitlist for the actual dates that you want. You might find that as you get closer to departure and other passengers change/cancel seats open up. This of course is a gamble and I'm not sure how willing you are to try it for your honeymoon. Generally, for Hawaii FF awards, you either have to book really early or really late to obtain seats.

With FF miles, you need to play around with the dates. If your soon to be in-laws have a ton of miles, then perhaps they have enough to fly first class. When we booked our tix to Hawaii (booked them about 6 months before the trip), we were looking at having to fly "rules buster" on the outbound flight and then regular miles on the way back. Flying first class generally requires less miles than to fly rules buster. So with that being said we are flying first class out and regular coach coming back. We leave next week. I'm soooo excited!!!

Lynne

I wouldn't give up so easily on using the dividend miles for the entire trip. Seats do open up. Have you tried booking a flight into Honolulu using the miles and then taking Aloha over to Maui?

What's "rules buster"?

I would use FF miles to L.A. or S.F., then book with Pleasant Holidays for the flight from there to Hawaii. They almost always beat their competition.

sunnybrook - All major airlines let you use double miles to get seats on almost all flights. It goes by various names - Rules Buster, Anytime, Skychoice, etc... So, if you have a lot of miles, you can claim those. Some airlines let you use a mix of standard/double award for the inbound/outbound, some don't.

Check ATA from LAX to Maui. They have been pretty reasonable lately.

ATA is also having financial difficulties, and won't rule out a bankruptcy filing in the near future. While large carriers seldom shutdown (last one being Eastern), smaller ones do fail and disappear. I probably wouldn't take that risk for honeymoon.

The original post was in Nov. 2003. I think she has already completed her honeymoon. Why was this old thread brought back up?

I'm sorry.....It was my fault. I was trying to get some info on FF miles (in hopes of finding a way to get to Hawaii using USAirways miles). I did a search before I opened up a new thread, found this, and replied to find out what the rules busters were.
Sorry!

PS: I did find the responses VERY helpful. I'm probably going to use bonniebroad's suggestion.

No apologies necessary, Sunnybrook31! That's why all these old posts are still here............ they can be really helpful at times! :-)