Frequent flyer miles to hawaii
 

I was able to use my FF miles to obtain three award tickets to Oahu for next summer for my family on Delta. Although I have enough miles for a fourth ticket, they did not have anything available on the outbound date. We checked a few days before and after but there was nothing. So they put me on a waiting list to see if something clears. Delta gives you two weeks and then you have to try again. My question is should I continue trying in hopes that something clears up or should I go ahead and buy the ticket to ensure that we all have a seat on the same flights? Since I live on the east coast the fare would be 920.00. I would rather spend that money on a nice hotel. This is the first time I use FF miles and I am not sure how often the airlines release FF award seats. I asked the Delta agents but I get a different answer every time. Some say things usually clear up and some say this is a very popular flight and tends to book up quickly.

I was able to get all five tickets that I needed for our Delta flight for next summer also, but for two of them I want first class, and I am on the waiting list for that for some of the segments. Is it possible for you to adjust your dates? I called for our tickets at midnight, the day that the tickets I wanted would enter the system. Getting into Honolulu was easier than getting into Maui, so we are flying in to Honolulu and flying out of Maui. I think that the return was somewhat more available than the outbound. I did change our dates by a week and decided to fly Wednesday instead of Friday, so that might have made it a bit easier. Also our return is on a Thursday. There is no specific answer as to how often they release the tickets. I guess it depends upon how many tickets they sell or plan to sell. I had some United miles that were going to expire this December and I used them to buy my interisland flights. I was able to satisfy all but one RT ticket, so that I bought. Summer travel is busy in Hawaii, so I didn't think that Aloha would make more available so I did buy the one RT ticket for $130. with a AAA discount.

Wow 5 tickets! I am impressed. I wish I had more flexibility, but with school age children, I can only get away for a good length of time during July and August. So I think I am sort of stuck to my dates. We had a hard time finding four award tickets. We checked all the way into mid August and found none for four in the outbound flights. Return is widely available but they won?t do a one way. So, I booked the three because I was afraid that if I kept waiting I would run out of time before the school year began and then I would have to wait another year to go. I also already got the interisland through AA FF and they charge $100 fee to change the dates, that would wipe out any benefit on getting freebie interisland tickets.

We too have a high school and two college age boys who are going and summer is the only time for us for a while. If I had missed the summer window, we too would have had to wait another year. $920 seems like a "just below average" rate for summer so you could take a chance and see if anything comes available. I have friends who flew to Hawaii this summer for less than $700 from the east coast.
Another thought. Can they confirm an award ticket for you part way? Say to LAX and then you buy the ticket the rest of the way to HNL? and use the award for the return?

That's a good idea. I will find out.