Secret to using FF Miles to Hawaii First Class
 

I am reading alot about how hard it is to get First Class seats using FF Miles to Hawaii. Does anyone know the tricks/loopholes etc? I will be flying either Continental or Delta from Tampa to HNL. Next month will be the 331 days out.

Go to flyertalk.com. I learn a great deal from their forums.

I am going to tell you what I just did for tickets for my boss for his trip to France. They had a ton of FF miles on UAL. I just called the international number and told them I was a virgin at using FF miles, can they help me??

You know what, I had the best service I could have imagined. They explained what fares were available and how many miles each would take. They had two levels and I ended using more miles for less money, but he had just been collecting miles. They are going Business class and it looks pretty good to me.

I completed it all by just talking to them, although if I had booked through their website, I could have done so using all miles, but the combo of a fare and miles made me call.

I was surprised.

Good luck

Oh yeah, they did have a bit of flexibility and the planned day they wanted to come home was not available for awards travel, so the Customer Service let me know if they came home a day later they could upgrade both ways.

Worked great.

I am going to Hawaii for the fourth time while using FF miles. I was told by this wonderful AA agent that you can book tickets 333 days out, and that people sit up until midnight and call 333 days out for Hawaii! I haven't had any trouble, and book about 6-8 months in advance.
Always CALL and talk to a person on the phone. Be very nice and very patient. I have always found the agents to be great, and have never had a bad one!! I have used AA, United and the last trip was NW. Remember, you are at their mercy, and they deal with jerks, so be sweet to them! Have fun!!!!

If you're willing to change planes more than necessary, you may get a better shot. When I did it several years ago, NY to Cal was unavailable 1st class so we did NY to Dallas, Dallas to La, La to Hi. Of course there were some problems with the connection in Dallas which caused us some grief & a day of lost luggage but we did it.

BTW, I highly recommend an overnight (or more) stop. On the way home we stopped in San Francisco for a few days. It was so much more "civilized" than trying to do it all in one day.

All I can say is regarding American Airlines.......I used to work there...
Hawaii flights are mainly booked by redeeming miles. People would call just after midnight on the date of their outbound trip. A reservation would be set up..then they would call when their return date would come available. So if there were certain dates people wanted they would go ahead and reserve them. I am sure that Delta and Continental probobly have something very similiar..
Also with revenue down and the competition of the passengers that were part of the TWA ff program ...there is even more competition for seats so they go quickly...
Good luck on your planning

For Continental use this link.

http://www.continental.com/onepass/r...B2FD0DEC4AA655

It's really easy. Unfortunately, Continental recently raised their milage for 1st class to Hawaii from 60,000 to 75,000 EACH WAY. However, you may get lucky and they will offer a Standard reward which is half of the EasyPass Reward.

I booked our upcoming trip last October and got two round trip 1st class tickets from NYC to HNL for 60,000 apiece. Maybe if you play around with your dates you may get lucky too.

Good Luck!

We are going out on a Thursday and want to come home 3 weeks later on a Thursday - does this help my chances? The Thursday out is necessary as we are getting married on Friday afternoon - Kauai. Can I call after midnight Eastern Standard Time?

Nancy....congrats on the upcoming nups

The best thing to do is to call the airline direct. My husband can do this and get much much further than I can.

For some reason, he must be more patient or sound more important or whatever....or it could be that he is one of those million milers and they see how much money they have made off of him in the past!!

If you are not successful the first time..don't book and don't give up...call back in a bit...chances are you will get a different rep who is more willing to look at alternatives to getting you there for the least amount of miles..

Where will you be married on Kauai?? It is oh so beautiful.

iceeu2 -

We will be marrying on the private grounds of the Secret Beach Hideaways in north Kauai.

We will be using AMEX miles which we will have to transfer to Delta or CO - are these airlines less likely to accomodate us because the miles do not truly originate from us using THEIR airlines in the past?

I transferred my AMEX points to Continental and like I said it was really, really easy.

I've just completed using FF to book Amercian to Maui - it helped I was willing to change in DFW. And for a second trip to Maui later this year I've used FF from US Airways to book their code share Uniteed. For Maui nmext summer, I'm counting the 330 days, and US Airways has advised me to book one moniuet after midnight 330 days from departure. HI is extremely popular!!!

Highly unlikely that Continental will release Business First seats at the 'standard' reward level at 330 days out. Delta may be your best option!

Nancy! Do NOT- I repeat, do NOT leave Thurs. for YOUR Fri afternoon wedding. You will be totally exhausted, jet lagged, maybe missing luggage & perhaps not arrive in time. You may even have to stay overnight in Honolulu if you don't fly directly into Kauai. Tues or Wed would be even better days for seats I think. Leave yourself one & possibly 2 extra days between arrival & wedding to relax, get things checked out etc. So much can go wrong. Good luck!

It will be just the 2 of us on a bluff at 4 pm outside our cottege. No major wedding. We will not be spending the pre-wedding nights together and don't want to pay for 2 rooms for 2 nights at the Princeville. We have 7 kids between - we are used to things being hectic. It will be a breeze.

Nancy,
Points are points regardless of where they came from, so they will not care if you got them from flying with them or not.
I don't know about Continental, but with Delta, they have Sky Saver and Sky Choice awards
Sky Choice takes double the amount of Sky Saver
For instance (and I'm just working from memory)..a first class sky saver ticket cost 60,000 points.....and a first class sky choice ticket costs 120,000 points.
What I was trying to say earlier.....ff flights are limited (and Hawaii is the most widely used)...so one rep with the airline may be more willing to search for a sky saver route for you as opposed to another rep just telling you that all they have are sky choice seats available.
And, you probably won't get that new direct flight from Atlanta to Honolulu...but, you will probably be able to work around a Tampa, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Honolulu route.
As someone else said.....don't wait until the last day to fly into Honolulu since Delta does not have direct flight into Kauai (unless, of course, that has changed).
One thing you may want to think about doing.....right now Continental has some really great rates (less than $500 rt pp)....so pay for your airfare....and convert your amex miles to marriott points or starwood points or some other lodging points and have a really great room....just a thought.
You might also try Hotwire for some of their vacation packages.

Hey Nancy....sorry to be such a pest...but I just got into Delta's website thru their ff reservations and for July 1, 2004 (I just picked a date) and they do have first class ff sky saver tickets available.
Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Honolulu
So the very best to you...

Iceeu2 -

You are not being a pest - I really appreciate the help. If I do this online - will I need to already have my points sitting at Delta or can I transfer them from AMEX after I find what I'm looking for?

iceeu2,

There are times when it makes a difference where the miles come from.

I've been wait listed for first class because the seats may not have been released (or waiting to see if more are released).

Your standing on the wait list is based on how many miles you fly...premier flyers get "topped". I found out, waiting to be use miles for international first...that it is not always based on who called first. The 1K flyers were allwed to rise to the top of the list.

Dick, I understand what you are saying
But what I was trying to point out was the difference in using sky saver and sky choice, not about being waitlisted, but about booking 1st class right out
I do understand the guy who spends the most comes out on top
ie...hubby can come out smelling like a rose....and I'm just that thorn....he's a million miler.......i'm not!!

Nancy, I always visit AA.com first to see what flights are available before I call American Airlines about using mileage for my seats...that way I know which flights I prefer, sometimes the "clerk" doesn't check all the possibilities - if you have the screen in front of you when you call, it may enable you to take a flight w/ fewer layovers (Be prepared)

Just a quick question.....Which credit cards are the best for getting FF miles?

Nancy, I'm pretty sure you'll need the points to be in the FF Miles account you'll be using before you can redeem them for ticket(s). Certainly was that way a couple of years ago.

I also noticed last month that AA now lets you redeem miles for awards via its website - no more endless phone calls !! Think CO does the same.
Good hunting.
Paul

Nancy,
I also have to transfer my points from my Amex acct to my FF acct. I always call the airline and have them hold my reservation until I can get my points transfered. Delta will hold your res. for 2 weeks. Hope this helps.

I want to use Continental FF award. I know it is tough to get them. According to you, it is wise to call one minute after midnight. I know Cont. has at least 3 centers: Houston, Florida & Denver ( or Salt Lake). My question is: Which timezone to wait and call ? I wait until midnight East Coast time to call just in case some one from Florida center picks up the phone?

Thanks,

Hanalei:
It will be midnight first in Florida, of the three reservation centers you named. Try there first. Seems as though no matter which center you call, they're all booking a very limited number of seats on the same airplane.

Dear Hmmm,
I realize that it will be midnight first in Florida. However, when you call the 800 number, you have no idea how your call is routed. So you can dial a few times and not be directed to Florida. That's what I am trying to say. So hopefully if I am trying to call I will get Florida in about several calls.

The Continental OnePass service center to call for reward travel only opens at 7 am central time. It does not matter if you call on the first minute 330 days out; CO does not generally release Business First seats on Hawaii routes (or any desirable routes for that matter) at the 330 day window; other airlines seem to release several seats at the 330 day window; so first come first served, but CO does not seem to. There is a not really a set time or day as to when Co releases FF seats. For reward travel, CO seems to be one of the worst for redeeming miles at the 'standard' level.

I was able to book first class direct from Newark using Continental standard reward miles. However, the only way I was able to do this was by tailoring my travel dates to the very few (in fact it seemed like the only) available seats. After having some problems with the online rewards booking, the person at the rewards desk advised me that it's always better to call.

njryk - How many days ahead of your trip did you book?

we're using FF to hawaii in october- my husband just called continental and delta to see what they could do for him, and delta gave him the best deal- we used FF and Amex points. the only concession we made was to leave a day earlier than we planned, so we arrive late at night in oahu, and have to stay at an airport hotel( a real cheapie) before we can take off for the BI the next morning. it is soooooooooo worth it.

Katherine... what class of service is used to book AAdvantage First Class?
I always book my own flights to HNL using "T" class. I start at the beginning of the desired vc period and just scan the flights for enough T inventory to cover my need.
Nancy... if you have a friend who works for a GDS or a travel agent, they can assist in available dates. The inventory tends to be churned, ie, people holding reservation and cancelling them when something better comes up. I have booked trips to HNL using FF miles a month in advance... but I was monitoring the inventory on a daily basis.

Nancy,

I'm pretty sure you need to have points already in your account in order to use Delta's online award reservations. So in your case, you should call and make your reservations over the phone.

And it doesn't matter where the points come from. When you transfer your Amex points into the airline's ff program, Amex will pay the airline for those miles. What does sometimes matter is whether you hold any elite status with that airline and what tier your status level is. Some airlines (I think CO is one of them) allows their top tier elites access to more award inventory than lower tier or non-elites. I think that was what Dick was referring to.

We just got back usnig FF Delta miles for first class. We only booked our flight 4 months in advance. I found out the best thing to do is book your trip in segments then call the online help desk and have them put it all together for you. I booked 6 first class seats but it took me a couple ofe weeks booking segments. they hold the segments 24 hours and don't tell you that. Good luck..p.s. the food in first class still was gross..they don't heat anything up anymore

Alana, I'm confused on what you mean by booking in segments. Does that mean one ticket at a time? How does that help? Thanks for your clarification.

I'm happy to say I was able to score two first class seats to Honolulu for July/August 2004. I think what Alana means is what we just did: we called Northwest 330 days before our departure date to book that and then they held our return flight for two weeks so I could book it 330 days in advance as well. I had 48 hours to call and confirm the whole deal or it would have been cancelled.

But she booked 4 months in advance, not 330 days in advance. So I'm still confused on how booking in segments 4 months in advance can help. Do you book the departure flight and then book the return flight when one comes available?