Hawaii-based Airlines - Which miles to burn for Hawai interisland

So I've got enough miles in UA and US for 2 interisland tickets. In a 1-2 months time I'll also have 50000 ultimate rewards miles. I'm going in June so I"m assuming inventory shouldn't be too much of an issue for HNL-KOA since there are so many flights each day. Which airline would be the cheapest way to burn those miles? From what I understand, US charges $50 per ticket + taxes and UA is $25 + taxes. Are there any transfer options through UR that may make the fees a little less?

So I've got enough miles in UA and US for 2 interisland tickets. In a 1-2 months time I'll also have 50000 ultimate rewards miles. I'm going in June so I"m assuming inventory shouldn't be too much of an issue for HNL-KOA since there are so many flights each day. Which airline would be the cheapest way to burn those miles? From what I understand, US charges $50 per ticket + taxes and UA is $25 + taxes. Are there any transfer options through UR that may make the fees a little less?

The fees you quoted look off for UA, unless you're paying a phone booking fee. The only fee I paid on a recent CO booking for HA inter-island flights, was $2.50 one-way (Sep 11th security fee). UA.com still won't do HA partner reward flights online while CO.com works just great.

Not familiar with US but I wouldn't think the tax would be any different, unless they charge a processing and/or phone fee.

There is nothing you can do to pay the additional cost for any taxes or fees, with points or miles.

If you have Amex points, you can transfer to Virgin and book with Hawaiian, however, you need a lot of lead time as Hawaiian is stingy on availability.

The fees you quoted look off for UA, unless you're paying a phone booking fee. The only fee I paid on a recent CO booking for HA inter-island flights, was $2.50 one-way (Sep 11th security fee). UA.com still won't do HA partner reward flights online while CO.com works great.

Agree that CO.com is the best way to go to avoid the phone booking fees with the added bonus of having access to island air inventory


If you have Amex points, you can transfer to Virgin and book with Hawaiian, however, you need a lot of lead time as Hawaiian is stingy on availability.

Sadly the rate to book interisland tickets with VS miles just took a big jump and is no longer a good deal. You make a good point about availability though. HA is stingy with award availability made available to partners so that often means flying very early or very late.

The fees you quoted look off for UA, unless you're paying a phone booking fee. The only fee I paid on a recent CO booking for HA inter-island flights, was $2.50 one-way (Sep 11th security fee). UA.com still won't do HA partner reward flights online while CO.com works just great.

Not familiar with US but I wouldn't think the tax would be any different, unless they charge a processing and/or phone fee.

There is nothing you can do to pay the additional cost for any taxes or fees, with points or miles.

The phone booking fee was what I was talking about. For US it was the award processing fee. But I didn't even think of CO...that looks like the best option because I can do it online and avoid all of the other fees. Can't believe I didn't even bother checking CO.:rolleyes:

Wouldn't a Ultimate rewards transfer to avios result in the best option. 4500 each way on aa?

Wouldn't a Ultimate rewards transfer to avios result in the best option. 4500 each way on aa?

AA doesnt fly Hawaii interisland

We ended up buying our tickets from Honolulu to Kona and found something interesting. If we tried booking 6 tickets together, the price per ticket was greater than if we did 2 bookings of 3 tickets. It was higher by maybe $10/ticket. Pretty odd. Thought I'd throw that out there, as maybe it's just not worth it to use miles but pay for the relatively cheap flight.

Sadly the rate to book interisland tickets with VS miles just took a big jump and is no longer a good deal. You make a good point about availability though. HA is stingy with award availability made available to partners so that often means flying very early or very late.

This is really unfortunate as Virgin Atlantic now charges 15K points for inter-island hawaii travel (starting Feb.1). 6K was a really good deal before (although in the past, the HI availability was really bad, and I only got the first flight out or the last flight of the day through Virgin).

We ended up buying our tickets from Honolulu to Kona and found something interesting. If we tried booking 6 tickets together, the price per ticket was greater than if we did 2 bookings of 3 tickets. It was higher by maybe $10/ticket. Pretty odd. Thought I'd throw that out there, as maybe it's just not worth it to use miles but pay for the relatively cheap flight.

Cheap flight? Base price looks like $86 for a short flight. I'd use 5k CO miles for $86