MilesBuzz! - Pls help with UA or AA Awards [HNL HKG XMN HNL]

Hi All,
I am working on booking 3 award tickets from HNL to HKG(for 3-5 days) to XMN and then back from XMN to HNL sometime between 1/20/13-3/15/13 for about 2 weeks (dates are flexible). I have found seats from HNL to HKG using United Econ 25k each on 2/7/13. Then pay cash from HKG to XMN since the routes from HKG to XMN always involve a stop via United (waste time). Then fly ANA Econ back from XMN to HNL on 2/23/13 (hopefully cost 25K United miles each).
Here are my questions:
1. any suggestions/improvements?
2. ideally I would love to save from paying HKG to XMN leg (but don't know how to find a direct flight)
3. I can squeeze in another city (must allow me to stay for more than 24 hrs-i hate same day quick in and out trip) between HKG to XMN if it doesn't cost more miles or at least no more than 7,500 each.
4. I am open to stop in any city (i.e Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan?) from HNL to HKG too (again looking for free stopover)

I have only search based on United Miles since most posts I read say better to use UA but we do have about 150,000 AA if you think we should use AA.
Also, we have 50k BA Avios, 75k AMEX, along with about 200K UA.

Thank you so much for your time and all suggestions are welcomed! :D

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HKG-XMN on Dragonair should cost only 4,500 Avios each way in Economy.

What about adding a free one-way on the return flight to hnl maybe to somewhere like sfo or lax
.. is there such a thing as free oneway?

What about adding a free one-way on the return flight to hnl maybe to somewhere like sfo or lax
.. is there such a thing as free oneway?

aa allows a stopover at the intl gateway w/i an award, like lax/sfo. ....maybe not if the destination is hnl coming from asia....

What about adding a free one-way on the return flight to hnl maybe to somewhere like sfo or lax
.. is there such a thing as free oneway?

If you're using UA miles, RT from HNL to HKG is 50k miles, you can't make HNL you're stopover and add another segment to the mainland because that will increase the miles required for the XMN to HNL itinerary.

Additionally, you can't add a one way segment intra hawaii as that will also cost you an additionall 5k miles I believe.

It sounds like you have everything figured out.

I agree that using avios on CX from HKG for short flight is a good value as they seemingly can't be used for anything else.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

I do not know the UA redemption scheme well enough to know whether UA permits both an open jaw and a stopover on a roundtrip award. But if they do, then a HNL-HKG//XMN-HNL roundtrip might permit an en-route stopover, either on the outbound to HKG, or on the return from XMN. (Use Avios for the HKG-XMN flight.)

A call to UA, or a visit to the FT UA forum, should answer the question.

Are you using the multi-city feature at the United website? I just put in HNL to HKG for Jan. 29, XMN to Seoul (ICN) for Feb. 14, and ICN to HNL for Feb. 17 - just choosing dates at random - and it priced three tickets at 50k miles each. There seems to be good availability for dates in that time frame. You can indeed do both a stopover and an open jaw on a United round trip. I didn't test other destinations, but I'd say your chances are good. To experiment with other options, click on multi-city rather than round-trip before you start, and enter a series of destinations you're interested in.

The dates I picked at random don't give you the direct connections you prefer - you will need to test various dates to find your best options. I just checked to make sure you could do it for 50k each, and you can.

I agree that Avios for the HKG/XMN leg are a good plan.

Please make sure all your pax can handle long flight in coach. I know I cannot. UA does not have direct flight between HNL and HKG. You transit through the SFO gateway.

Are you using the multi-city feature at the United website? I just put in HNL to HKG for Jan. 29, XMN to Seoul (ICN) for Feb. 14, and ICN to HNL for Feb. 17 - just choosing dates at random - and it priced three tickets at 50k miles each. There seems to be good availability for dates in that time frame. You can indeed do both a stopover and an open jaw on a United round trip. I didn't test other destinations, but I'd say your chances are good. To experiment with other options, click on multi-city rather than round-trip before you start, and enter a series of destinations you're interested in.

The dates I picked at random don't give you the direct connections you prefer - you will need to test various dates to find your best options. I just checked to make sure you could do it for 50k each, and you can.

I agree that Avios for the HKG/XMN leg are a good plan.

Yup, United allows a stopover and Open jaw on a RT award ticket. They also allow a double open jaw too, though I'm not sure if they all both the double Open jaw and stopover.

Are you using the multi-city feature at the United website? I just put in HNL to HKG for Jan. 29, XMN to Seoul (ICN) for Feb. 14, and ICN to HNL for Feb. 17 - just choosing dates at random - and it priced three tickets at 50k miles each. There seems to be good availability for dates in that time frame. You can indeed do both a stopover and an open jaw on a United round trip. I didn't test other destinations, but I'd say your chances are good. To experiment with other options, click on multi-city rather than round-trip before you start, and enter a series of destinations you're interested in.

The dates I picked at random don't give you the direct connections you prefer - you will need to test various dates to find your best options. I just checked to make sure you could do it for 50k each, and you can.

I agree that Avios for the HKG/XMN leg are a good plan.



Thanks so much for your comments....i forgot to mention that I would not be able to do stopover from XMN to HNL. But I will try from HNL to ICN (stopover for 1-2 days) then ICN to HKG. 50K per person doesnt sounds too bad. Thanks again!

Thanks all for your comment. :)