gumercindo

Hi there:

I'm planning a February time frame in ~2019. Would like to start planning now and look for premium saver redemption in business.

Am willing to fly either direct from IAD or JFK or (less liked option) have a west coast connection.

Here's the catch - will be traveling with 5 total in my party.

What is my best strategy? UA direct from JFK?

One other note - I'll have UR points and/or UA miles to use.

Looking for advice.


Thanks!

Kacee

While it's good to plan ahead, you're about year early. Flights will be opened for sale approx. 330 days prior to departure. So right now latest bookings are for mid January 2018.

slippahs

Just because you're planning early, you should know that UA does not fly direct from JFK to HNL. Only HA and DL (seasonally) do that. UA does fly direct from EWR to HNL.

transportprof

The only thing I could add to the sage advice above is that OP should treat the hunt for award space as two separate exercises - by booking separate one way awards for each direction. This will allow getting the first crack at the inventory for each direction, when bookings are first open, instead of waiting a week or two after bookings open on the outbount flights to secure space on the return legs. By then, the prime award seats are likely to have been snapped up by others (FTers!).

mduell

UA doesn't touch JFK with a 10 foot pole. No hope there.

Hipplewm

I did the same last August for July 2017 trip. I was open to either EWR or IAD (You won't have the option as it only runs on Sat in the winter)

I found 2 savers one way from HNL-IAD, none from IAD-HNL. I was very very open on time - within a 6 week window and could fly any day of the week either way.

Even with the plane 100% empty per seat selection and basically the day they went on sale, prem saver award was scarce

This was for summer, you may have better luck for feb timeframe.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

You chances of 5 saver business/first awards on the same flights are zero. ZERO. Chances of ANY saver awards for weekend travel on the IAD/EWR non-stops are almost zero. If you want to book 5 saver awards, you're gonna have to grab whatever you find across a multitude of flights. The problem with East Coast to Hawaii is that saver awards might be available cross-country on a weekend, but almost non-existent on the weekend from West Coast to Hawaii.

I wouldn't get your expectations too high for your most desirable flight situation - it's not going to happen.

findark

If you have more UR points than UA miles, buying paid tickets at 1.5 cents each (with the CSR) is also a strong contender. The award chart to Hawaii is mediocre, and you don't have to wait for anything other than P space.

gumercindo

Thanks, all.

MBS MillionMiler

I'll go a step further...I looked for ONE saver seat for November or December of 2017, starting in December of 2016 (the day that they opened up). 2 1/2 months later, I've seen NOTHING and have checked daily. I've had a 0-booked-out-of-28 F seats flight waitlisted for 2 months now, and nothing has moved on my part. 2 seats are now taken in F, and not sure if those were award waitlists ahead of mine, or if they

...And I'm not even specific. I've looked for EWR, IAD, ORD to HNL, OGG, KOA, LIH. I'd connect through the west coast, but I've seen maybe one flight where there was something from the west coast to the islands, or maybe a mid-con F seat from ORD, but then nothing on the overwater portion.

Saver premium awards have become an actual joke. It's comical how United can even push their miles as being somewhat valuable. Delta certainly sucks, but at least they seem to be upfront about it. So I end up using all of my miles for short-haul economy to see my wife's family in the Southeast. Yeah, lots of availability to places like Charleston or Columbia SC, Atlanta and Charlotte--but you can all but forget about a premium-cabin seat to anywhere beyond a 3-hour flight these days.

...And to add insult to injury, I think it's criminal that UA might show availability on the calendars as having premium cabins available. When the routing is, for example, HNL-LAX-SAN-ORD...And the only segment in F is the 45-minute LAX-SAN segment, yet they tell you there's a F award available.

Since UA went to a revenue-based program, I stupidly thought that maybe they'll make awards more available--less miles out there floating around--and those that are earning them are actually spending money...So maybe--yeah, not. Silly me.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

If you don't mind coach, UA program still isn't too bad. Reduction of F capacity to Hawaii and cheap P fares pretty much has slaughtered premium saver award availability. There are definitely a lot of people going to Hawaii on "their trip of a lifetime" buying P fares who have NEVER been in a F cabin before. United should give me bonus miles for the number of times I've helped with tray table and entertainment system operation in the last year.

MBS MillionMiler

Well, I do. (And that will get worse and worse as these 10-across 777s become the norm. I'm 6'1" and have shoulders like a linebacker--I barely squeeze into the 9-across 777 seats).

I pay for first for most personal trips, business trips (usually by upfaring out of my own pocket). And God forbid that I can get one award seat to Hawaii in F for our daughter when my wife and I are paying cash for our own seats, on any given flight over a span of 10 days so. I really don't think that's too much to ask.

Yet, United tells me it's going to be 180,000 miles for a roundtrip Standard F award. With the new earning system, is more miles than I even earn in a year nowadays!

IADFlyer123

Look at flying from Canada. Booked a June-July R/T from YYZ to HNL for $900pp all in P class. The cost of UA Biz (saver) at 80K miles and 1.5c per mile evaluation still makes flying out of YYZ cheaper. Something to consider.

MBS MillionMiler

Been there, done that! A great deal. A little difficult with a 3 year old and a 10 month old to backtrack and have to overnight at YYZ, but we're doing it--a little closer to $1100 when we want to go, but yeah--we're doing that already.

UTex09

Godspeed to the OP when he is able to actually search these flights early next year. Currently I'm in the process of looking for two (heck, even ONE!) Saver F from IAH anytime between October 2017 and January 2018. Any day at all. There are exactly zero saver F awards on the chart out past 14 days from today. I've resigned myself to the fact that I will likely just end up paying up for P, just like UA wants, while my miles continue collecting dust, as I refuse to redeem them for Economy seats.