wharvey

Dear Experts,

It has been two years since I did award tickets... so long before all the UA/CO changes.

I am looking to surprise my partner with an award trip to the Big Island for our anniversary in November. We would be travelling from Atlanta on Nov 16 returning on Nov 23. I was looking at flying into ITO and out of KOA. I would want to do first class.

I was wanting to get the IAD to HNL UA145 on Nov 16. Want to maximize the longer flight in first class... 10+ hour flight.

Currently, they are not offering any award seats in first class even though there are plenty of seats availability.

Anyone have any knowledge when seats might be released? I do not want to book the award in first class on that route unless we can get it on those legs... not worth first for ATL to IAD.

Appreciate any insights.... or other routings if you have any suggestions.

Thanks,

William

wildbill412007

I'm not an expert, but always willing to try to help. I do see saver awards nonstop from EWR to HNL available on 17 Nov. As far as waiting for IAD-=HNL to open I have never seen anything but random openingsuntil 3 days before departure, when sometimes something opens up , perhaps an expert flyer notification would be helpful?

wharvey

Thanks Wildbill,

I had seen that flight... but the same problem, no saver award in first class....

born sleepy

I booked BOS-KOA on a saver F award for 9/15 awhile back. No other routing available meaning no 3-class plane. BOS-IAD-SFO-KOA with IAD-SFO on a 2-class 763, all narrow-bodies on the return. If you aren't dead-set on flying real int'l C/F it shouldn't be too hard.

mduell

There's no schedule for the release of saver first.

Check every day, or get an EF subscription and set up an alert.

prestonh

ORD, IAH, and DEN also have longer-length widebody flights to HNL. Or just break up the trip a bit and go through LAX or SFO...much more likely to get saver F.

wharvey

I can find saver first... but was hoping to get on one very long flight vs the shorter 4/5 hour multiple flights... I will keep checking. Thanks for the advice.

JerseySlime

Have you tried ATL-EWR-HNL? It should remain as a pmCO BF seat on a 764 for the foreseeable future. Book HNL-KOA via HA separately. You can get some pretty cheap fares if you book them far in advance.

wharvey

Thanks.... trying to surprise the partner is becoming a big pain... he just called me.... has to move our vacation by a week due to hospital commitments... ugh... and not seeing saver first awards available leaving on Thanksgiving day... ggggrrrrr!

wharvey

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, partner surprised me last night that he had to change vacation. Now he is taking the week after thanksgiving off. And, of course, there are no saver awards available travelling on Thanksgiving Day and returning November 30th. So much for the surprise.

ldsant

Sounds like it's still a surprise. . .for you! I'm with others - try booking through SFO or LAX.