rtkane

I've got an upcoming trip for 4 people to HNL from PHL on 7/10 w/ a 7/18 return. Airfare right now looks like it's about $1200. Was considering using miles to book three of the tickets and paying for the 4th, but it's 50k miles each way (so 95k total x 3 w/ my USAir MC discount--seems expensive in terms of miles).

Since I have not really done a lot of award travel, I was wondering what you all thought of what I should do now. I know that there's no way to predict what will happen for sure, but figured maybe someone would've had the experience and knows the trend.

Anyone think it's likely that USAir will open any saver award seats in the next month or so? Or should I just book at the 95k miles per ticket?
Any thoughts on whether the $1200 price will go down (I'm wondering if waiting will have some lower prices since I had seen some sales for June to HNL last month)?

Any help is appreciated, and if I've posted this as a separate thread when it should be part of another, my apologies.

Thanks in advance!

GNRMatt

I won't really be able to speak to the value of the miles, or whether or not lower cost mileage seats will become available. However, $1,200 for a round-trip coach ticket for PHL-HNL seems extremely high. When I've looked for this routing in the past, usually about $750-$800 seems like an average price.

PaceLaw2012

That really isn't that great a value for miles, particularly for US Hawaii product. For example, I recently got DCA-JFK-BRU-VIE-IST-ICN-NRT-ORD-DCA in J for 90k each. Now THAT's a value.

Did you look at leaving from Washington / New York area airports. Both are a relatively short train ride away and usually have lower prices than PHL.

rtkane

Wow--that's a heck of an itinerary for 90k miles!

I did look into other airports... both EWR and BWI were comparable in price and had the same amount of miles required for each ticket. Just don't want to book to late and miss the window for miles (also don't want to have to shell out nearly $5k in plane tickets )

Thanks for the reply (yours too GNRMatt).

apeortdz

I flew IAD-DEN-HNL round trip in FC for 70K miles on United using US miles in 2011. *A awards are no longer available but I bet you can find a better value than what you are looking at right now with a bit of flexibility.

hginPHL

I've been flying PHL-HNL-PHL once a month now for the past few months and will be until sometime next year. My most recent ticket for a few weeks from now is over $1200 on US, with the previous tickets ranging from $950 ish (PHL-DFW-LAX-HNL-DFW-PHL on AA) to $1100ish (PHL-DFW-HNL-DFW-PHL on AA).

I've been flying AA since the prices were similar and I could get into MCE. Also, the flight times are much better. This next trip, AA is over $1400, with US closer to $1200. Buying on US, one of the legs is on AA anyhow for the $1200.

Ive been checking award tickets all along the way since I eventually want to take my husband along and there are some saver awards available on AA, but I haven't seen any on US.

I'm just hoping US stops flying those crappy old 757s to HNL from PHX.

BoeingBoy

US doesn't have one-way awards - all awards for US metal are round trip. The high award is 100K (95K with the MC discount). Medium is 80K (75K) and low is 40K (35K). During the summer travel season low awards are probably hard to come by and medium may not be plentiful.

If you don't care which island you go to your chances might be better. If there is any flexibility in your dates that could help too.

Jim

Biggie Fries

Unfortunately, this year -- and it has been this way for all of calendar 2014; the prices just aren't moving -- Economy fares are $1100+ and maybe higher.

As noted in another thread, the "sweet spot" for buying Hawai`i on US has been First Class, at around $1750. Especially for those of us happy for an extra ~5,000 PQMs, this is a heck of a lot better than forking over $1100-$1200 for Economy. Yes, F in US on the old 757s stinks. But it stinks worse in Economy unless you can get 7C.

Back to OP's specific point .... for folks who are not interested in US PQMs or Dividend Miles, 95,000 miles versus $1200 is getting close to the point of indifference. How much flexibility do you have? As AA flights have come into the mix, there are still some dates through AA hubs on US where you can book Low F awards for less than 95,000. I have one for a couple of weeks in July at 75,000 miles and that is a good deal in my book.

chicaloca453

Have you tried pricing this in 2 parts -- PHL - west coast (SAN, PDX, and SEA all usually have decent pricing to HNL) and then west coast to HNL. I sometimes find this to be cheaper. Unfortunately the SAN pricing has not been as good this year as in the past. Last year off peak was $175 each way. I haven't seen it that low yet this year, but you might come out cheaper trying to price it in 2 pieces like that. Worth a shot.

BoeingBoy

I assume you're talking about getting two tickets. Just remember the risk that entails - miss the connection on the west coast and you're in no man's land. If you do this, I'd allow extra time for the connection to cover potential delays into the west coast connection airport. It's also possible that you wouldn't be able to check bags all the way through the connection city, which would mean leaving the secured area, getting your checked bags, rechecking them and re-clearing security.

Jim

planeluvr

Just make sure to include AA and you will be fine.

MAH4546

Not if the connection involves two oneWorld airlines. OW honors all itineraries as one, even if booked separately, and protects you in case of a misconnect.

BoeingBoy

Has US adopted that? The US site still says:

As long as you booked your flights together in one itinerary, we'll check your bags through to your destination. We'll also check your bags through on all of your US Airways flights.

If you have 2 or more tickets that you booked separately, you'll need to pick up your bag and re-check it with the next airline.

I know that US stopped checking bags through unless it was all one ticket - something to do with the recent DOT rule about collecting baggage charges when more than one carrier was involved.

Jim

BrlDsguise

I flew PHL-PHX-OGG in F for 65k miles last year and 70k this year including the 5k discount for having a US Air cc.

So there is no way I would point up 95k for coach.

rtkane

Thanks for all the replies! Unfortunately my dates are set as is the island, so there's no real flexibility for me. I have looked at 2 separate bookings (PHL-PHX then PHX-HNL) but didn't find much of a difference in cost. I'll have to look at that again as I wasn't keeping an eye on that.

Biggie, I'd love to get the PQMs for first, but traveling with the family so 4 first class tickets is a bit much to spend. Now if it was just me...

Thank you all again for your replies (and if anyone has other insight, please post--thanks!)