Wow... a wealth of info., Rich. Thank you.

Now I need to decide between AA (w/ a Fiji stopover) and Hawaiian (w/ a Honolulu stopover).

Does anyone know which airline is likely to have FF mile availability closer to the date of travel? I only have enough miles for 2 tix now... it'll be another 5-6 months until I will have enough for the other 2 tix (or else we'll obviously pay cash).

If we do Hawaiian, is the best strategy is to get 4 RT tix from HNL - SYD now.... then hope to get the SAN - HNL leg w/ FF miles later (rather than 2 tix from SAN - HNL - SYD now)?

But that stopover @ Fiji, and the add-on internal Oz flight, is sounding pretty nice now, however!

Carole