Originally Posted by mikefaherty
Starting the process of looking at how I can combine my US Air and American Airlines miles to get to Hawaii, preferrably 1st class. thanks
Unfortunately, you can no longer combine US and AA miles for awards. I think that ended about 2 years ago...
You can use your US miles for UA flights.
My opinion: the new mileage levels for Hawaii F/J travel might not be a great value for your miles, depending on your origin city and the aircraft types you will be flying to Hawaii. I have flown AA to Hawaii using the old 100k-for-2 J award, and I felt the award was roughly worth that. Now it is 75k per person, so we now fly to the islands coach whenever we go.
Other factors include your status on United - if you have Premier status, you can fly Economy Plus, which is a strong award for 35k. AA again varies by aircraft type - the 35k award on a More Room Throughout Coach (MRTC) plane is a strong one, whereas 35k on an LRTC plane might have me thinking about biz once again...
Obviously, the farther east you live, the more likely you will be to place higher value on the F/J seats...