FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Booking Award or $$ Trip to Hawaii - What are the best options?
Old Jul 25, 2018, 6:30 am
  #17  
s0me0nesmind1
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: HOU
Programs: AA Plat | Delta Plat | Marriott Gold
Posts: 30
Originally Posted by platbrownguy
My advice is to pay cash for IAH-LAX-OGG for $400 each, waitlist the upgrades (using miles & copay) and hope for the best but don't expect it (at all) to come through. Itinerary: https://www.google.com/flights/#flt=...;sp:.USD.79978

On the way back, use 130k miles for 2 anytime awards OGG-DFW-IAH (so you get the lie-flat on the 772), but set expertflyer alerts for saver awards. If a set of saver seats comes available, put them on hold online immediately, then call to cancel your 130k seats and rebook for 80k, gaining 50k back. There are 40k seats on, for example, November 8, but it sounds like you have particular dates in mind, and that (as you must know) comes at a price.

Apart from all the above, consider transferring 60k SPG to Marriott so that you have 270k Marriott, and then buying a Cat 1-5 Marriott travel package with those points -- that would get you 120k AA now which you can't get after Aug 1. See the threads on the SPG and Marriott boards for more. Lots of speculation on what will happen with the hotel component of those travel packages, but bottom line, the AA transfer price is going way up in a week and transferring 270k for 120k AA is better than what you'll get next week even setting aside the added bonus of a 7-night hotel cert (or whatever we get as equivalent).

That would give you 190K AA, which is plenty to cover the miles/copay upgrades for the way out, plus the anytime seats on the way back, plus more for next time.
Sadly that 5 hour layover alone will kill the IAH-LAX-OGG for me. Normally I might not care and hang out in a lounge - but when you have a baby it just isn't fun anymore trying to entertain them and such.

As far as dates - I am actually somewhat open. The main thing is that my Marriott voucher is set for dates October 26 -> November 2nd. I am willing to arrive slightly earlier or slightly later and fill that time in with another hotel. The only deal is it that it cant be BOTH earlier and later - because we don't want to have to switch hotels multiple times with all our stuff. Heck, at this point I'd be willing to buy another marriott voucher and spend an entire extra week - just a matter of allocating the days to line up with good flights.
s0me0nesmind1 is offline