Airline with cheapest HA inter-island award now that NW's gone up.
It appears that the best deal for HA awards is now Virgin Atlantic. Only 6,000 miles for a roundtrip. Using NW miles might still be best for those that earn all of their miles by flying (and getting elite bonuses). However, Virgin gives some very high bonuses for hotel stays and car rentals so it's quite easy to earn 6,000 miles just using those.
Plus you get 1,000 miles for signing up for Flying club.