You should forget AA; their availability to Hawaii (assume you're hoping for milesaaver) is pathetic, and they charge more miles to boot (than united) for fc to Hawaii. Read the AA threads and you'll see even the AA diehards agree on one thing - that AA's Hawaii fc is overpriced and offers a crappy product for fc expectations.

I was able to book two fc seats about 1.5 months ago on United using ff points. Even though they weren't the milesaaver equivalent, they were still [substantially] less miles for united's "anytime" equivalent.

Also, FWIW, and to my utter amazement, I was also able to book Hawaii on Continental for domestic, again when AA had none (except double miles - never any milesaaver). AA lost 2x fc and 4x std coach of my business because of this.

Sad reality is AMEX's MR does not participate w/ United, so your probably out of luck w/ this idea.

IMO you (your friend) should immediately do these things: a) forget AA b) dump the amex that earns MR points c) quickly get the starwood AMEX and start earning the most valuable currency in the US affinity world - the spg starpoint. You'll (your friend) will soon learn the relative NON-value and inflexible choice MR offers.

Good luck.