Originally Posted by letiole
Yes, this can be done and this does make using the award a better value than purchasing, IMO. Be aware though that many MP agents don't know how to book these award (the ones that don't begin and end in HNL) and so you'll want to allow plenty of time for them to get submitted several times. (Aloha takes 12 hours to respond to award requests.) Among the problems to be aware of: some agents will tell you the flights that go through HNL require a minimum connection time and will try to stick you there for an hour when you're actually staying on the same plane and the minimum connection times don't apply. I've had other agents think they are doing me a favor by submitting several flights at the same time and that doesn't work either, so beware of that.
Thanks for the advice, letiole. Hardly surprising that the MP agents are fairly clueless about this award. Do some of the "same plane" flights transiting HNL not have the same flight number? If that's the case, how do you know it's the same plane?
I've been waiting for the fare war to spread to non-HNL flights, but so far it hasn't. I like to redeem my miles for at least 2 cents worth of airtravel, and so far I'm looking at more than $150 for two non-HNL interisland flights. At more than 3 cents/mile, it seems like a good deal, especially since I'm not trying to save up my MP miles for any bigger reward.
Obviously, if MP doubles the redemption price to 10,000 miles in October, this award becomes largely useless.