I think Gary was referring the cases that include Aloha Airlines' interisland flights. Those interisland flights used be 5K miles RT but 10K miles now.
Naw, I just never have been able to get on United's non stop from San Francisco to Kona on the Big Island. I have tried many times, but admit that my experience is still limited.
Last time I tried this, that flight would have cost me 35,000 miles. But, as you point out, flying to Ohau and then transferring to another airline to get to another island costs 45,000 miles round trip, regardless of the airline used to Ohau.