alohadvc

Trying to use our miles to book flight to London/Paris from HNL.

May be able to get standard awards for Business or First.

What are the major differences between the two? Is First worth the additional points?

Thanks,
Jen

Deltahater

It all depends on your personal values. Take a look at some threads. Many people ask this question. If you do a search you will find a wealth of information

BenjaminNYC

Paris has no F, so if you're going there, and want F, you'll need to connect in London. So from Hawaii, it's a double connect.

Also, from Hawaii to the USA, there is only one premium cabin. It's called First, but it's really Business, and you're entitled to it with a Business Class award. What I'm saying is that for Hawaii to the USA, both awards will get you the same seat.

From the US, First is better than Business: Lie flat seat, better FA/pax ratio, slightly improved wines, better presentation of entrees (but same entrees as Business), more involved appetizers, better departure lounge (from some locations), etc.

I would do it, but it's really up to you...

What I would really do is connect through Canada or Mexico and take BA F, but that's even more connections.

Blumie

Note that the seat from HNL to the mainland will be the same either way. Also, if you fly to Paris from the US without going through LHR, F is not offered (unless AA reintroduces a 777 on this route), so you'll be in J.

I much prefer the F seat to the J seat and think it's worth the difference. Whether it's worth it to you really is a function of how many points you have.

BearX220

The difference between J and F is much smaller than the difference between Y and J... IMO not great enough to justify the additional miles. YMMV.

alohadvc

Thanks for the replies.

What we are doing is flying HNL to LHR, then back from CDG to HNL.

Also, right now, first and business is only available on the return flight home so that would be CDG - HNL.

OTOH, will we be totally miserable in Economy? Haven't flown this long in a really long time, but w/o kids I'm sure it won't be too bad.

We have to miles to do whichever we chose, but trying not to waste them as we have a big family trip to Europe planned for 2010.

Jen

Deltahater

If you have status and can snag the exit row that makes Y much, much better.

It is also a function of your age, physical stature, expectations of service and if you can sleep on planes and or entertain yourself.

If you are 6'6", 285 pounds without a DVD player in a middle seat in row 40, watching the airplane map inch forward, you will be miserable.

Blumie

Yes, you will be.

ilovetofly

Like others said, if you can get exit rows with extra leg room, it is not too bad. Since you can choose, your miles are better spent for F/J awards than Y.

IMHO, AA international F is worth extra miles.

wolf539

If you have the miles, go business. I wouldn't even consider Y unless I literally had no other choice when using my miles.

gemac

This is a very long flight. Your best connection would be AA 270 HNL-LAX, connecting to AA 136 LAX-LHR. This is scheduled at 19 hours 5 minutes from door close in HNL to door open at LHR. You also have a 10 hour time change (11 in summer).

The alternate routing that I would consider would be AA 270 to LAX, and AA 1890 to ORD, arriving at ORD at 11:25 P.M. local time. Priceline a hotel at ORD, then continue on the next day on AA 90 at 9:10 A.M. arriving at LHR at 10:30 P.M. local time. If you check your bags all the way through and have everything you need for the one night in Chicago in your carryons, you should have around 6 hours available to sleep in Chicago (whether you would actually sleep or not depends on how you do with Jet Lag). If you choose to do this, it is best to Priceline an airport at LHR also, as it is difficult to get the tube or the HEX before they stop running. As a side benefit, airport hotels are much cheaper than central London.

The return flight isn't such a big deal, because it will force an overnight somewhere, probably DFW or LAX.

Personally, I would do the first routing in F, but not in J, because I don't have a lot of success sleeping in the slanted J seat. I would do the second routing even in Y. Given the small added cost of the Priceline hotel in ORD, I would choose the second routing and fly it in Y if I were trying to save miles.

millionmiler

Another route to consider would be to fly JL through NRT or KIX from CDG or LHR. Its roughly the same travel time as going through North American and only one connection. JL/JO flies to HNL and KOA (at least).

RxCapt

Although all flights from Hawaii - US have a First Class cabin, the seats are certainly not the same depending on which aircraft is chosen. All the HNL-LAX flights will eventually be flown using a 757. Only the 2 DFW flights will be flown using the 767-300. However, since the HNL flights arrive DFW in the morning and the LHR flight leaves in the evening, this may not be the most convenient connection.

Thunderroad

Yes.

alohadvc

I like these type of answers .... very easy to understand

Jen