tortellini

Hello all!

Even if I have an emergency exit seat booked, I'm considering to upgrade to first class.

Could you kindly give me a rough extimate about the cost (miles + cash)?
Do you think it will be cheaper at the gate (if any seat is available)?

I'm on the morning flight (after 8am) and I'm afraid this flights are always fully booked....

Thanks for any advice

JDiver

I'm afraid that using 500 mile upgrade "stickers" or using miles and co-pay would be quite difficult on this route.

Continental U.S. - Hawaii 15,000 miles + $175

But those would most likely bevwaitlisted, and upgrades are filled first by AAdvantage status, then by date requested.

There's always a chance the check in kiosk might offer a "Load Factor Based Upgrade" for a fee as well.

Any way you slice it, high demand route for upgrades.

VickiSoCal

EXP husband has missed this 3 times in last year, buying 4-6 months out. Good luck!

metallo

I don't doubt Vicki's report at all, but just to add another data point... I've never missed a 500-mile upgrade on LAX-HNL or reverse upgrade as EXP (and I never missed as PLT either), although I should note that on the ex-LAX flights, I've always been a connecting passenger, which would have bumped up my priority on the UG list.

OP doesn't mention whether he has status, but unless he's EXP, I would recommend using miles+copay to secure the upgrade in advance if it's important to him.

Yes, Hawaii upgrades have a higher copay than other domestic upgrades ($175 vs. $75), but the cost is still less than the six 500-mile stickers required on this route ($180). The level of service/food is also upgraded compared to other domestic flights, with the exception of the A321T flights.

Also, remember that, with the miles+copay method of upgrading, up to two additional same-direction domestic segments in the itinerary may be upgraded if the appropriate inventory (two-class 'A' or three-class 'C') is available. I've successfully used miles+copay to upgrade JFK-LAX-HNL, which is a real bargain at 15,000 miles + $175.

Fitch7600

I fly LAX-HNL-LAX several times a year. I have never missed an upgrade, and it's almost always come through at 100 hours. I will say I have never taken the morning flight out of HNL. I take either the early or late afternoon (when it's on the schedule) flights back to LAX. The other thing that makes this a fairly easy upgrade is that the seat selection is always for a 22 F cabin and virtually all the 757's on this route are the 24 F version now, which means two unspoken for F seats pop up about 24 hours out.

mmgm

I fly this route fairly often. The miles plus copay is almost always available. In fact within a few days od departure all but one seat is almost always available. The main exception is when coach is overbooked. Then they hold the FC seats.

TxTrav

Based on the explats and plats getting last minute upgrades do you think that for lowly gold we have a chance to grab exit row seats once your upgrades come through? I may book award tix in Y which means I can't preselect exit or MCE seats until t-24

LINDEGR

I missed once as an EXP and it was h_ll. I vowed never again and now always use SWU or miles and co-pay when I book.

VickiSoCal

Mistake- one of those misses was LAX-KOA, but yeah, when people envy him for going to HNL for work he just rolls his eyes. Courtyard + coach!

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

Every time I have done DFW to HNL or OGG I've always used a SWU. To me its the same as long haul International. Yes the meal service is not that of true International but 8+ hours in Y. Yikes!

john doe iii

What do you guys recommend? I need to fly a family of 5 out to HNL from LAX, more than likely we will be sitting in Y.

Options are AA, US, AS, or HA .... which has the better product to Hawaii?

I'm Platinum with US and can probably status match to AS if needed.

jafrelin

lax->he is about 5 .5 going 4.5 coming back. I have flown in both y and f. while f is better it's not that wonderful. depending on the aircraft I like the exit row on the port side about as well as f. my so likes it better. if you have 5 mce would be fine v

brp

We flew to KOA two weekends ago and HNL this past weekend (SJC-LAX-xxx in both cases). We had SWUs to burn, so I upgraded the outbound flights early. Even do, there was availability until quite late.

On KOA-LAX, there were like 10 seats open very late. They didn't clear us until about 5 hours before the flight despite all of the open seats, but it was an easy clear.

For HNL-LAX, about 9 seats open. Because 4 were bulkhead, we did burn the SWUs about 8-9 hours before. Then the bulkheads filled and back row was open. Based on an EF alert I had set, this also cleared about 5 hours before. Would have been a very easy EXP clear, likely PLT as well.

These were both the xxx-LAX redeye. A Monday and Sunday night, respectively.

Cheers.

krlcomm

Been a while since I went to Hawaii but the last time I did I lived in Detroit and it still amazes me that DTW-HNL is farther than DTW-AMS - 4475 miles vs. 3940... Hello SWU!

bdemaria

From LAX, then AS is better than AA - and on AS you'd earn AA miles. However, in Y, HA is better than both AA and AS.