c3troop

We want to go to Hawaii for 8 days in November. We don't care if we fly first or economy. Have 100k MR points, 50 K UR points, and 140K Marriot points. Best redemption of the MR points?

reclusive46

What country was your card issued in?

guv1976

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The answer depends very much on what city you're starting from.

c3troop

Issued in the us. Starting city Austin TX. Don't even know which island to go to.

guv1976

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If you can find SAAver award seats on aa.com via DFW to HNL/OGG, or via LAX to HNL/OGG/LIH/KOA, you should be able to get two roundtrip Coach tickets for between 90,000 and 99,000 British Airways Avios. (The actual amount needed will depend on the exact routing.)

If you can find Saver award seats on united.com via IAH, SFO, or maybe DEN, then you should be able to get two roundtrip Coach tickets for 86,000 ANA miles.

It's also possible to redeem Aeroplan miles for award travel on UA, but I don't know what Aeroplan currently charges for a Mainland U.S.-Hawaii Coach roundtrip award.

Note that there are occasionally transfer bonuses of between 30-50% when transferring MR points to BA Avios. If you can find SAAver award seats on aa.com, and catch a transfer bonus from MR to Avios, that would probably be the least expensive use of MR points for such a trip.

pgary

Membership Rewards points transfer to Hawaiian Airlines and Virgin America Airlines, both of which fly to Hawaii, but I don't know if from your area. The also transfer to Air Canada, a Star Alliance member - so they can put you on a United Airlines flight to Hawaii. They also transfer to Delta Airlines, but it is near impossible to find a Delta award ticket to Hawaii.

Be sure to first check to see if an award ticket is available before you transfer MR points.

c3troop

Thanks for the advice. Until now I have only used UR points so mR are new to me

CFFrost

I'm in a somewhat similar situation.

I am looking to book a trip SAN - OGG in August. I would prefer to use my MR points (I have about 90k) but could also use UR or United MP. I know I can transfer to Hawaiian, Air Canada, and (if I can find availability, which is less likely) BA - what options am I missing? Specifically, are there any transfer partners that allow for redemption on Alaska Air? Alaska flies a nonstop from SAN to OGG that would be convenient if I could find partner availability.

Thanks.

guv1976

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BA Avios can be redeemed for travel on both AA and AS. However, Avios redemptions for travel on AS cannot be done at ba.com; a call to the BAEC Service Center is required.

CFFrost

Good to know - any way to know if there is availability? Is it just any time there is low-level redemption on AS available?

guv1976

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Just low-level award seats can be booked with Avios.

I would probably do a search on aa.com, and include partners; if there is low-level award availability on the AS nonstop, it will show up on aa.com as a SAAver award (along with other routings, too).

CFFrost

Thanks for the insight. I was having a hard time understanding why all of the AA low-level awards weren't showing up on the BA site - that would explain why.

charlesfromage

IMHO, AS is great to Hawaii. I've also found that they have pretty good award availability in general.

And to clarify an earlier point, Virgin America doesn't actually fly to Hawaii, but they do partner with Hawaiian. VA is normally a per-dollar program, but there can be some good or bad values when redeeming on their new partners.

CFFrost

My dates were pretty fixed so I couldn't go both ways on AS. I was able to get two AS flights with BA miles, one way, for 12,500 miles each. This is great because it is nonstop for me - the only problem being that only the evening flight was available so we lose about a day of our trip. The return was more difficult but I was able to find HA flights for 30,000 miles one-way. Not the best redemption, but it allowed me to clear out my MR points so that I won't have to pay the annual fee on my PRG - which is set to hit at the beginning of April. I wish I knew VA was another way to book HA flights - it might have been a better redemption value.

My other option was to use Aeroplan, but their redemptions were at a higher point level and also would have required an overnight connection in SF on the way back.

Newflyer123

you could also convert them to ANA and redeem on United. Milevalue has a great post today. Direct connections from Houston