Incredible value for 90,000 MR points: coast-to-coast on Virgin America in First
 

Via transfer of 90,000 MR points to Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles. I've done it twice now for SFO-BOS roundtrips next year in First. In my experience, the availability has been wide open when you go out a few months.

There is much uncertainty about how the Virgin merger with Alaska will play out, but by all indications the merged airline will still be flying the coast-to-coast routes with a premium cabin (that seems to be Alaska's main prize in the merger).

If you're interested, be absolutely sure you have availability on your desired dates, and be sure the HawaiianMiles agent has your preferred cabin right. Only then should you make the MR points transfer to HawaiianMiles.

Good luck!

Looks to be only 75,000 if redeeming through Virgin Atlantic, but their partnership with Virgin America ends 11.11.2016.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/us/en...n-america.html

Hmmm... I missed that. Maybe that would have been even better. I have no idea if Virgin Atlantic and Hawaiian Airlines work with the same inventory of partner awards on Virgin America.

I'm guessing that as the merger moves along, this opportunity will disappear. Hawaiian and Alaska are not partners, and I doubt they will be.

It's a solid value for sure but I'd rather AC for 110k RT in J - though I live in a city (RDU) where coast to coast travel doesn't come with any bells and whistles.

Yes, we have some nice options with SFO/LAX to BOS/JFK routes. I hope Alaska maintains the great Virgin America product after the merger.

Where are you getting 110k RT in J using AC points? Don't they charge 25k each way for a United first class domestic ticket?

Your reading of the charts is the same as mine: 50K AC points roundtrip for premium in a 2-cabin plane. And just like with United, 70K points for First when there is also a Business cabin. Those are also great value. I'm a bit partial to Virgin America's F cabin, though, and I'm happy to pay some extra points to get in there.

Duke787, you might be thinking of 110K AC points roundtrip for Hawaii.

never flown on virgin america but i struggle to see "incredibleness" of domestic rt for 90K..
iirc with NH i can make a rt to europe or japan for similar amount... with SQ i went IAH-DME for <100k (plus noticeable YQ admittedly)
ymmv of course - this may be a good solution for a particular pattern of travel but i wouldn't call it a sweet spot of mr redemption...

While these routes are indeed domestic, they are almost as long in duration as East Coast to LHR. Virgin America's F cabin (much like JetBlue Mint) is way better than the regular legacy domestic F.
We all have our preferences, but it's an incredible value to me.

We frequently redeem AA miles for MIA-LAX flights which are operated with 777/767 aircraft used on international routes. I have not flown VX, but the seat specifications are similar to AA business cabin (before AA started conversion to flat beds).

Likewise, United's p.s. service is very good. But I've found it difficult to find availability for that with UA miles. For my regular route, SFO-BOS, United still uses 757s, and its F cabin is only marginally better than coach.

You are far luckier than I being able to find the illusive AA MIA-LAX direct flight - I dont honestly care which aircraft it is flying since the reverse herringbone is just the same as CX's and not as nice as QR's. I just want a direct flight out of the 7 daily direct flights - I honestly dont see any availability other than booking right after window opens. AA rather flies a half-empty J cabin than releases close in availability that is the sad reality I have observed.

Well yes it is but that's not what I'm thinking of.

110k to Europe 1 and 115k to Europe 2 in J roundtrip from the US. Used to be 90k and 105k respectively before the devaluation last December https://www3.aeroplan.com/use-your-m...entLanguage=en

That's right as far as it goes, but given that this is a thread about domestic (US) transcontinental flights, I'm not sure what the relevance is?

To the OP: if BOS-SFO in Virgin America First Class using MR is a redemption you frequently make, you might consider getting the AmEx Business Platinum. I'm seeing lots of dates where the cash price is $1600 or less (meaning the MR cost, after the 50% rebate, would be less than 80k points). You could get that redemption regardless of which airline you select as your "Preferred" airline given that these are first class tickets. And you'd earn status/RDM miles for the flights. Happy to refer you to the 100k Biz Plat offer if you PM :)