Worth mentioning: Without elite status on United, it can be difficult finding open seats for Hawaii. In non-elite years, I've had to pay the premium rate (2x supersaver) to get through Hawaii to Palau. Last year when I had silver, I had no problem redeeming for August. It is possible that inventory has gotten better, but you might want to check what the available inventory of seats are during a time that you could fly before you commit to the credit card.

There is nothing more frustrating than doing a credit card deal with a specific trip in mind, only to find there are never seats available. I learned this the hard way with British Airways.

I was planning on the return trip from ITO to ROC and it is available theoretically if I were to fly this coming January. ( which I am not..) looking at 2014

Not planning on flying out of SJO to KOA using interisland flight from Maui- OGG to ITO ( hilo)

true yet..
I am looking at UA seats right now available for 20k but unfortunately I am not planning the trip for this January but for 2014.

I just want add that while its nice to travel "free" on miles, sometimes its worthwhile to take a look at the cash price as well -- e.g., many airlines including UA currently have fare sell going on (to/from Hawaii). Remember to check again (when the time comes) could help you decide whether you'd be better off saving the miles for a future trip.

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I have no idea how AS' schedule compares with UA's schedule. But it will take fewer UR points (converted to BA Avios) for a nonstop flight from California to Hawaii on AS, than it will take UR points (converted to UA miles) for a similar flight on UA.

Would you elaborate on the BA Avios to AS approach?
I'm planning a trip from Seattle to Maui for 4 in coach. I have 80,000 miles on United and Alaska and 150,000 on AA. My wife has has 85,000 on AS. My wife has 55,000 UR with her CSP and I just got approval for the Ink @ 50k. Our trip will meet up with extended family in July '13. AS wants 47k for one round trip for the second week in July. My approach was planning to try to get everyone on an AS direct flight. Maybe I need to rethink this?
Thanks.

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BA Avios uses a distance-based system, which charges for each flight flown. Nonstop flights between 2,001 and 3,000 miles cost 12,500 Avios one way in Coach. The catch, however, is that when seeking to redeem on a partner carrier (like AS), you can only redeem for the partner's lowest tier award seats. So if you want to use Avios on AS, you must see "Super Saver" award seats on the AS website before calling the BAEC Service Center to book.

Thanks! Let me see if i understand the correct steps. First make sure there are saver award seats available on Alaska. Then go through Chase UR and transfer(?) ponts to BA account. Then call the BAEC to book the tickets?

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Correct. But depending on how quickly or slowly the UR points get converted to Avios, there is a risk that Super Saver availability will disappear by the time the Avios appear in your BAEC account.

Yeah, BAEC redemption on AS has some kick a$$ low-redemption for Hawaii for us West Coasters. I am planning on doing the same for June 2014 - but I will be redeeming for FIVE people, which means I have to get busy and book next summer! I've checked redemption from SEA-OGG and it did not look good at all. Those flights go FAST! I think ALL the AS Hawaii flights go fast, but understandably so, since it's the best deal going!

Incidentally, you have to call BA to book the AS flights. I had my first experience with this a couple of weeks ago. I transferred some MR points to BA (SUPER fast), then called BA and got through in 10 mins (take THAT Aeroplan!) and redeemed my freshly transferred MR points for two tickets YVR-LAX. They did NOT charge me a phone booking fee, since AS is not part of the One-World alliance and cannot be booked online.

Here's hoping your transfer goes through quickly...keep checking your account really early each morning and call AS first thing in the AM (I think they open at 8am if I remember correctly). Know your flight numbers and super-saver availability. Make sure to spell out all names correctly over the phone (they seem to be really careful about this, anyway). Good luck!

47,000 is high for AS (considering you only need 25,000 avios RT for that route if booking through BA)! And since flight availability for Super Saver redemption is not good for next summer on AS (which is what you need available to book through BA), it wouldn't make sense to try to do a transfer to BA to try to get a lower redemption.

I am thinking you should fly UA/AA (transfer to one program to see if you can all get on the same flights). If I recall, it's 45,000 for coach redemption on those airlines - so you could do three flights on AA. Not sure about routes on AA. I think AA and AS code share (although, I could be wrong), so it's possible you could book 2 tickets on AA and two on AS, but then you run the risk that they change the flights/planes and 4 of you are no longer together. But, typically, you are allowed free changes when there are schedule/plane changes.

Good luck - you definitely have the luxury of LOTS of points on your side!

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If you are unable to book AS flights with BA Avios, then you will be unable to book those same flights with AAdvantage miles. BA and AA tap the same inventory of AS award seats, namely, "Super Saver."

With one exception not relevant here, codeshares are not bookable as codeshares with AAdvantage miles; you can only book award travel under the flight number of the operating carrier.

BA Avios can also be redeemed for flights to Hawaii on AA from LAX, but you would have to pay an additional 7,500 Avios for the AS flights between SEA and LAX, and you would have to book these flights as a separate Avios redemption, lest BAEC charge you the much-higher multi-partner Avios redemption rate. So for SEA-LAX-Hawaii in July, it would be 20,000 Avios one way, or 22,500 AAdvantage miles one way.

Thanks Pokee and guv1976.
My main concern is transferring 100k UR points then not getting the seats. But that's park of the process, so I want to make sure I've got it down.
If I go to the AS website and put the dates in (eg. 7/11-7/17), check "use points" and the fare shows "supersaver/choice", how do I know how many supersaver seats are available? The "seats" tab doesn't differentiate.

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I suggest checking award availability on aa.com. Search for one-way travel, so you can see availability in each direction. If your entire party must travel together, enter the total number of travelers before starting the search. The aa.com website will display all available award itineraries on AA, AS, and HA. Since you will be using BA Avios, just concern yourself with the AA and AS award itineraries that show up under the "SAAver" award options on aa.com. (Ignore the number of AAdvantage miles quoted; as noted, when you pay with Avios, you will pay BAEC's redemption rate, not AA's or AS's.)