Planning an ATL->HNL trip with the Mrs. Need advice of the megajetsetters please...
 

Planning an ATL -> HNL trip later in the year and wanted to treat the Mrs. to a first-class seat on at least part of the trip. I've got enough miles banked to book her an F seat and I'll purchase one for me. Only a lowly Silver here, she does not fly frequently.

Any suggestions on which route to take? ATL->LAX, SFO, etc. and stay over a night or just go direct? Any flights on these routes with the lie-flat beds? I've not yet figured out a way to sniff out those flights specifically on delta.com. I've dug through the how-to-get-award-travel sticky but haven't really found any cheap flights; everything is the middle-grade.

Any suggestions on this subject are welcome, and thanks for the feedback. :cool:

Alaska Airlines is your friend to Hawaii for first class awards. You can go through almost any major west coast city (SEA, PDX, SFO, LAX, SAN, etc.); and remember you can use a stopover. A night or two in SFO on your way to Hawaii makes a nice vacation.

Alaska awards will not show on Delta.com. You have to call.

Not that it's possible to find award space for this but if you could get lie flat direct HNL to ATL for the return that would be awesome since these are overnight flights

I will call for next year. Thanks!

I'd suggest the non-stop ATL-HNL_ATL flights. Both are on the A-330 and have the "almost" lie flat seats. Nice service, too!

Have you ever found that flight available for low level award travel?

I just booked 4 FC Award tickets for this flight for late July-early August 2012 at the 127k redemption rate. I think that is the mid-tier pricing. The flight is actually MDT - ATL - HNL RT

It took lots of tries online and multiple calls to agents. I tried to book it as a multi-city trying to include HA interisland it was a no go. I kept getting an error code after I selected my flights but before I could enter traveler info. I would receive an error page and be instructed to call in.

One agent wanted 180 k for this routing - MDT - ATL - HNL - HNL - LAX - DTW- MDT. I told her that was bait and switch as I had screen shot of that routing at 157.5k! I told her I needed to calm down and call back. I did and this time had no luck either with the first class seats on the ATL-HNL flights - I was told there were none for the entire month of July. But the third time was a charm.

What baffled me was when I was connecte the 3rd time, not only did I receive my dream itinerary, I did so at a lower mileage cost than anticipated. FWIW - the first 2 calls were non - us based agents, the last one was....

Good luck with ticketing...it's frustrating, but keep trying!

YES. Just before the NW/Delta merger and the NW web site shut down I booked MSP-HNL/HNL-ATL-MSP for in 1st class for two at 75k/person. The MSP-HNL and HNL-ATL segments were on the A330. The ATL-MSP was in first on a MD-90. This was painless compared to Delta.dumb. I just picked the flights and the system booked it flawlessly. The A330 was really nice up front compared to anything else domestic.

Thats a great price for that flight. I had a similar thing happen to me--web site was pricing at 157500 but kept giving me an error so I called and agent booked it through for an odd redemption rate about 120k. Thought i had a great deal until I found out that one of the flights (HNL-ATL) was actually booked in economy. Needless to say I called back and changing that flight raised the redemption to 157k. As I said, you got a great price, just check you flights closely.

I'd recommend taking the ATL-HNL direct flight in First as it is a daytime flight and she'll actually enjoy the seat, space, food and drink, etc. instead of the night flight which she'll be sleeping.