GM unable to get 2 FC tickets LAX to HNL entire month of Dec
 

I tried to get the 2 free tickets for mid- Dec.- returning over a week before Xmas. I was told there was no availability for the entire month of Dec. Way to go Delta.

These are , indeed, tough award tickets. As you are in Los Angeles, check Aloha availability out of Burbank or Hawaiian Air out of Lax. I have heard good things about Aloha's FC service. . Aloha is also flying out of Oak., so that might be another option to explore. Re: DL. FC to Hnl and Ogg, if you do a search on the DL board, you will find that most DL pax are less than thrilled with the FC service to HNL. The 764 is just slightly less miserable in FC than in coach. Based at LAX, my recommendation is to save your miles for a DL flt. offering BizE. This 5 hr flt to Hawaii is painless (just slightly, less-so, in FC). Grab the lowest fare possible on any airline. Enjoy your time in the islands.

Not a surprising result. Hawaii has to be one of the most popular routes for free tickets....particularly over and around the holidays. I can count on one hand the number of free tickets I have scored on DL to HI in over a decade. You generally have to request awards 300+ days out and be somewhat flexible on dates/flights...especially if you're looking for two freebies.
I usually don't have any flexibility so if I can get one free B/E ticket....six to nine months out...I consider myself lucky.

Try this link:

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/...ravel/galileo/

You can look up the award fare bucket for a particular airline from the links towards the bottom of the page. DL F domestic award is the R bucket.

Out of curiousity I tried R to HNL and it said 'NO R SVC SKED THIS TIME PERIOD'

I think that means that there were never any F award tickets.

Can you tell me what the specific codes are?

Check out this link for the list of fare codes:

http://www.dataton.net/DeltaFareClasses.html

As I posted elsewhere, Delta happily let me sit on the waitlist for 331 days for a coach award ticket to HNL. I was the first person to call and try to claim an award for that day, too. Thankfully, a back-up AA ticket allowed me to sit in upgraded F instead of remaining in SDF as I never cleared the waitlist.

I have repeatedly read on FT how award tickets to popular locations such as Hawaii must be booked 331 days in advance. My wife and I had been saying for two years that we wanted to go to Hawaii and I could not get her to commit to vacation dates with her employer. Last October I decided to see if I could land award tickets for both airline (Delta) and hotel (Hilton) for our 2003 aniversary dates. Low and behold the Hilton Hawaiian village was available and my first choice of Delta flights in FC for award tickets was available. We flew out on Wednesday, February 12 (12:10 PM departure from Denver) and returned on Wednesday, February 19 (11:30 PM departure from HNL). The reservations were made only 4 months in advance of the flight! We had a great stay and, aside from the accuracy of reports of FC travel on Delta to Hawaii, the trip was great!

(edited for spelling)

[This message has been edited by DGWhite (edited 02-27-2003).]

That's because R, O and N classes on DL are private booking classes - you can't access that inventory on the CRS.
There are indeed award seats in both F and Y to/from HNL - I did it myself...

Thanks for the tip. It works for AA though.

You can, I believe, view G and, within the 100 hr. window, V inventory on DL with the Galileo site.

I assume everyone is talking about saver awards for 60,000 miles rather than standard awards. Are there also no standard award seats available? I know it's not a good use of the miles, but I was just curious.

It is truly hit and miss and I believe inventory opens up closer to departure. This past year, I cashed in 80,000 for a B/E seat to Paris from JFK leaving on a Thursday returning the next Monday- I did this 20 days prior to departure in JULY (the high season of travel) to Europe. Then, in late November I cashed in 60,000 for a F/C ticket to Hawaii 14 days prior to departure a Wed to Wed. It pays to keep checking, be flexible, and try to go off season/off days.

Last Feb. I booked award tickets in First for 2 for departure in August to HNL as my choice of OGG was not available. In July, seats opened up around same departure time to OGG. Was able to get to OGG in first and everything worked out. They do open. Just check delta.com everyday to see if it opens. When it does, call in. They will open for one reason or another. I am sure.