iahphx

I am trying to change an interisland award reservation I have on Aloha using UA miles. It's a frustrating experience because of the cumbersome booking process the two airlines use, and the general inexperience (at least with Aloha bookings) of the UA rez staff. I would love to be able to figure out the Aloha inventory myself, so I can steer the UA agent in the right direction. Is there any way to figure out which Aloha flights have reward seats? Just using the flights with the cheapest fare buckets available doesn't seem to work.

I've asked this question on the UA board, but it was suggested that there might be more experience on the subject matter over here.

Thanks.

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=664402

kaukau

I suggest you call AQ for inventory answers. And yes, the process is cumbersome. Best of luck.

cblaisd

This thread starting here might be helpful.

You might also want to consider a partner award on IslandAir. It seems that UA partner awards on IslandAir are still only 5K R/T instead of the 10K that is now being charged for interisland flights on AQ.

That said, given $29 and $39 flights, it also bears thinking about whether it's more cost effective/points effective pay for the flights.

iahphx

Thanks for the help. I don't see a way to changes the display preferences to show the fare buckets. Any ideas?

I already have the interisland award tickets, so I'm going to use them (redepositing them would entirely wipe out their value!). I didn't realize UA had raised the AQ mileage requirements -- I booked early because I heard a rumor they were going to, but an agent said that was untrue. Typical rez misinformation, I guess. At 5,000, I decided to redeem because non-HNL interisland roundtrips still go for $116+ at a minimum. I had the UA miles, and that struck me as a fair redemption value (more than 2 cents per mile).

iahphx

OK, with the help provided here, and a little flyertalk research, I was able to find a booking engine which DOES show Aloha's "X" award inventory.

http://publicbackup.com/shared/flyertalk/availability/

But, of course -- as so often happens with reward travel -- it gets even more complicated for me.

I am currently booked on a one-stop UA flight between the two cities. The only award seats available are on CONNECTING flights (actually, both are 1 stops, but the first flight only has award seats TO HNL, and the second has seats FROM HNL!). That wouldn't be a big deal for me, except that changes to UA award tickets are free unless you change your "routing." Going from one flight number to two flight numbers constitutes a change in "routing," and a $100 per ticket penalty!

Does anyone have any creative ideas here? I tried to get somebody at UA's India desk to waive the "routing" fee, but no luck. If I could somehow reach UA's Hawaii rez desk, I think they would appreciate the absurdity of this and do it for me. Any way to get UA Hawaii? If I dial the local UA number in Hawaii will I get Hawaii rez (I'm calling from the mainland)? Alternatively, is there any way to convince someone at Aloha to allocate award seats ALL THE WAY THRU on one flight number, instead of making me change planes? Both flights are wide open, and have unlimited inventory in all fare buckets, except for the "X" award quirk.

Thanks for any ideas.

DawnCt

The only thing that I can suggest is when you check in, ask the Aloha desk if you can "stand by" for the flight number you want. We have taken earlier flights as "stand bys" just because we showed up and there were available seats. One agent said that because they were 'award seats' they couldn't change the ticket. Another agent said, "forget the ticket, let them board". I don't know what you can do earlier than that. We also used our 5K miles for interisland flights. It was indeed a bargain. I like Island Air and if they are a partner for 5K, I would do that in the future. Additionally the interisland ferry will be operational within 6 months so maybe airfares will go down.

iahphx

I did some more checking, and it does look like my best "hope" is to find somebody at UA would would let me change my 1-stop award seat into a connecting rez without assessing the $100 fee. Otherwise, in speaking with an Aloha agent, it doesn't seem likely that additional award inventory will be added. I think I'd have a shot if I could reach UA Hawaii rez. Does anyone have a strategy for reaching that specific UA rez center? Thanks.

cblaisd

Call in the late evenings, west coast time

iahphx

Well, I decided to "give up" and fly a day later where -- with the link I posted above -- I was able to find "X" award inventory on Aloha. It seemed the easiest solution, especially since I wanted to minimize my interactions with UA's generally awful telephone rez staff.

Someone above mentioned that UA awards on Aloha have gone up from 5000 miles to 10,000 miles. I'm not sure that's right -- the UA website still shows them at 5000. At 10,000 miles, no flights are really worth redeeming. At 5000 miles, it does seem reasonable to redeem an interisland award -- provided HNL is not your origin or destination. Non-HNL pax still pay a minimum of $58 in each direction. And armed with the above inventory research tool, it's pretty painless to figure out what's available -- a good thing, given the pathetic "help" you will generally get from UA when you call.

kaukau

That's for one-way.

AQ: 5k o/w; 10k r/t

WP: 5k r/t

iahphx

Is UA's own website wrong?

"For roundtrip travel on Aloha Airlines within Hawaii -- Miles needed: 5000"


http://www.united.com/page/article/0...,00.html#jump3

cblaisd

I certainly hope you're right!!!

dfarr

I requested an open jaw LIH-OGG/OGG-HNL today and the agent told be it would be 5000 UA miles. I have to call back tomorrow to see if Aloha confirmed my tickets.

cblaisd

Excellent news.

dfarr

I just checked my account activity for the these tickets I requested and it confirms the 5000.

Activity AQ SAVER ECONOMY WITHIN HAWAII

Miles added/deducted -5,000

Total -5,000

Now I just hope I get them.