EKoz

Hi all -
I'm getting married in Las Vegas in oct 2014 and want to honeymoon in Tahiti - but I live in London.

I have around 200000 miles with BA - and I have 2 companion fares - there are 2 of us travelling of course. But am stumped as to the best way to do this trip!! My companion fares are only good on BA flight numbers so only good to Lax or Las return from London - I have to buy one flight with points and get the other only taxes.

To get to Tahiti I fly through Honolulu which is fine - I may even stop over there - but I have to fly with Hawaiian to get to Tahiti - not one world - so not great.

I looked at flying via South America - no luck -

I'd be happy to fly directly home via Hawaii but may have to go back to LaX due to lack of direct flights

So my best guess is:

LHR LAX points
LAX LAS points

Wedding
LAS LAX points
LAX HON pay with Hawaiian - any tips for getting miles here?
HON PPT pay with Hawaiian

PPT HON pay
HON LAX pay
LAX LHR - will get free with my companion fare

It doesn't seem a good use of my points - we will try business class to make the most of the companion fare

Any ideas for how I could do this better ???

Please help air miles experts!!!!!!!!!

CPMaverick

Could you book a round-the world fare?

LHR-LAX(stopover), drive or fly to LAS (generally cheap flights)
LAX-HNL(stopover), buy ticket to HON RT
HNL-SYD-LHR or HON-SYD-LHR if that is possible?

I'm not familiar with BA points. Can you book one-way tickets? How are the open jaw and stopover rules?

eknock007

I don't know if you can do an open jaw with the companion fare. If you can, do LHR-LAS/LAX-LHR. And then from LAS to HNL you connect through LAX on AA for a total of 29.5K avios per RT and about $10 in taxes. You then purchase a RT HNL-PPT on HA. A RT LAX/LAS-PPT on HA will run you about $300 to $500 more. But you would not be able to do a stopover in Hawaii by flying to PPT from LAX/LAS. Purchasing a RT from HNL to PPT allows you to stop in Hawaii for as long as you want in each direction. And I would say for a better Hawaiian experience fly into Maui (OGG) instead. However, do keep in mind that there is only one flight per week HNL-PPT (outbound Saturday and inbound Sunday).

LHR-LAS (Avios + companion fare) ClubWorld 50K avios
LAS-LAX-HNL/OGG, 17k avios, 34K total
HNL-LAX, 12.5K avios, 25K total
LAX-LHR (Avios + companion fare) ClubWorld 50K avios

With this scenario you let your avios take you all the way to Hawaii and you save on airfare as well.

bzcat

Have you look into buying a ticket on LAX-PPT with TN?

That would be the easiest way and may even be the cheaper than HNL. The routing via HNL is a little out of the way - plus only once a week so you have to schedule your wedding around the HNL-PPT flight, which may limit your Avios redemption options on the LHR-LAX or LAS sector.

Try this:
LHR-LAS (Avios)
LAS-LAX (one way rental car or one-way with Southwest around $100~$150)
LAX-PPT (paid fare)
PPT-LAX (paid fare)
LAX-LHR (Avios)

Edit:
I did a dummy booking for HNL-PPT and LAX-PPT in October 2013
NHL-PPT-HNL on HA $842 per person in Y
LAX-PPT-HNL on TN $1650 per person in Y

So looks like it is cheaper to go via HNL so never mind... try to use your Avios point to get you to HNL via AA. Then buy the HNL-PPT ticket from HA.