SFO to Honolulu
 

Brand new to this arena. We want to take trip from SFO to Hawaii May 2015. Which credit card would be the best to apply for?
(1) What is most important to you in a FFP?
Free flights to Honolulu
(2) How many miles do you usually fly each year & in what class? How many flights/sectors?
Little flying...
(3) What types of fares do you usually buy ?
Cheapest
(4) Can you choose your airlines and/or class of service? Do you travel for work and/or pleasure?
Pleasure
(5) Which routes do you fly most often
US Domestic
(6) What is your home airport?
Either SFO or Sac International. We live in Redding, CA
Reply:
(7) Do you have FFP status of any kind in an airline? What is it? Do you have any miles banked in a FFP?
None
(8) Preferred Airlines
No Preference

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Welcome to FT!

If you can depart from OAK or SJC, then acquiring British Airways Avios for redemptions on AS' nonstops to HNL from either of those airports would be your best bet -- assuming that you can find low-tier award seats when you want to travel. A roundtrip for two people would cost just 50,000 BA Avios.

Several credit cards earn points that can be converted to Avios, or that earn Avios directly. I think that there are current, 50,000-mile sign-up bonuses for the Chase/BA Visa card, as well as the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa. Check the FT Chase and Others Credit Cards forums for details.

You can easily check current, low-tier, award-seat availability on AS' flights between OAK/SJC and HNL at aa.com -- no log-in required. (Ignore the number of AA miles required for redemption; you'll just be using the site to check availability.) Of course, award seats available today might not be available by the time you acquire the Avios you need for redemption.

By the way, AS also flies SMF-OGG, in case you would consider going to Maui instead of Honolulu.

For completeness sake, I'd like to point out that for your itinerary (U.S. West Coast to Hawaii), you should give consideration to outright purchase of the flights. ITA is showing lots of flights from the SF Bay Area to HNL for under $500 during May 2015, but I've never paid more than $400 for this route (and I paid that much only because I was desperate). The good news is that you are planning in advance, so you have enough time to watch for fare sales.

Yes, "free flights to Hawaii" sounds much better than "free flights to Pittsburgh," but from the West Coast, the latter might very well be a better value for points than the former: Most airlines charge a premium for award flights to Hawaii, and that cost (in points) is usually the same from anywhere in the Continental U.S. On the other hand, paid (with cash) flights from the West Coast to Hawaii are usually cheaper than paid flights from the East Coast.

NB: Avios awards are based on flight distance, so redeeming Avios for flights from the West Coast (which cost less than flights from the East Coast) might make sense, but this is more the exception than the rule.

In addition to paying for the flights, cosnider use your points toward hotels instead, which might (or might not) be a better use of points than the flights.

Thank you...got me thinking of options..

Easiest way to do the SFO HNL roundtrip is for both you and spouse to get the Hawaiian Airlines Barclay card. $1k of spend each will give you 36k Hawaiian miles. As a credit card holder you can normally find flights in economy for 17.5 each way. So if you both get the card, do the $2k of spend in total you have your 2 round trip tixs taken care of.