Overwhelmed with points decisions
Mar 5, 2013 | 6:43 am
#16
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA 1k, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 142
jonnydev,
If you decide on Hawaii, you can also check out Maui or Kauai for a honeymoon destination. If you're going for a whole week, you can island hop on Hawaiian Air as those interisland flights usually cost about 5,000 miles.
I've only been to Hawaii once at this point for 4 nights in Maui. I thought it was a perfect length trip for that island - drove around the island, swam, snorkeled, went to a luau. I was coming from Los Angeles at the time so the distance wasn't such a big deal for a short trip. I also like short trips (I go to the Caribbean for 3 nights at a time several times a year!).
You don't have many hotel points so Priceline or a Hotwire can be a good option. My colleague recently got Hyatt on Maui and Grand Hyatt on Kauai for about $180 each in December. She went with her then boyfriend, now fiance (he proposed in Maui!). These are both top hotels on expensive islands so Honolulu hotels will likely be cheaper. The Priority Club Point Breaks list will come out in two weeks - maybe there will be good Hawaii hotels on there. Hotels are generally easier to secure than flights so I'd work on the flights first and post back to discuss hotel options. In the next week or two, I am going to write up a detailed post on how to use Hotwire/Priceline for hotels or you can search around the board.
Another tip: Book your UA itinerary first and then call US Airways right away. You can cancel within 24 hours on UA in case anything goes wrong with US.
If you decide on Hawaii, you can also check out Maui or Kauai for a honeymoon destination. If you're going for a whole week, you can island hop on Hawaiian Air as those interisland flights usually cost about 5,000 miles.
I've only been to Hawaii once at this point for 4 nights in Maui. I thought it was a perfect length trip for that island - drove around the island, swam, snorkeled, went to a luau. I was coming from Los Angeles at the time so the distance wasn't such a big deal for a short trip. I also like short trips (I go to the Caribbean for 3 nights at a time several times a year!).
You don't have many hotel points so Priceline or a Hotwire can be a good option. My colleague recently got Hyatt on Maui and Grand Hyatt on Kauai for about $180 each in December. She went with her then boyfriend, now fiance (he proposed in Maui!). These are both top hotels on expensive islands so Honolulu hotels will likely be cheaper. The Priority Club Point Breaks list will come out in two weeks - maybe there will be good Hawaii hotels on there. Hotels are generally easier to secure than flights so I'd work on the flights first and post back to discuss hotel options. In the next week or two, I am going to write up a detailed post on how to use Hotwire/Priceline for hotels or you can search around the board.
Another tip: Book your UA itinerary first and then call US Airways right away. You can cancel within 24 hours on UA in case anything goes wrong with US.
Last edited by TheMilesProfessor; Mar 5, 2013 at 6:54 am
Mar 5, 2013 | 8:55 am
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 6
TheMileageProfessor - Thanks for the useful info. That's good to know on the UA then US Airways awards booking.
How much do you generally spend when you go to the carribbean? What types of places do you stay at?
So I tried to put together an awards itenerary on UAL.com. I searched for all the individual city pairs first as one-way. I came up with this (just a possible itinerary, haven't decided on this yet):
DFW-HNL - 5/13/2013 -- 20,000 miles
UA5165 - DFW ->IAH 12:59pm
UA1646 - IAH -> LAX 5:00pm
UA1584 - LAX ->HNL 7:18pm
HNL-MFR 5/19/2013 -- 20,000 miles
UA72 - HNL-SFO 6:21am
UA6493 - SFO-MFR 9:15pm
MFR-DFW 5/22/2013 -- 12,500 miles
UA5643 - MFR-DEN 2:46pm
UA288 - DEN-DFW 7:48pm
When I tried to put it all into a multi-city, it didn't find a bunch of the options that I had just seen when I did one-ways. Shoudl I be searching 3 destinations (DFW->HNL, HNL->MFR, MFR->DFW) or each individual leg? I tried 3 and it didn't find an itinerary that fit. I tried to put in all the legs and it wouldn't give me enough spaces to add my last flight or two... Does this mean I would need to call to reserve?
wise2u - Thanks for the input. LOL, it's not granny, it's a bunch of friends who can't make it to the wedding so we may do a secondary reception there. Advice heard about not making it part of the itinerary. Will consider that for sure. I definitely will consider doing the Hawaii trip in the future after saving up more points. In your opinion, how many points (and what type) are needed to really do Hawaii right without breaking the bank?
Thanks!
How much do you generally spend when you go to the carribbean? What types of places do you stay at?
So I tried to put together an awards itenerary on UAL.com. I searched for all the individual city pairs first as one-way. I came up with this (just a possible itinerary, haven't decided on this yet):
DFW-HNL - 5/13/2013 -- 20,000 miles
UA5165 - DFW ->IAH 12:59pm
UA1646 - IAH -> LAX 5:00pm
UA1584 - LAX ->HNL 7:18pm
HNL-MFR 5/19/2013 -- 20,000 miles
UA72 - HNL-SFO 6:21am
UA6493 - SFO-MFR 9:15pm
MFR-DFW 5/22/2013 -- 12,500 miles
UA5643 - MFR-DEN 2:46pm
UA288 - DEN-DFW 7:48pm
When I tried to put it all into a multi-city, it didn't find a bunch of the options that I had just seen when I did one-ways. Shoudl I be searching 3 destinations (DFW->HNL, HNL->MFR, MFR->DFW) or each individual leg? I tried 3 and it didn't find an itinerary that fit. I tried to put in all the legs and it wouldn't give me enough spaces to add my last flight or two... Does this mean I would need to call to reserve?
wise2u - Thanks for the input. LOL, it's not granny, it's a bunch of friends who can't make it to the wedding so we may do a secondary reception there. Advice heard about not making it part of the itinerary. Will consider that for sure. I definitely will consider doing the Hawaii trip in the future after saving up more points. In your opinion, how many points (and what type) are needed to really do Hawaii right without breaking the bank?
Thanks!
Mar 5, 2013 | 10:23 am
#18
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA 1k, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 142
jonnydev,
That itinerary sounds right. To try to do multi-city, you need to input DFW-HNL, HNL-MFR, MFR-DFW into multi-city. Unfortunately, multi-city is quirky and things don't come up often when you try to do it so you need to call in your itinerary. Remember, any resistance, just stay calm and diplomatic and point out that you are allowed a stopover on an itinerary to another region. I call all the time so it's not a big deal if it doesn't come up on the website
I try to spend as close to $0 as possible when I go to the Caribbean!!! When I went to Grand Cayman in November, I spent $130 on one-way ticket there and $140 a night on Westin Seven Mile Beach on hotwire for 3 people. So $300 for the 3 nights. I hooked my trip back onto an itinerary to Rio de Janeiro later on (free stopovers on one-way American itineraries outside North America). When I went to Riviera Maya a few weeks ago, all 4 of us got tickets with miles and hotel was $250 a night for all-inclusive on Hotwire. Again, 3 nights, but then I got $350 for getting bumped from 1st class on way there (for checking in late, but got upgraded on way back). So the whole thing cost me $25 + taxi fees, under $100 out of pocket.
I posted all these itineraries and routings on my website, btw (like the one I referenced for Grand Cayman and Cancun) so take a look around for some ideas I actually also have a searchable database of every Caribbean hotel you can get with points and have a little Caribbean travel guide
That itinerary sounds right. To try to do multi-city, you need to input DFW-HNL, HNL-MFR, MFR-DFW into multi-city. Unfortunately, multi-city is quirky and things don't come up often when you try to do it so you need to call in your itinerary. Remember, any resistance, just stay calm and diplomatic and point out that you are allowed a stopover on an itinerary to another region. I call all the time so it's not a big deal if it doesn't come up on the website
I try to spend as close to $0 as possible when I go to the Caribbean!!! When I went to Grand Cayman in November, I spent $130 on one-way ticket there and $140 a night on Westin Seven Mile Beach on hotwire for 3 people. So $300 for the 3 nights. I hooked my trip back onto an itinerary to Rio de Janeiro later on (free stopovers on one-way American itineraries outside North America). When I went to Riviera Maya a few weeks ago, all 4 of us got tickets with miles and hotel was $250 a night for all-inclusive on Hotwire. Again, 3 nights, but then I got $350 for getting bumped from 1st class on way there (for checking in late, but got upgraded on way back). So the whole thing cost me $25 + taxi fees, under $100 out of pocket.
I posted all these itineraries and routings on my website, btw (like the one I referenced for Grand Cayman and Cancun) so take a look around for some ideas
I actually also have a searchable database of every Caribbean hotel you can get with points and have a little Caribbean travel guide
Mar 5, 2013 | 1:34 pm
#19
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Philadelphia
Programs: HH Diamond, IHG Plat, SPG & Marriott Gold, CC Silver
Posts: 541
Hey all,
I recently just got into the whole points/credit cards thing. I signed up for a bunch of credit cards and got the minimum spends completed. Now it's time to start planning a vacation.
I will be getting married in May, and we'd like to use points to pay for the honeymoon as much as possible. We're pretty flexible about where we go. Our only requirements are:
1. She'd like to go somewhere warm.
2. I'd like to go somewhere that has fun/adventurous activities.
3. Travelling starts from Dallas.
4. We need to swing through Medford, OR at the end of our trip.
Here are the points I have (these are the bonuses. I have a bit more for the actual money I spent on the cards):
40,000 US Airways Dividend Miles
10,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points
30,000 Delta Skymiles
40,000 United
30,000 American Airlines AAdvantage points
40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Trying to figure out which points can be used where has been kind of overwhelming, so now I'm asking the forum for help. What are some suggestions of how to efficiently use the points I have? What are the best resources to figure this kind of thing out?
I recently just got into the whole points/credit cards thing. I signed up for a bunch of credit cards and got the minimum spends completed. Now it's time to start planning a vacation.
I will be getting married in May, and we'd like to use points to pay for the honeymoon as much as possible. We're pretty flexible about where we go. Our only requirements are:
1. She'd like to go somewhere warm.
2. I'd like to go somewhere that has fun/adventurous activities.
3. Travelling starts from Dallas.
4. We need to swing through Medford, OR at the end of our trip.
Here are the points I have (these are the bonuses. I have a bit more for the actual money I spent on the cards):
40,000 US Airways Dividend Miles
10,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points
30,000 Delta Skymiles
40,000 United
30,000 American Airlines AAdvantage points
40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Trying to figure out which points can be used where has been kind of overwhelming, so now I'm asking the forum for help. What are some suggestions of how to efficiently use the points I have? What are the best resources to figure this kind of thing out?
Mar 5, 2013 | 2:19 pm
#20
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 37
I posted all these itineraries and routings on my website, btw (like the one I referenced for Grand Cayman and Cancun) so take a look around for some ideas
I actually also have a searchable database of every Caribbean hotel you can get with points and have a little Caribbean travel guide