I am not sure where else to post this, as my question is specifically meant to be non airline specific. Moderators, please feel free to move if there is a more appropriate forum.

I have a trip to Hawaii coming up in September (Oahu). I am not sure how many Islands I am going to want to go to. I am aware that most airlines have 5K flights between islands, my question is: Will I have any luck booking these flights at 5K miles when I get there, or do I have to do that well in advance?

I have miles in all the major cariers programs, I just don't want to burn 10K if I can most likely get away with 5k.

What have your experiences been?

Have been going to HI for the past 4 years.

My experience has been to get 5K interisland awards (around a time you wish to fly) one needs to book as soon as possible to lock in.

Many flight times I wanted were not available every time I tried. Availability for me got worse the closer to my trip.

Also, be aware that at least for redeeming UA miles, there is a 24 hour window of approval from Aloha that needs to occur, and they have to be issued as paper tickets, so last minute may not work.

I always try for the award space, but if not available or not the times I want, I'll simply go online and purchase from an interisland carrier.

An interesting side note, I had wanted to fly late afternoon/early evening from one island to another using an award, most interisland flights route through HNL. Seeing as the last flight from the island I'm traveling from gets into HNL too late to catch a flight to my destination island, I was "awarded" a free stopover in HNL for the day. I was concerned I would have to use an additional 5k for the flight next morning to my destination island.

If interested, there are good discussions in the UA forum on redeeming for interisland awards.

One word of caution, after booking your award w/the carrier you have miles with, CONFIRM your reservation w/the actual interisland carrier you have the award on.

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Also discussions in AA, NW and Hawaiian forums, among others.

I agree the sooner you book using 5K, the better. They are strictly capacity controlled.

As a sidenote, Aloha tends to be flexible with its policies. My experience has been that as long as they have seats on a flight, you can get on it. So if you have reservations for a 10 am flight but want to leave at 2 pm, ask if there are seats (that day), and I've never had a problem getting a later flight with no penalty.

Consider using NWA miles on Hawaiian as 5k is a RT or 2 segments of travel

Some of the others are now 5k for each segment vs a RT

Hawaiian charges 5K per segment itself so the NWA is a winner if you can get it.

you may want to check for a possible fee for booking award tickets less than 21 days prior to departure (the biggest airline scam I know of). another reason to plan ahead

I did not know that, thanks. I will check out NWA today. Based on what I am reading here, as with everything else the sooner the better.

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I plan on using a 5K award on NWA for travel in January. I am coming into HNL on a cheap 'F' Class Fare and would like to use the NWA reward to get to OGG. However, if I book now I am a little concerned that they might change the flight schedules between now and my travel dates. Any comments or tips on this? Thanks.

Not a problem if both rewards are claimed through NW. If a schedule change makes a connection impossible (or perhaps even unwieldy), NW will be obligated to reaccommodate you.

Thanks for the reply. To make myself more clear, I am flying on on AA on a paid F class fare. I would use my NWA miles on a HAL Coded Flight.

I've been going for twenty years and, currently, travel there three times per year.

I agree with everyones comments regarding book early.

Be advised that if you have UAL miles to use and plan on booking Aloha travel there are city pairings they don't allow. ie: hnl-jhm.

Above all BOOK EARLY!