I have been charged in USD this year too.

Well...

IF one could find a sympathetic ticket writer, and IF one could convince them into BEING a "strict constructionist" with the rules in this (they usually are, to the detriment of creative flyers) then one could possibly swing the one-way HNL leg by cruising.

See, a somewhat arcane rule in another code, in this case the US Code, called the "Passenger Services Act," aka the Jones Act (not the same, actually) - a cabotage act - prevents foreign-flagged ships, meaning virtually all cruise ships, from carrying revenue pax between US ports without an intermediate stop in a "distant foreign" port. Canada and Mexico are specifically named as not qualifying as "distant" foreign ports (Bermuda does, go figure). Thus Pacific cruises that touch US countries, say Alaska or Hawaii, either have to start and end in the same port (Honolulu, LA, Seattle for instance) after having made a flag stop in a foreign port (Victoria, Ensenada) or they have to originate or terminate in a foreign country if the other end is in the US.

Thus one-way Mainland - Hawaii cruises and v.v. all start or end in Ensenada, Mexico.

Do you see Mexico included on the list of proscribed open-jaw points on the OWE rules above? No you don't.

And by the way, you can book a Hawaii - Mexico cruise or v.v. through AA's vacations site, and get a ton of miles for it; prices are not too bad considering.

Like I say, it may be something of a fiddle but might make for some interesting discussions with the rate desk.

The catch is you might have to find some surface connection between Ensenada and another AA station in Mexico (there are numerous) or else the next flight would be from SAN or LAX or some such, which would provide the gotcha they seem to be looking for.

Just idle speculation on my part, but might be worth a try.

(PS - Writing this from the SYD QF lounge after using the HNL-SYD connection on our DONE4s a few days ago.)