LAX-HNL: Trying to decide which carrier...
 

I'm looking to head to HNL for Labor Day weekend and a family visit and have a slight dilemma regarding which carrier to take.

I have the most miles on Delta (27,000), but that's not saying much. The pricing is okay and they fly 767 and 757s there. My preferred carrier is AA and they have a good schedule and pricing, but I have the least amount of miles on them (4,000). For its part, United is pretty competitive with AA both in terms of price and schedule (8,000 miles on them).

As a leisure traveler/recent college grad, I realize my mileage is tiny compared to the average FTer, but I appeal to the FT community for input on this one. Is there a good flight you've taken on this route (good amenities, good service)? What's the difference between each flight in your view? Thanks in advance.

LAX-HNL: Trying to decide which carrier...
 

Given that you most likely have no status on any of these what is your concern? With such limited miles are you asking what is the best coach fare or what is the best to earn miles?

It would also help to know where you think you'll travel in the future.

With that stash of miles it sounds like you are paying cash. Unless you are willing to pay for business the amenities you can expext are crowded cabins, gruel and oxygen.

Service will be equally crappy unless you can miracle yourself into F on any of these carriers. Also, your seat will be equally crappy unless you can miracle yourself into an exit row, preferably on the 767. Alternately, the ABC side of the first row of coach of the 757 is ok, as long as you don't mind people waiting for the forward lav being near you, or the slightly cooler cabin temp as you get closer to 2L, the exit row door.

They're all equally bad, but as a tall person, I prefer United, because I can buy a reasonable upgrade to Economy Plus, which entitles me to nothing but more leg room, but that is priceless on a flight of that length.

If you're not tall, then it's six of one, half a dozen of the others.

You don't have enough miles on Delta for a roundtrip, so really, go by price.

look on orbitz/other for the low bidders, then think about mi....

I'd say DL just to reduce "orphaned miles"... assuming all else are equal.

In the short term, I was wondering which was the best coach fare (all three of the legacy carriers have comparable fare prices LAX-HNL, so I was trying to figure out if one carrier had a service advantage (i.e. wifi, AVOD, that type of stuff).

In the long term, the goal is to earn status. Given the amount of miles I have on Delta, one would figure I'd seek them out, but their FFP program sucks (a shame too, considering their service has been pretty good). AA's program is about to be tweaked post-AA/US merger and UA FF's have been furious with changes post-UA/CO merger.

To answer your question of where I'll travel in the future, most of my travels involve PHX, HNL, IAD, and MCO with possible travel to AUS or SAT. Being that I'm LA-based, I realize AA and UA allow the most options for flights, but are they easy to start building up status? I'm almost at the point with Delta to where I'd just walk away and start over on another plan because the FFP is so bad (and their LAX service, while improving, doesn't match AA or UA).

I know you didn't mention them, but Hawaiian Airlines has slightly better service in coach, including free meals and a more pleasant attitude than the larger airlines. Not useful for you if you want to build status with a major carrier, obviously.

No WiFi over the ocean yet on mainland-Hawaii flights. Maybe in a couple years.

One option for someone who wants to just concentrate on low fares as opposed to locking in on a single carrier would be joining and crediting AS (Alaska). You get some basic status perks on both AA and DL to go along with AS status, if you achieve it, and can pick and choose between AA, AS and DL flying (and be able to redeem on AS, AA, DL, CX, EK, KE, AF/KL- you're not locked into DL's redemption options).

AS doesn't fly to HNL out of LAX (they do out of SJC and SAN, however- both are turning into focus cities to go along with LAX).

I flew HA in May last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Would highly recommend them to anyone for LAX-HNL (especially since T2 tends to be a lot easier to get in and out of than the other terminals). Unfortunately, HA's fares for the time I'm looking at are significantly higher.

Thanks for the tip! I've been trying to figure out my miles realignment for some time because of the various problems I've had on the carriers. DL and AA I've already mentioned and UA looked like it was going to be a great fit (especially when they had the pay w/miles option, but then the merger was finalized, that went away.

Seems like the carriers are moving to the revenue-based models which will mean travelers like me (frequent leisure, but not enough to earn status) will really get the shaft. So then, the question has been do I go with a single carrier, or just go with lowest fare and try to maintain miles on each carrier? I've heard arguments on FT go both ways, but it sounds like Alaska would be somewhere in the middle.

Probably not enough to matter.
Not a ton. With your current balances I wouldn't let the FF programs skew your booking at all.

A good way to compare in-flight amenities and such is www.RouteHappy.com. Looking at your route/timeframe HA gets the best reviews. Not much of a surprise there, really, as they have a pretty decent service and the competing products aren't anything to write home about.

I did UA from LAX-OGG (december) and to be honest with you,it was not bad at all,now the services in economy were simple,free drinks (non alcoholic) and some peanuts,but there was simple snacks and quick cold meal to purchase as well.

But go with pricing and with a airline you already have an account with. Kayak and see which offers you the best in price and go from there.

Have a wonderful trip.

I don't think you got peanuts on UA...