Question on A/C to Hawaii
 

Just wanted to get some opinions from those that may have done this. I'm heading to HNL for Christmas this year. Saver Awards are nowhere to be found and I've been looking for a long time so I will continue to look in hopes of snagging three. With that said, I'm planning on booking Standard Awards (I know I know..but I'm already committed to going so I have to get seats) for myself, my wife and my daughter (2 and half by the time we go). I plan on routing to IAD from SAT for the purpose of catching the international version of the 777-200 (AVOD) in Economy Plus direct to HNL. I've already verified this by doing a dummy award booking on United's site (it's version 1 of the 777-200 on SeatGuru's site). For the return, I'm trying to decide between Economy Plus on the 777-200 (same version) or do First Class on US Airway's 757-200 (same 40K miles whether I do STD Award on 777-200 or Saver Business on 757-200). What do you all think?

I would wait until Saver Award opens up and book Business via IAD or EWR on a 767 or 777 with intl lie flat seats.

I wouldn't count on saver opening up at all, especially around Christmas. That's one of the peak seasons. If it were me, I wouldn't backtrack from SAT to IAD just to get a 777. If US is an option, I would go for that. Or connect through LAX/SFO. You'll have shorter flights (especially with a toddler) and a chance for an upgrade if you have one of the eligible UA credit cards.

Good luck with this advice during peak travel season to the Islands.

This traveller thinks flying back to the east coast from SAT just to get AVOD is extreme. I'd backtrack only as far as IAH if I was going to HNL. Coming back, it's overnight, so I'd opt for the fastest. In your case, it's US via PHX.

Edit - I agree w/ njcommodore - I'd just fly west from SAT.

Can you clarify.
It reads that you are going SAT to IAD (connecting in either IAH or ORD) then connecting to HNL - on the UAL 145 Total travel time is about 17 hours.

versus connecting direct thru IAHor LAX to HNL - total travel time under 10 hours.

IMO, i would do the IAH connection and get to the beach 7 hours quicker

The IAH-HNL flight UAL145 (ac #2379) is a 777-200 with 12F / 49BF / 92E+ / 105Y I believe I have flown on this aircraft in february on a NRT-SEA routing. Sat in one of the BF seats - no problems - lie flat is better, but for 8 hours - this product was sufficient to me.

Doubt you will find ANY Saver awards that time of year. If you REALLY love flying, then go thru IAD. If not, take US Air out of Phx

I am currently thinking of flying direct SAT-IAD the day before I fly from IAD-HNL direct. My real reason for wanting to route to IAD to catch the international version of the 777-200 with AVOD is because of my toddler. Since that flight would be from 9am EST - 205pm HST, my daughter will be up for most of the flight and with AVOD's games, movies, etc. she would easily be entertained whereas no other metal flying out of SAT and heading west offers that (via LAX or SFO). I could go through IAH and catch a different version of the 777-200 but it offers OHV (not AVOD) and is in the 2X5X2 configuration vs. the 3X3X3 configuration of the international version of the 777-200. The return flight home to SAT from HNL will be a night flight obviously with the difference being the IAD flight departs at 5pm with AVOD vs. the PHX 752 leaves at 11:50pm and since we're checking out of our resort at 11am that's a loooooong time to wait with a 2.5yr old! If I could snag business savers on the 777-200 it would be great but I don't have enough miles for 3 business standards (currently have a little over 310K).

In 2007, I traveled ORD-HNL on the former UA 1, it was 777 old config - approx 10 hours of flying westbound. We had our 3 kids 4,7 & 8 - bigger than toddler age, but they survived with the array of personal electronic devices. Sat in Economy, actually the bulkhead row with the big pull down screen right in front of them. a bit unpleasant, but they were on waikiki beach by mid afternoon - all good

There are plenty of kids who survive without AVOD - for the past 50 years. And lots of them make it to Hawaii w/ the OHV. There won't be any AVOD going to IAD, and then you have to retrace a couple of hours flying time. Travelling all the extra hours for AVOD part of the way is borderline ridiculous. What if you get to IAD and they switch out aircraft and no AVOD, or AVOD goes out on your trip? How about a tablet with entertainment loaded? It's just not worth the extra flying time.

And if you're thinking of buying a hotel room at IAD, cut that hassle out (re-claiming bags, checking back in, etc), fly west from SAT, and just buy a late-checkout in Honolulu instead. The more I learn about your plan, the worse it gets.

The point of my post was to see what people thought about economy plus in 777-200 international version vs. first class 757-200 on us airways metal. I'm already set on leaving from SAT to IAD then to HNL.

F on US. Hands down.

Well, first class is first class and economy is economy. For sleeping (and shortest trip), I'd rather have the former. But wouldn't you rather have AVOD between Nebraska and IAD and all that extra flying on your way home?

What are you going to do when the newUA switches aircraft our of IAD, which I would give a 90% odds on (actually give it a 99% chance)???

Buy you kids a cheap DVD player and rent some flicks. Take control of the situation (JMHO).

Didn't notice OP's travel date so yes I agree, Christmas is busy. You could always get standard award now and change them if saver opens up before your departure date.

As far as US F vs UA Y, in my opinion F is always better than Y even on crappy US planes for that long of a distance. iPads provide great AVOD in that case.

Having lived in SAT a few years ago, I would suggest SAT-IAH-HNL, if you want a widebody aircraft (and UA F service is much better than US's). IAH is a very short flight from SAT and you still get the longer flight experience on a widebody aircraft.

A second option would be SAT-LAX-HNL or SAT-PHX-HNL -- at least you are going in the right direction.

I wouldn't even think of SAT-IAD-HNL. What if something happens (mx, ATC, etc.)? It could turn into a multi-day journey.