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Old May 31, 2019, 9:40 am
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Award Availability Spring Break KOA-ORD

Looking to book spring break for 2020 to the big island for a week or so. I can find plenty of availability on the way out for 22.5K miles, but coming back it's all 45K. Anyone have experience with traveling to any island in Hawaii over the Easter holiday? Wondering if there is ever saver availability that week, or is it typically not available? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
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Old May 31, 2019, 6:18 pm
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Originally Posted by bsdstone
Looking to book spring break for 2020 to the big island for a week or so. I can find plenty of availability on the way out for 22.5K miles, but coming back it's all 45K. Anyone have experience with traveling to any island in Hawaii over the Easter holiday? Wondering if there is ever saver availability that week, or is it typically not available? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
you may get lucky with mid-week flights at odd hours but UA knows very well they will sell these seats so seeing XN is not common and IN pretty much never. I have had some success before with holiday flights to Hawaii booking right the day they opened up inventory ... the next day it was all gone.
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Old May 31, 2019, 6:22 pm
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Originally Posted by bsdstone
Anyone have experience with traveling to any island in Hawaii over the Easter holiday? Wondering if there is ever saver availability that week, or is it typically not available?
Typically not available - Spring Break is one of the busiest times on the islands.

Keep checking daily - one thing in your favor, Kona isn't nearly as popular as Honolulu or Maui.
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Old May 31, 2019, 6:23 pm
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I'd stick to trying to find economy saver. If someone posted a successful IN/I posting far out, I'd be very surprised.
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Old May 31, 2019, 8:56 pm
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Originally Posted by PsiFighter37
I'd stick to trying to find economy saver. If someone posted a successful IN/I posting far out, I'd be very surprised.
To be fair, the OP was asking about economy seats.

OP: I agree with the general consensus that this may be a tough ask.

Sadly, it gets worse than that: as of November 15, UA is eliminating the award chart. There’s theoretically no limit to how many miles they could request for your return flight. Furthermore, the 22.5K outbound flights could disappear at any time.
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Old May 31, 2019, 11:16 pm
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Originally Posted by jsloan

To be fair, the OP was asking about economy seats.

OP: I agree with the general consensus that this may be a tough ask.

Sadly, it gets worse than that: as of November 15, UA is eliminating the award chart. There’s theoretically no limit to how many miles they could request for your return flight. Furthermore, the 22.5K outbound flights could disappear at any time.
Thanks! That's what I was afraid of! I'm thinking of booking the 6 one way tickets to the islands and then putting in a price alert for a return, and checking daily on award tickets...not sure either is a great option!
Cheap travel was a lot easier when you could travel at off peak or shoulder seasons vs. having to do it around kids school schedules!
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Old Jun 1, 2019, 6:36 am
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Note by the time you are traveling, WN (if the MAX is back in service) should have begun flying to the islands. That may both pressure UA prices -- and give you an economical one-way return option to couple with your Saver seats outbound.
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Old Jun 1, 2019, 10:12 am
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Originally Posted by seenitall
Note by the time you are traveling, WN (if the MAX is back in service) should have begun flying to the islands. That may both pressure UA prices -- and give you an economical one-way return option to couple with your Saver seats outbound.
Southwest has been operating for over a month now to the Islands. KOA isn't particularly convenient via WN. Outside of their introductory prices, fares aren't exactly bargains. The best thing is free bags.
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