chinatraderjmr

YEP, I made it very clear it was a paid ticket. Can't use UA miles on EK anyway. There used to be a great first class RTW fare between UA/EK & I made it clear I was not looking for that fare either. Was very clear "hello, I need to make a booking in F class, the first flight is EK (and was stopped right there with the "we can't issue tickets on EK"..........jeeez, I can even buy a ticket these days from LY with an EK flight on it (though it's not recommended)

yolie

I have a quick question. Does economy get any kind of food on this long flight? Even if you have to pay for it? Should I buy some food?

Thanks

transportprof

United sells food in coach on the EWR-HNL route. The menu is the same as on other long-haul domestic flights. Only water, juices, soft drinks and "Coffee" is complimentary. United's coffee is so bad that there is a separate thread on their debacle - they used to serve Starbucks.

Although United's coach catering is generally less toxic than the menu served in First Class, since they can sell it, I would still recommend bring your own rations aboard.

Almost anything that you can buy in the airport will be fresher and healthier than what is sold on board the plane. And you will know what you're getting - unlike the uncertainty of what the on board catering will have left for sale by the time they reach your seat.

love_to_travel

I would bring some food on board even if flying First.

I usually get a Turkey, Brie & Apple Ficelle and/or a Tomato Mozzarella Ficelle from Balducci's.

FlytheTail

United often sells out of the perishable food options before they get half way through the cabin. One more reason to bring your own food on board, unless you only want to eat crap food (snack boxes, potato chips, candy, etc.).

lensman

EWR-HNL coach gets two rounds of BoB. I'm not sure which items from the BoB menu are carried. I've heard that they often run out before the second round.

If it were me I would buy food in the terminal. I like the sandwiches and bagel items from Balducci's.

The only thing I worry about is food for the second half of the flight. I try to avoid poisoning myself so I try to buy something that I think will last 6-8 hours. Your alternative is to eat your item on takeoff but buy a Tapas box for later.

gradsflyer

Longer Hawaii flights to and from EWR, IAD, IAH, and ORD (maybe DEN)include special BoB options in Y that no other domestic flights carry. In November when I flew to and from ORD the primary extra was a hot penne chicken pasta which was actually quite good. However since UA just changed their menus as of 1/1/14 the extra items on the longer Hawaii routes might be different now.

redtop43

I would like to ask some indulgence for a bit of hand-holding. I used to research and post actively, but have not been able to do so the past 6 months.

I would like to get a couple of Biz class award tix EWR-HNL for my parents. They have about 100K Chase points right now.

First, what are the best current offers for the MP credit card? I got one a couple years ago with a 50K offer for being logged in with my MP account with a non-zero balance, and 5K extra for adding an authorized user. Does this still apply? What is the best way to top up the point balance to what's needed?

Second, what is the mileage requirement? 80K or 100K?

Third, how can I identify the flights? When I went to the United site about a year ago, they seemed to have mileage requirements for three classes of service. Now they have only two. Which EWR-HNL flights have the sleeper seats?

Finally, what's the best strategy if any for getting the flights? They also used to have biz service IAH-HNL; do they still have that?

Unfortunately, I need a suggestion that does not include booking 355 days in advance or whatever. I don't mean to be overdramatic, but the doctors have told Mom not to buy green bananas. We're guessing she has 3-6 months tops that she'll be able to travel. I know it will take a couple months to get the credit card and push through the miles, so I have to get started soon. (I can meet any spend requirement quickly and easily.)

Thanks for the advice - obviously I've done a certain amount of my own research but I just don't know all the current info.

love_to_travel

UA15 is non-stop and is usually a 767-400ER, which has the sleeper seats.

RandomBaritone

Is that flight generally available for booking with Saver Miles in BF? I've tried on several occasions, even requiring the engine to show me only nonstop flights, and never once gotten it to show up as an option. All the booking engine shows me is connecting flights with regular domestic F cabins.

Daveyb101

From a sampling of dates around when you'd be looking to book, there really isn't much of any biz availability across the pacific (with the exception of one sfo-hnl leg that i saw (ewr-sfo was in Y though), all biz awards were mixed awards with the -hnl leg in economy). And I especially wouldn't count on anything opening up on the ewr-hnl nonstop.

nevertheless, assuming you can overcome the availability issue, the saver awards will be 40K each, each way.

I don't know what the current sign-up offers are via the web for the explorer card (there is a thread elsewhere discussing methods that had been effective in the past to get a 50K +5K signup). If you have a Chase branch nearby, they may be offering the 50 + 5 offer in-branch, as I was able to get back in september, without having to go through the process of tricking (?) the website into offering the larger bonus that was ostensibly not intended to be displayed for me.

nonstarter

thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase...nt-credit.html

floridagal23

You guys are frightening me! I am flying this route in first in feb with my husband. I have never flown United and am on a gold status match from delta mostly due to better routing to Hawaii. Now I know to bring lots of snacks.

FlightNurse

Both the EWR and IAD- HNL flights are on 767-400 with BusinessFirst seat, but the flight is basically catered as a domestic flights. So you are paying for the comfortable seats.

The ORD and IAH-HNL flights are on Domestic 777-200's, which is a surpise since the IAH=HNL flight was a international configed 777-200 with global F and Business Class.

I beleive there are a couple of flights out of LAX and SFO that have a 767-400 but the west coast to HNL flights are a mix fleet of 737/757 and 777-200s.

I'm trying to figure out a trip for the spring EWR-HNL-YVR-DCA and it's been very hard to get decent flights on UA.

lensman

Saver F availability for the EWR-HNL and HNL-EWR nonstops is very hard to get far out - especially at peak season. It's easier during the shoulder seasons. A couple of options:
1. Book any flight, then change your award flight to the nonstop if it becomes available.
2. Outbound to HNL, I don't mind routing EWR-LAX-HNL, EWR-SFO-HNL, EWR-ORD-HNL or EWR-IAH-HNL. The food is actually better EWR-LAX and EWR-SFO and I don't personally need the lie-flats during the day.