Saver award to Hawaii next winter - how early to book?
Jan 9, 2001, 6:32 pm
#1
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Original Poster
Join Date: May 1999
Location: San Francisco UA1K; AA Gold
Posts: 937
Saver award to Hawaii next winter - how early to book?
My sister wants to cash in her miles for two saver awards to Hawaii next winter - either November/early December, or (more likely) January-March.
Problem is, she won't know until August if my nephew is going to stay there (a visit being the purpose of the trip) or move back to the mainland.
How far in advance will she need to book? Can she wait until August or should she book now and risk having to pay the fee to redeposit the miles? And we recognize that any past experience is subject to change, what with mergers, flight eliminations, etc.
On the plus side, she's pretty flexible within those date ranges...and at least she'll be flying out of GEG - I'll bet DEN-Hawaii is near impossible in the winter, since both ends are high traffic for awards!
Problem is, she won't know until August if my nephew is going to stay there (a visit being the purpose of the trip) or move back to the mainland.
How far in advance will she need to book? Can she wait until August or should she book now and risk having to pay the fee to redeposit the miles? And we recognize that any past experience is subject to change, what with mergers, flight eliminations, etc.
On the plus side, she's pretty flexible within those date ranges...and at least she'll be flying out of GEG - I'll bet DEN-Hawaii is near impossible in the winter, since both ends are high traffic for awards!
Jan 9, 2001, 8:58 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Aeroplan, Worldperks, Canada
Posts: 90
Being the largest airline in US, you don't have to worry too much about merger or bankruptcy at the United Airlines. Award tickets can be booked months in advance and are usually quite flexible to change. The high season in Hawaii is in the winter months, from Christmas to March... So if she wants to go during this period, act early. Unless she has an elite status with the airlines, it might be hard to get a place. It is not unusual to hear that places are fully booked 5 or 6 months in advance to popluar destinations like Hawaii or Europe, during the high season.
So my advice is to act early. You can change the dates free without even a need to reissue... The penalty charge is there only if you want to change routing or redeposit mileage back.
So my advice is to act early. You can change the dates free without even a need to reissue... The penalty charge is there only if you want to change routing or redeposit mileage back.
Jan 10, 2001, 8:45 am
#3
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Boulder, CO and Waimea, HI
Programs: UAL 1K MM
Posts: 748
I flew 4 of us from Denver (thru LAX) to Hawaii this past Christmas (12/24 - 1/5)on saver awards. We booked sometime in May/June as I recall.