Airfare to Hawaii from the East coast

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Thanks Egret1986, you have really help us in planning a vacation to Hawaii. We are applying for an Alaska Airline credit card.

Looking at a one day staying in San Francisco or San Jose to break up the long flight.

If you book this as a single trip, connecting in SFO or SJC, you will be offered only a specific set of connecting flight options. If you want to actual spend some time to break up the flight, book it as a multi-city flight, e.g., origin->SJC; SJC->Hawaii; Hawaii->origin.

The multi-city itinerary might cost more for the primary ticket, but the companion fare will be the same. There might also be some differences in airport fees.

 

[artringwald]

If you book this as a single trip, connecting in SFO or SJC, you will be offered only a specific set of connecting flight options. If you want to actual spend some time to break up the flight, book it as a multi-city flight, e.g., origin->SJC; SJC->Hawaii; Hawaii->origin.

The multi-city itinerary might cost more for the primary ticket, but the companion fare will be the same. There might also be some differences in airport fees.

For several years we've been doing overnight stop overs on the west coast on the way over and back from Hawaii. Multi-destination bookings are usually pretty close to round trip prices. Some of the differences may depend on the travel days.

 

[Luanne]

For several years we've been doing overnight stop overs on the west coast on the way over and back from Hawaii. Multi-destination bookings are usually pretty close to round trip prices. Some of the differences may depend on the travel days.

We do this as well, but we book on different airlines for each leg. Meaning we fly from Albuquerque to the San Francisco Bay Area (Oakland) on Southwest Airlines, usually using points. Then we fly Alaska Airlines from Oakland to Maui using my companion fare, or points.

 

[Egret1986]

You're all but guaranteed to have schedule changes on flights to Hawai'i. It has happened every single trip for us, but most of the time hasn't been a problem. This year was an anomoly, as I used AAnytime miles for our seats, and American wanted to charge me for the same MCE seats after the flights changed, even though I purchased the tickets on the last day before their new policy went into effect (no free MCE with AAnytime tickets). They corrected it, but it took a phone call to get done.

As for stopping over, we did that two years ago at LAX. Never. Again. It was the first time we had stayed the night before flying to Maui the next morning, and the lag between time zone changes completely screwed us all up. We went back to flying straight through (PHL->LAX->OGG) this year, with much better results. To each his own there.

Well, it's happened......the guaranteed schedule changes on flights to Hawaii. We had First Class tickets. Checking schedules, about the best we can change to, at this point, is Premium Economy. We had First Class seats. Aaahhhhhhhhh!

Any strategies out there? We're flying on AA and used miles. I'm trying not to freak out because that's not going to help. What's the best that I could expect AA to do for us?

 

[NTP66]

Well, it's happened......the guaranteed schedule changes on flights to Hawaii. We had First Class tickets. Checking schedules, about the best we can change to, at this point, is Premium Economy. We had First Class seats. Aaahhhhhhhhh!

Any strategies out there? We're flying on AA and used miles. I'm trying not to freak out because that's not going to help. What's the best that I could expect AA to do for us?

Call AA and let them know what happened. If you already had confirmed FC seats (miles or cash), they should be able to get you back into FC without much effort unless the new flight is crazy oversold already.

 

[Egret1986]

Call AA and let them know what happened. If you already had confirmed FC seats (miles or cash), they should be able to get you back into FC without much effort unless the new flight is crazy oversold already.

All the possible options, online, seem to have no First Class left except a couple of flights and those have Main Cabin seats on most legs of the flights and have much longer travel times. I put the tickets on hold for 24 hours if I get desperate. I really hope that there's other options. What was once great seats and flight times has turned into options that are undesirable. I guess my best option is going to be calling and hope for a good outcome. Thanks.

 

[controller1]

All the possible options, online, seem to have no First Class left except a couple of flights and those have Main Cabin seats on most legs of the flights and have much longer travel times. I put the tickets on hold for 24 hours if I get desperate. I really hope that there's other options. What was once great seats and flight times has turned into options that are undesirable. I guess my best option is going to be calling and hope for a good outcome. Thanks.

As @NTP66 said, call AA and do so ASAP. You're not the only one in this situation so you need to act quickly. Additionally, if you had AAnytime awards, AA will make room for you in First even if no mileage awards are available online. If no First seats are available even for purchase, it will be more difficult. But the thing you need to do is CALL and do it NOW.

 

[Egret1986]

As @NTP66 said, call AA and do so ASAP. You're not the only one in this situation so you need to act quickly. Additionally, if you had AAnytime awards, AA will make room for you in First even if no mileage awards are available online. If no First seats are available even for purchase, it will be more difficult. But the thing you need to do is CALL and do it NOW.

Thank you.

 

[Egret1986]

I thought that I would be proactive and spent a good deal of time yesterday and last night looking at AA flights (cash) available for my dates in First Class. I put the flights on hold for 24 hours. The alternative flights that I found were acceptable. Unfortunately, I was unaware that they would be unwilling to move me to other First Class flights. They were only willing to refund my points. As anyone knows, this is prime time for Maui and it's less than three months away with limited seating, bad schedules, much higher costs/miles than when I purchased the tickets in April.

I don't have experience with these types of schedule changes and assumed that they would be interested in getting us into available First Class seats for our dates since AA changed the original schedule. It would have been impossible since a connecting flight leaves one hour before we arrive to that airport.

I don't know what to do at this point. I can't afford to buy new tickets now. The options that AA offered were abysmal at best. We've never been to Maui. I've considered cancelling the trip. We would lose money on the accommodations. We bought early to ensure that we could obtain First Class seats. That's the only way that I want to fly for such a long travel time. It was all set......I thought. It looks like Economy or cancellation.

 

[controller1]

I thought that I would be proactive and spent a good deal of time yesterday and last night looking at AA flights (cash) available for my dates in First Class. I put the flights on hold for 24 hours. The alternative flights that I found were acceptable. Unfortunately, I was unaware that they would be unwilling to move me to other First Class flights. They were only willing to refund my points. As anyone knows, this is prime time for Maui and it's less than three months away with limited seating, bad schedules, much higher costs/miles than when I purchased the tickets in April.

I don't have experience with these types of schedule changes and assumed that they would be interested in getting us into available First Class seats for our dates since AA changed the original schedule. It would have been impossible since a connecting flight leaves one hour before we arrive to that airport.

I don't know what to do at this point. I can't afford to buy new tickets now. The options that AA offered were abysmal at best. We've never been to Maui. I've considered cancelling the trip. We would lose money on the accommodations. We bought early to ensure that we could obtain First Class seats. That's the only way that I want to fly for such a long travel time. It was all set......I thought. It looks like Economy or cancellation.

Are you elite with American?

Is this the outbound flight from the mainland to Maui???

 

[MOXJO7282]

We're doing coach Newark to Maui in August and we were able to get 22.5k savers for the 4 of us. On way home doing 1st for 95k each and still need to buy 1 seat or wait for more miles. It is a shame that about 10 years ago it was easy to get 1st class saver seats for 75k RT for the lay flat seats. Now they make you break the bank for crappy 757 seats.

 

[Egret1986]

Are you elite with American?

Is this the outbound flight from the mainland to Maui???

No Elite Status.

Yes, outbound to Maui is from ORF on East Coast.

 

[controller1]

No Elite Status.

Yes, outbound to Maui is from ORF on East Coast.

I'm sure you've thought of this and looked into it, but in case you haven't . . . are you able to get to your connecting city the night before so that you can continue on your originally scheduled flights in First?

 

[Egret1986]

I'm sure you've thought of this and looked into it, but in case you haven't . . . are you able to get to your connecting city the night before so that you can continue on your originally scheduled flights in First?

Thank you for your input. I was hoping there was some type of secret code word or something to be shared by Tuggers, I guess.

Yes, earlier in the thread, I was considering the "uninterrupted" straight flight to Maui. Our one previous trip to the islands, we stopped in San Jose and flew out the next morning on Alaska Air. We were trying to do something different this time and we almost made it (not really). Almost perfect schedules, perfect seats, costs worked, etc.

I've naturally been obsessed with this since the notification. Yep, there's some decent "Economy" schedules with bad and worse seats that we could get. But 15 to 18 hours trying to get somewhere and being in Economy just makes me want to cancel the trip. I've looked at schedules for flying out of a different city (two hours away). I'm really trying to use miles and I'm pretty limited at this point as to what's available. Yes, I can fly first class to the connecting city (SAN, SFO, SJC) and then fly out the next day on Hawaiian or Alaska. I definitely want to fly FC to Maui. Those tickets would be added costs, along with the hotel night's stay. It would be about $1500 in additional costs because of this schedule change. A better schedule coming home in FC means a shortened stay in Maui (it will become an 11 day stay vs 13). I've got several potential one way flights on hold (using miles).

I've checked and I did get protection on my RCI points and can cancel up through check-in day with no loss of points. So that's a good thing if we cancel. However, that would mean a whole lot of miles and points to use up. The pickin's out there for both this coming winter to warm places are slim and none.

I'm going to do some more analyzing and figure this thing out. This just wasn't expected and I have been knocked akilter.

In the grand scheme of life, it's "just a thing" to be dealt with and then move on with the outcome.

I gotta feeling we'll be checking out Maui in February; some way, some how.

 

[Egret1986]

Update. I posted in the Vacation Travel forum regarding my schedule change and how that would affect my car rental reservation. Rates are crazy high compared to when I made my reservation in April.

This evening, I was able to get the airline agent to switch my flights to arriving and departing one day early. We will be in FC, as originally booked. There will be no additional costs. The agent indicated that in the future, if a similar situation arises, then ask to speak to a supervisor.

I had a nudge and encouragement from Tugger Sandy in the other thread. I'm thankful the call with AA went well. My original schedule was optimal, but this one is acceptable.

We're back on track for our Maui trip. With a couple more tweeks (hotel room for one night and car rental adjustment), we'll be set once again!

 

[controller1]

Update. I posted in the Vacation Travel forum regarding my schedule change and how that would affect my car rental reservation. Rates are crazy high compared to when I made my reservation in April.

This evening, I was able to get the airline agent to switch my flights to arriving and departing one day early. We will be in FC, as originally booked. There will be no additional costs. The agent indicated that in the future, if a similar situation arises, then ask to speak to a supervisor.

I had a nudge and encouragement from Tugger Sandy in the other thread. I'm thankful the call with AA went well. My original schedule was optimal, but this one is acceptable.

We're back on track for our Maui trip. With a couple more tweeks (hotel room for one night and car rental adjustment), we'll be set once again!

Excellent resolution! Enjoy your trip!

 

[artringwald]

We just got notice that one of our flights back from Hawaii had changed. However, the date, flight #, departure, and arrival times are all the same.

 

[slip]

We just got notice that one of our flights back from Hawaii had changed. However, the date, flight #, departure, and arrival times are all the same.

I have gotten a notice for a one minute time change before.

 

[Firepath]

We just got notice that one of our flights back from Hawaii had changed. However, the date, flight #, departure, and arrival times are all the same.

Do you still have the same seats?

 

[artringwald]

Do you still have the same seats?

I had to check, but yes, same seats.

 

[NTP66]

Glad this worked out for you. It's worth noting that this is precisely why I check my seat assignments every Monday when I schedule a trip to Maui right up until we leave. The airlines don't have to notify you of any schedule/plane changes until a certain period before departure (I forget how long, but probably within 30-45 days). This has helped me catch plane and departure/arrival time changes on every single trip we've taken over the past 6 years. Five minutes of effort weekly is absolutely worth it, IMO.

 

[Egret1986]

Glad this worked out for you. It's worth noting that this is precisely why I check my seat assignments every Monday when I schedule a trip to Maui right up until we leave. The airlines don't have to notify you of any schedule/plane changes until a certain period before departure (I forget how long, but probably within 30-45 days). This has helped me catch plane and departure/arrival time changes on every single trip we've taken over the past 6 years. Five minutes of effort weekly is absolutely worth it, IMO.

That's great information to know. I didn't realize that. Yikes! You're right, five minutes of effort weekly is absolutely worth it...". This is a very big trip for us and most people. We knew it would be expensive going in; however, didn't take into consideration the potential risks of a schedule change to that extent. Now I know.

Now to begin the exciting part of planning our days and nights on Maui.

 

[JIMinNC]

Our AA flights to Hawaii for Feb/Mar have changed twice since we made the original reservations. We are paying cash rather than miles, so we had more options to choose from when the flights they put us on were less acceptable

The first change put us on a horrible connection home from Kona, but since it was an AA-initiated change, there were able to get us on the Boeing 777 that flies nonstop from Kona to DFW and then on to CLT. The great thing was, that was the flight we originally wanted way back when we booked, but back then, the fare on those flights were about $150 - $200 higher than the flights we originally booked. But since AA messed up our return, we were able to get the flights we had originally preferred. We lucked out on that one.

The second change just happened a few days ago. It wasn't a significant schedule change, but was a significant equipment change that totally changed our seating. On our flight out to Honolulu, we are connecting through Phoenix. Originally the flight from CLT to PHX was on a Airbus A321 and we had great Main Cabin Extra exit row seats. But they just upgraded that CLT-PHX leg to a wide body Airbus A330-300 and put us in the middle section between the two aisles, still in MCE but with no window. Fortunately, we noticed it in time and were able to switch to two MCE window/aisle seats together - the same two seats we had on a recent flight on the same aircraft type from Rome to CLT. So, we got lucky again. Since we also fly on an A330-300 from PHX to HNL, given the way AA uses their A330 wide-bodies, I am pretty sure the aircraft that we fly from CLT to PHX will be the same plane we fly on to HNL a couple hours later - just as a different flight number. They are using the CLT-PHX leg to reposition the plane from their A330 operations base at CLT to PHX for the Honolulu flight.

 

[TXTortoise]

We’ve had two minor time changes for our SAT-DFW-OGG trip in late Feb. As usual, making sure the seats didn’t get scrambled is my first thought. We’ve managed FC on AA the past two years, but are trying their new Premium Economy out of DFW this time. Cash price point when first released was $1250, which was close to what coach with checked bags and MCE upgrade was going to be. With FC you really need to research the plane you are on as the product varies dramatically as it’s domestic FC, a marginally FC product by any domestic carrier.

A minor, but somewhat costly nit, is that with no PE from SAT to DFW you either get coach or have to upgrade to MCE. Marginal choice for a 60 minute flight, but the free bag still applies as it’s ticketed as PE.

Also, I found that Google Flights didn’t accurately offer the routing I purchased, showing a higher premium because Google assumed a FC upgrade charge sir the SAT-DFW legs. Always validate and cross-shop the primary airlines website.

 

[Henry M.]

I fly Premium Economy on the 777 DFW-FRA often, and find it acceptable. Much better than MCE further back in the plane. Room in FC is better, but PE seat size is enough for me to be comfortable. The arm rests are more than 2x the width of the arm rests in the back.

MCE in the 777 is lacking in width. They’ve added an extra seat in each row, making the seats and aisles very narrow. I find the MCE leg room perhaps manageable, but now the shoulder room is an issue if you have a couple of 6’+ guys next to each other. The arm rests are so narrow that two people can’t share them. It is not possible for two wide-shoulder people to not rub shoulders.