Playing the 'positioning flight' game - have I got this right ?

Murphy_The_Cat

FunTime wrote: »

Do you have one of those Cumberland Plus Accounts?

No, I'm from the Mint Cake end of Cumbria. We don't have much to do with that dreadful Cumberland lot. There be dragons over Shap Fell :eek:

stevie11 wrote: »

I have used the 'hold' option before on a number of flights but didn't see it last week when I made my last booking and I always use the UK AA website. Tbh I was more bothered getting the price and desired routing as I could see prices rising during the night I booked so may have just clicked straight to purchase.

I've juist done a dummy booking on americanairlines.co.uk and its showing on the view and pay page
select a payment option
credit/debit card
other forms of payment
hold
Happy days

I've just spotted that it summaries how many aadvantage miles you get for trips as well. Oh dear, the latest devaluation hasn't helped :cool:

dickydonkin wrote: »

We did LIH last year for just under £1100 ex Dublin on BA to LAX and AA to LIH (a beautiful island incidentally) and did a bit of island hopping as well. This was in buisness (BA) and domestic First (AA).

I have a big (ish) birthday coming up next year and we both would like to do a similar trip in July.

Hawaii has been available (and still was a couple of days ago) for around £1500 booking through AA, which is not unreasonable, but I am hoping the price will drop a little, although due to currency fluctuations since my last visit, I don't think I would get a better (or indeed similar) deal than what I previously paid.

Here's hoping though.

Have you looked at routing via Dallas to Hawaii in both directions ?
Maybe not as convienient as LAX, but it is a fully flat bed business class / Domestic First on a 767-300 DFW-HNL-DFW which will help the value of the trip.
On a random date next July I've got £1582 flying via Dallas flat bed all the way (except for the DUB-LHR legs), or a little bit cheaper if you prefer DFW-CLT-DUB, with DFW-CLT being 'normal' seats.
The LHR-DFW Business Class legs are on the AA 777-300ER which seems to be a nice piece of kit.

FunTime

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

No, I'm from the Mint Cake end of Cumbria. We don't have ,uch to do with that dreadful Cumberland lot. There be dragons over Shap Fell :eek:

You definitely fall within their branch operating area

Useful for fee free foreign currency transactions abroad. Though the funding requirement could be an inconvenience.

Murphy_The_Cat

FunTime wrote: »

You definitely fall within their branch operating area

Useful for fee free foreign currency transactions abroad. Though the funding requirement could be an inconvenience.

I'm only pulling your leg :beer:. I've been told that there aren't really dragons over Shap Fell, but I've still not picked up the nerve to check.

They seem to be a very successful BS that is good at what it does. I don't use the fee free currency service, as I utilise Halifax Clarity, but I know plenty of folk that do and are happy with them.

stevie11

dickydonkin wrote: »

We did LIH last year for just under £1100 ex Dublin on BA to LAX and AA to LIH (a beautiful island incidentally) and did a bit of island hopping as well. This was in buisness (BA) and domestic First (AA).

I have a big (ish) birthday coming up next year and we both would like to do a similar trip in July.

Hawaii has been available (and still was a couple of days ago) for around £1500 booking through AA, which is not unreasonable, but I am hoping the price will drop a little, although due to currency fluctuations since my last visit, I don't think I would get a better (or indeed similar) deal than what I previously paid.

Here's hoping though.

At £1500 it is not a bad price. I am looking at possibly purchasing economy then using my AA systemwide upgrades. I was hoping for a price around £700 but I would also like to stop off at SFO on the return.


Good luck with your planning:)

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

I've juist done a dummy booking on americanairlines.co.uk and its showing on the view and pay page
select a payment option
credit/debit card
other forms of payment
hold
Happy days

I've just spotted that it summaries how many aadvantage miles you get for trips as well. Oh dear, the latest devaluation hasn't helped :cool:

I haven't earned EQM or RDM on AA since the devalue but seen the summary. With AA going spend based next year I may look at the BA FF program.

Have you looked at routing via Dallas to Hawaii in both directions ?
Maybe not as convienient as LAX, but it is a fully flat bed business class / Domestic First on a 767-300 DFW-HNL-DFW which will help the value of the trip.
On a random date next July I've got £1582 flying via Dallas flat bed all the way (except for the DUB-LHR legs), or a little bit cheaper if you prefer DFW-CLT-DUB, with DFW-CLT being 'normal' seats.
The LHR-DFW Business Class legs are on the AA 777-300ER which seems to be a nice piece of kit.

I will check these out when searching for HNL, thanks. I agree the business class pods on the 300 are very nice and comfortable. Although after a recent upgrade experience on Qatar A380 I must say that the Qatar product and service is superior to AA, plus we didn't pay a penny extra for the privilege

Murphy_The_Cat

stevie11 wrote: »

At £1500 it is not a bad price. I am looking at possibly purchasing economy then using my AA systemwide upgrades. I was hoping for a price around £700 but I would also like to stop off at SFO on the return.

I saw this and thought of you.;)

Marseille/Lyon to Honolulu 574 euro return with AA/BA

I don't know if its SFO able

budgetflyer

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

I saw this and thought of you.;)

Marseille/Lyon to Honolulu 574 euro return with AA/BA

I don't know if its SFO able

If you needed a positioning flight today/tmorro you would have been stuffed due to French ATC strike for, I heard, the 14th time in a year.
I was looking at Oman Air Paris to India next Easter, business for £900 but the risk of UK to France cancelation is to high IMO

stevie11

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

I saw this and thought of you.;)

Marseille/Lyon to Honolulu 574 euro return with AA/BA

I don't know if its SFO able

Thanks for the heads up.:T Just done a dummy booking in Jan through the link which works out approx. £480 plus positioning flight of £150 from Man or £90 from Lhr. That is a great price for BA. You now have me thinking of an additional trip in January at those prices;)


I was looking more for next Easter, which of course the price is slightly higher. Using the link the cost with positioning flight from Man would be approx. £740. I did a dummy booking on AA and same dates came out at £730 out of Man rather than Mrs which means I would get my full award points and possible use my SWU's.


I do subscribe to secrtflying but never purchased through a foreign third party site, have you? I usually book through the airline website. Cheers

Murphy_The_Cat

stevie11 wrote: »

Thanks for the heads up.:T Just done a dummy booking in Jan through the link which works out approx. £480 plus positioning flight of £150 from Man or £90 from Lhr. That is a great price for BA. You now have me thinking of an additional trip in January at those prices;)


I was looking more for next Easter, which of course the price is slightly higher. Using the link the cost with positioning flight from Man would be approx. £740. I did a dummy booking on AA and same dates came out at £730 out of Man rather than Mrs which means I would get my full award points and possible use my SWU's.


I do subscribe to secrtflying but never purchased through a foreign third party site, have you? I usually book through the airline website. Cheers

have you had a go with google flights and tinkering with the dates/calender ? There are quite a few opitions in April for £700 or slightly less, with AA (some connect in LHR, some in ORD).

I've not used a foreign OTA, and up until this year, I hadn't used a UK OTA for ages either. Like you my preference is to book directly with the airline.

stevie11

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

have you had a go with google flights and tinkering with the dates/calender ? There are quite a few opitions in April for £700 or slightly less, with AA (some connect in LHR, some in ORD).

I've not used a foreign OTA, and up until this year, I hadn't used a UK OTA for ages either. Like you my preference is to book directly with the airline.

Hi, I usually use google flights. Thanks for that, £700 was my target price but was hoping to add SFO on the end of the trip but that is coming out over £1k. We will have to consider our dates and options.


Would you say HNL is a good base for the islands or base ourselves on another island? We like to sunbath/relax but want to visit the historical sites and landmarks etc.


I am a little sceptical using OTA's with stories I have read, plus I like to make sure I get applicable FF miles/points.


Thanks again.

dickydonkin

stevie11 wrote: »

Would you say HNL is a good base for the islands or base ourselves on another island? We like to sunbath/relax but want to visit the historical sites and landmarks etc.
Thanks again.

I would suggest that if you have done Oahu before, then my personal preference would be to start off at another island as the hopping is very easy as Hawaiian Airlines fly very frequently between islands.

My opinion is that they are over developing the area around Waikiki and it was very sad to see the International Market Place being redeveloped to accommodate high end shops.

That said, Oahu does have some nice areas to see that can be seen reasonably cheap on public transport, but for the other islands, I found having a car was extremely convenient.

Incidentally, if you join Hawaiian Airlines FF programme, you will get your first hold bag free of charge - certainly that was the case last year.

As I posted previously, Kauai is beautiful and laid back, Maui is very nice but how they were allowed to build the concrete monstrosities at Kanapaali is beyond me.

Of my four visits, my regret was not finding the time to visit the big island, that is why I am searching (and hoping) in earnest that AA will have a good deal on offer very soon, although I am still tempted to take the 1500 (ish) price that is frequently popping up.