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

stevie11

dickydonkin wrote: »

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.

Thanks again for the advice, this will be our first trip, so need to read up and take advice like yours. I think the tip of enrolling with Hawaiian Airlines FF programme is very useful as we would possibly use them to island hop.

I remember earlier in the year AA were having a sale for flights during the Summer vacation months (Jul/Aug) with business class fares as low as £1200. Now that is a deal

stevie11

Murphy, not sure where your last post went regards to the error fare on secret flyer link from Ams. You shouldn't keep doing this to me as once again they were great prices and I want to go and book it;) Unfortunately Easter was not in the deal.


I have done a few MR's in the past but not sure I could get away on my own to HNL for a week or so, know what I mean.:rotfl: Fri to Mon may be able to get away with it though;)


:beer:

FunTime

stevie11 wrote: »

Murphy, not sure where your last post went regards to the error fare on secret flyer link from Ams. You shouldn't keep doing this to me as once again they were great prices and I want to go and book it;) Unfortunately Easter was not in the deal.


I have done a few MR's in the past but not sure I could get away on my own to HNL for a week or so, know what I mean.:rotfl: Fri to Mon may be able to get away with it though;)


:beer:

It didn't last for long. I wanted to book, but I literally did not have any space in which to fit an extra trip. I'm already throwing away my trip to Peru in order to do something else, to take advantage of another offer.

FunTime

Only one or two OTAs showing availability. So not reliable.

Murphy_The_Cat

Y

stevie11 wrote: »

Murphy, not sure where your last post went regards to the error fare on secret flyer link from Ams. You shouldn't keep doing this to me as once again they were great prices and I want to go and book it;) Unfortunately Easter was not in the deal.


:beer:

I put it up because amongst the OTAs that I didn't recognise, Expedia was there, which I did recognise.
However, when I went back and clicked onto the Expedia link, the price didn't come up as expected.
I didn't like the idea of linking to a 'cracking offer' and having someone hoodwinked into something that they weren't expecting

stevie11

FunTime wrote: »

It didn't last for long. I wanted to book, but I literally did not have any space in which to fit an extra trip. I'm already throwing away my trip to Peru in order to do something else, to take advantage of another offer.

Sounds like you are getting out and about more than I am at the moment :rotfl:

stevie11

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Y

I put it up because amongst the OTAs that I didn't recognise, Expedia was there, which I did recognise.
However, when I went back and clicked onto the Expedia link, the price didn't come up as expected.
I didn't like the idea of linking to a 'cracking offer' and having someone hoodwinked into something that they weren't expecting

Don't worry about it Murph, I understand the error fare process

dickydonkin

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

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 normally try to stick to BA going Westbound, but they seem to be losing the plot under the current regime.

American seem to be upping their game and I don't have a preference which city I transfer in the US provided the layover isn't protracted. I flew a couple of domestics a couple a couple of weeks ago and they were fine.

So yes, I would certainly have no issues using any reasonable routing, however, convincing Mrs D might be more problematic.

Nick_C

dickydonkin wrote: »

I normally try to stick to BA going Westbound, but they seem to be losing the plot under the current regime.

American seem to be upping their game ...

AA's J class at its best is streets ahead of the BA product. Privacy, aisle access to every seat, more space and a less crowded cabin. As long as it's on a plane that has flat bed's, then for me it would be AA every time.

Domestic first, except on coast to coast, is not comparable to transatlantic J, but it is much better then Club Europe. And you can find domestic flights (such as DFW to HNL) that use long haul international planes. I had a nice flight from JFK to MIA in December on a long haul 767 with flat bed seats.

budgetflyer

If you have an Amex, some cards
have an offer of £200 cashback on £1k spend with Trailfinders. Valid to end of month.
As above,research on google flights / ITA then phone them your requirements.