BA Holidays pricing to Hawaii

[Jimmie Jones]

Afternoon all
Long time lurker here but just joined.
Wife and i are Silver with BA and want to take a trip to Honolulu next year for our anniversary in May or early June.
We’ve looked on BA hols as we have a voucher to use and we like being able to book with just a deposit.
The fact we can get double tier points also has bearing as we’d like to maintain our Silver.
Looking on BA hols there are lots of options that initially fall within our budget of around £7.5k for us flying business with hotel for 9 days however when looking closer at the flight options offered the leg from HNL to LAX more often than not throws up a flight in economy with Alaska or AA rather than business or domestic first. We want to fly domestic first.
There are options within the offerings to change the flight but it adds another £7.5k onto the total price.
If we look at that same leg via the AA or Alaska website that same flight can be had for less than a thousand dollars each.
How does BA justify £7.5k for a flight from HNL to LAX when the airlines they are using only charge a fraction of that?
Is there any way around this via BA hols?
We’ve looked at starting ex EU but its more expensive and we would forefeit double TP.
Thanks
JJ

[NorthernLass]

Just book the U.K./LAX legs via BA hols and sort the rest out separately? I can’t recall the exact rules but you might not get double TPs on the US internal flights anyway (possibly unless they have BA flight numbers 🤷‍♀️).

You would get 560 TPs from that flying J both ways, then one U.K. CE flight (for example) would get you the extra 40 to retain Silver.

[Jimmie Jones]

NorthernLass wrote:

Just book the LAX legs via BA hols and sort the rest out separately? I can’t recall the exact rules but you might not get double TPs on the US internal flights anyway (possibly unless they have BA flight numbers 🤷‍♀️).

You would get 560 TPs from that, then one U.K. CE flight (for example) would get you the extra 40 to retain Silver.

Booking via BA hols gives BA flight numbers from HNL to LAX and vice versa which was part of the attraction as well as just paying a small deposit now.

[NorthernLass]

Yes but with that difference in price you could easily book a cheap CE leg to get the extra 40 TPs!

You could also try calling BAH and asking them to price it up, BA’s IT can be weird.

Also – have you looked for avios seats, these can be excellent value on US domestics?

[Jimmie Jones]

NorthernLass wrote:

Yes but with that difference in price you could easily book a cheap CE leg to get the extra 40 TPs!

You could also try calling BAH and asking them to price it up, BA’s IT can be weird.

Also – have you looked for avios seats, these can be excellent value on US domestics?

Yes looked for Avios seats but they are all economy and very sparse for our dates.
Will maybe ask BA over the phone to look at the pricing as it seems overkill for one flight to be so extortionate.
Thanks for the tips

[strickers]

It’s a long way to go for just 9 nights? Also, why are you restricting yourself to Oahu? Maui and Big Island (The island of Hawaii) have so much to offer. We fly to Vancouver next month to catch a cruise to Honolulu, we spend 4 days total on Big Island as part of the cruise, then 3 days in Honolulu when we get off and a further 4 in Maui before flying to San Diego for a few nights.

[NorthernLass]

Okay – worth bearing in mind that award seats often start popping up nearer the travel date on AA (3-6 months out is usually plum pickings), I think Americans make a lot of speculative bookings due to the ridiculously low taxes, then cancel when their plans are firmer.

[Jimmie Jones]

NorthernLass wrote:

Okay – worth bearing in mind that award seats often start popping up nearer the travel date on AA (3-6 months out is usually plum pickings), I think Americans make a lot of speculative bookings due to the ridiculously low taxes, then cancel when their plans are firmer.

Work commitments next year limit our time away unfortunately otherwise we’d do longer .
After extensive research we decided Oahu would give us the best of all worlds ie beach, scenery and nightlife

[NorthernLass]

I would find a tropical island type destination nearer just for 9 days. Same TPs to the Caribbean or even Maldives (long but direct flight). You’ll laugh, but the more remote areas of Tenerife look a lot like Hawaii!

Years ago we did 3 weeks between California & Oahu, always wanted to go back, especially to visit the Big Island. It’s a very long way to go, I think another 5 hours or so from LA.

Honolulu was very built up and expensive, though there are much nicer beaches and scenery within driving distance.

Pearl Harbor is definitely worth a visit. We were also there in late May and our visit coincided with one of the big military days (Veterans’ Day?), so there were a few men there who had actually served and been present on the “day of infamy”, which was pretty awesome!

[Jimmie Jones]

NorthernLass wrote:

I would find a tropical island type destination nearer just for 9 days. Same TPs to the Caribbean or even Maldives (long but direct flight). You’ll laugh, but the more remote areas of Tenerife look a lot like Hawaii!

Years ago we did 3 weeks between California & Oahu, always wanted to go back, especially to visit the Big Island. It’s a very long way to go, I think another 5 hours or so from LA.

Honolulu was very built up and expensive, though there are much nicer beaches and scenery within driving distance.

Pearl Harbor is definitely worth a visit. We were also there in late May and our visit coincided with one of the big military days (Veterans’ Day?), so there were a few men there who had actually served and been present on the “day of infamy”, which was pretty awesome!

Yeah we want to do Oahu and tick it off the list. Maldives doesn’t appeal and we’ve done the Carribean and Tenerife won’t cut it.

[NorthernLass]

The time difference is insane though, it’s virtually the same as Australia! Unless you’re lucky enough not to suffer from jet lag, of course.

[AndrewT]

The answer to the original question about cabins and prices is the very limited availability of I class seats on US domestic flights. Once they are sold, and they tend to go quickly, the remaining seats will be R.

With a cheaper I ticket to LAX, if there are no I seats available to HNL it drops down to Y, hence Economy. If you choose an available R class seat LAX – HNL it forces the entire trip to be repriced as R, hence the seemingly disproportionate jump in price.

It’s not an IT problem, just the way it works.

[NorthernLass]

Interesting – I will mentally file that information away for future reference!

[Jimmie Jones]

AndrewT wrote:

The answer to the original question about cabins and prices is the very limited availability of I class seats on US domestic flights. Once they are sold, and they tend to go quickly, the remaining seats will be R.

With a cheaper I ticket to LAX, if there are no I seats available to HNL it drops down to Y, hence Economy. If you choose an available R class seat LAX – HNL it forces the entire trip to be repriced as R, hence the seemingly disproportionate jump in price.

It’s not an IT problem, just the way it works.

Thanks for the insight very good to know

[LD27]

I would definitely go. A few years ago we got a good deal to LAX with AirNZ, just before the route got canned. We had a few days around LA before flying Hawaiian to Honolulu. As we had only a week, we decided to spend the entire time on Oahu. We hired a car and visited all parts of the Island. There were few people at the more remote beaches. Went for some wonderful walks. Had great sea food and visited a pineapple plantation where we ate the most amazing pineapple ice cream. We spent a day at Pearl Harbor which we all thought was definitely worth it. Also had the opportunity to watch Hawaii Five O being filmed, which the kids thought was great. On return to LA, we drove down to San Diego for a few days before returning back to the UK. I think the flight between LA and Honolulu was just under 6 hours.

[memesweeper]

I’ve not done this myself, but can you not book a BA holiday comprising flights to LAX and hotel in Hawaii? And sort the leg between LAX and Hawaii out yourself for cash or points? Presumably going to involve a call to BAH but I think this is doable.

Alternatively ITA Matrix can search for I class availability if you want to avoid separate tickets.

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

memesweeper wrote:

I’ve not done this myself, but can you not book a BA holiday comprising flights to LAX and hotel in Hawaii? And sort the leg between LAX and Hawaii out yourself for cash or points? Presumably going to involve a call to BAH but I think this is doable.

Alternatively ITA Matrix can search for I class availability if you want to avoid separate tickets.

No need to call. This would be just be a custom trip search.

[strickers]

One thing to keep an eye on is parking costs, certain trips can be done by bus from Waikiki such as Pearl Harbor. Consider renting a car for only the days you need, we have 3 full days and have only rented a car for one day. You are looking at between $40 and $60 a day parking on top of the resort fees.

[NorthernLass]

@memesweeper, I suggested this but OP wants the BAH benefits plus double TPs on the domestic flights.

Agree re car hire, we rented for a couple of days to get to remoter places, but public transport was good as well.

We drove to Hanauma Bay which had excellent snorkeling – we saw turtles and moray eels. You can also drive past the original Magnum, P.I. house, if that’s still there and you’re of an age to remember it! It’s in a very picturesque setting looking out to Manana (?) Island.

[MR87]

We have this same trip planned for our anniversary next year as well. This will be our third time. What we learnt after the 1st visit is to break up the outbound journey by stopping on the West Coast for a few days to start adjusting to the time difference. When we first went in 2017 we flew Edinburgh, Heathrow, LAX, Honolulu and it took us 4 days to feel properly adjusted. When we went in 2019 to get married we stopped in LA for 3 days and kept busy with sightseeing while there. When we arrived in Honolulu from LA this time it made a huge difference and would definitely not recommend flying straight through. Going via San Francisco next year with a 3 day stop to adjust.
As someone else said I would recommend adding another island. Big Island and Maui are both good options. Sadly Lahaina where we stayed both times in Maui was destroyed by a wildfire. The whole island is beautiful though. Volcano National Park on Big Island is also worth a visit.

[strickers]

@MR87 Lahaina is making good progress on the recovery, the clean up is almost completed and the rebuilding phase is about to start. Things in the area are still very raw, my cruise was supposed to stop there but the port is far from complete and the last thing the locals want to see is thousands of tourists each day when their homes having been rebuilt. I’m sure in another couple of years things will be complete, I did consider skipping Maui completely but if everyone did that then there would be reduced income for the locals.

[webloid]

Best memory for me of Pearl Harbor was sitting on the terrace at the Hickam AFB Officers Club having breakfast when 50m away a USN aircraft carrier swept past. It was stunning.

I know it’s pointless trying to dissuade someone who has Hawaii on their bucket list so I won’t try. I did, on all my 6 visits, find Honolulu very over rated, and Waikiki beach is a real letdown.

[strickers]

@webloid I’ll bet that something spectacular. Beats hands down any of the Officer’s Clubs I’ve been to, Little Rock, Arkansas was about as you’d expect it to be!

[NorthernLass]

Many years ago I was on holiday in Majorca when the USS Enterprise (the aircraft carrier, not the space ship 😂) was in port in Palma. You could see it from literally miles away!

The boat trip out to the USS Arizona memorial in Pearl Harbor a must – incredibly poignant.

[strickers]

@NorthernLass USS Arizona memorial and USS Missouri museum both booked. We will also be going to the USS Midway museum in San Diego.