Executive Travel SkyGuide

ON BOARD WITH RANDY PETERSEN

HAWAII BOUND: THE BEST STRATEGY FOR FIRST CLASS
September 2003
by Randy Petersen

Question:
I am trying to book an anniversary trip to Hawaii with a combination of miles from a couple of different places. I have 107,000 miles in an American AAdvantage account and would like to take my husband (thus the anniversary trip) and my daughter (she will be two by the time of the trip in March).

I can book a coach-class ticket for each of us and have enough to do that, but I would like to combine miles from my bank's frequent flyer program to my AAdvantage account. I have 65,000, so that I can qualify for two first-class tickets, and we will purchase one ticket for myself to earn more points. The bank frequent flyer account is through HMI, Inc. I will pay to transfer the miles into my AAdvantage account and don't have a problem doing that. Is there a way that I can pull this off?

Answer:
Is there a way that you can pull this off? Yes, you can. But there are a few things you need to be aware of.

I think the HMI, Inc. program you are referring to is VacationMiles, an incentive program that does allow members to convert their points into miles with AAdvantage. That conversion is three points into two AAdvantage miles. Your current 65,000 will become about 43,000 miles, and you're right that a total of 150,000 miles in your AAdvantage account is good enough for two free first-class tickets. There is, however, a restriction to transfer a limit of 25,000 VacationMiles to AAdvantage per calendar year. So if you are planning this, you need to transfer 25,000 by year's end and the balance in early January to lock in your award request. You won't be allowed to make the reservations until you have the miles, and it may be a problem guaranteeing the availability of two first-class awards in March (a big month for Spring Break).

Here's another suggestion. You mentioned that you were going to purchase the third first-class ticket so the whole family celebrates the anniversary. Because of what I mentioned above, I'm thinking you may want to redeem one first class award now, purchase two coach tickets and redeem miles to upgrade both of them to first class. Chances are the two coach tickets will be less than one first-class ticket (we hope) and with the 107,000 miles plus 25,000 you can transfer right now from VacationMiles into AAdvantage miles, you'll have enough to confirm the whole trip (actually, you'll need to come up with an additional 3,000 miles right now, since the upgrades from discount economy fares will be 30,000 miles apiece). This way, you can confirm your anniversary before winter goads people into planning Hawaii awards, and you'll save money and miles as well (you'll still have points left in VacationMiles).

Hope this makes sense. It's what I would do for something as special as an anniversary. Congrats on that and hope this advice helps you decide.

You can contact Randy Petersen at randy@insideflyer.com.