Hawaii 2020 plans are under way and coming along. I wound up scrapping the Alaska companion ticket plan as it wound up costing more money, time and stress than I was willing to undertake for 6 people in order to make it work. On to Plan B.
PlanePrincess and I are well accustomed to long flights but the rest of my family, not so much. Therefore, I am breaking up the flights from the east coast to Hawaii with a stopover at LAX for one night on the way to HNL and then a few days at DLR on the way back. It also allows for easily finding flights with lie flat seats without convoluted positioning.
I found award flights in lie flat seats over and back on each segment between AA 62,500 miles pp and UA (Polaris) at 66,000 miles pp which makes PlanePrincess and my mom very happy. I also secured two rooms at the Embassy Suites near LAX with HH points for the overnight stay. Now, I'm just waiting on return flights from LAX - MIA to be released.