I love credit cards so much!

[disneymagicgirl]

I am trying to figure out the best way to use my variety of points to do Hawaii in 2018 and I came across great fares (I think) from SFO to OGG in May. We would have to use SW points to get from BNA to OGG, and them pay cash for the Hawaiian airlines flights I guess. I looked at how to book UR points for Hawaiian airlines, but it was through Korean and I decided that must not work anymore. So confusing. Anyways, so I wanted to compare doing it all BNA to OGG and Chase UR site shows me no flights available, even though google flights shows several airlines flying BNA to OGG. So then I tried BNA to HNL on UR and it still says none available. What gives?

Anyone have suggestions for me?
We have at the moment...
Southwest 103k

Hilton 352k

Chase UR 250k

AmEx MR 13,800

Hertz 7954

ETA: I kinda prefer to hop to Cali first for night then on to Hawaii b/c we are traveling with a 2 year old.

ETA: I am having a hard time finding Hilton reward avail on Maui at any of the times of year I have checked, so we may do a different island instead. My MIL wants Maui so I was playing along nicely. Ha.

 

[Tikitoi]

The points should post automatically and I don't think they could withhold if they wanted to. In my experience with 2 Southwest retention offers 1 time I got the points and the cash both, the other time I got the points and more points (they offered another 6k for not cancelling).

So if I decided (been thinking about it) to close my SW card (fingers crossed for a retention offer but doesn't really matter) but would it be better if I wait until my points have actually been used? Other words our flights aren't until May this year should I wait until after that?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So if I decided (been thinking about it) to close my SW card (fingers crossed for a retention offer but doesn't really matter) but would it be better if I wait until my points have actually been used? Other words our flights aren't until May this year should I wait until after that?

Once transferred from your Chase Card to Southwest your points are safe. No worries of "losing them" cancelling a card or using them on a flight before you cancel.

However it is best to wait until your anniversary points post (the 6k or 3k depending on which card you have) so you at least get those, then cancel if you choose to do so.

 

[Ngwira]

Thank you for the heads up! I was able to book my beach resort for end of July and save 10K points per night by booking early. I know IHG changes the point values on some rooms every year but I wasn't paying attention this year. This resort has gone from 25K points about 5 years ago to 50K points this summer - it was 40K and now up to 50. I also use my free night there as the rate in summer is $400-$500 plus per night.

Also, I think the Intercontinental is where older daughter used her points just before Xmas for a weekend in NYC. If we get snowed in today - its snowing here now at 2:44am - we will get some time to talk and I'll let you know what they thought of the room.

Glad you were able to book your resort while the price was lower. I’m actually booked at the Times Square intercontinental, not the Barclay center one. Both are amazing, I hear.

 

[Lain]

Here are the cards that I have currently:
Discover IT - opened May 2017
SW Plus - opened Oct. 2016
BoA Cash Rewards - opened May 2017
Wells Fargo Dillards - opened May 2017 (still kicking myself on this one - unfortunately Chase is counting this one since it's WF)
SW Biz - opened Dec. 2017

Hopefully this helps! I guess I'm unsure whether to try for 2 Chase cards at the same time or just try for the Premier. The Premier is definitely the priority to get the CP, so I definitely want to do whatever I can for it. If it makes sense to apply for two cards the same day, I really am not sure what other Chase card to try for. Any suggests on that would be appreciated! Possibly a card to try to accumulate points for the hotel in Hawaii for 2019 is what I was thinking. Trying to meet two min. spends would be a stretch but I could probably do it, if they're both $2,000 or so for 3 months. Would probably not be interested in a card with a large annual fee as I don't travel or spend that much to try to offset the advantages.

On the SW Plus card, I think previously I was able to get a refund on the fee a few months after. If that doesn't work out, then oh well I guess, I can cancel it next year. I'll definitely leave it open until after I apply for the Premier.

Thanks again so much!

At this point even if you stopped applying for cards you wouldn't be under 5/24 until Oct '18...Once you hit the min. spend(s) on the SW Premier (and possibly 1 additional card) do you plan to continue applying for other cards this year (with other issuers) or would you hold off until October?

My thoughts are:
1) If you are going to continue to apply for other cards this year (with other issuers) then now is your last chance to snag 2 Chase cards. Obviously 1 is the SW Premier - the others to consider would probably be a CSP or CSR, Marriott could make your list if you have any interest in that card OR if you really are concerned about the high min. spend you could think about a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited although that isn't always the best use of a 5/24 slot.
2) If you are NOT going to continue to apply for other cards this year you could just get the SW Premier now, then wait until Oct 2018 and apply for 2 Chase cards then to complete your double dip (maybe a CSR/CSP if you're looking for big points for Hawaii).
3) You could also apply for a SW Premier now...try for another Chase Biz Card (CIP?) after that min. spend is up and then apply for 2 cards after Oct when you're back to 4/24.

You got a lot of options to consider there. Of course the risk is the rules change on you in between now and Oct. and it doesn't exactly work out - but that's a risk we all face everyday with our churning plan.

@magickingdomprincess, @SouthFayetteFan speaks wisdom and I agree with Thoughts #2 and 3.

When I look at your list of cards, I see that you are so close to getting a SW CP (since you presumably got the SW Biz at 60k RR and those points will post in 2018), so your obvious next card should be the SW Premier using a 50k RR signup bonus link that'll get you to 110k RR while it's still early 2018, thus giving you a CP until the end of 2019.

I would not double dip Chase using your last slot at this time. Wait for another slot to open up in or about November 2018 to use that for a Chase double dip or Chase business card. The reason being is the other thing I see when looking at your cards is you don't have any of Chase's Ultimate Rewards ("UR") cards. UR points are extremely versatile because of the number of Chase's transfer partners and valuable when redeemed through Chase's UR travel portal.

You could apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred ("CSP") at the same time as the SW Premier, but I wouldn't recommend it because that would be a waste and would preclude you from getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve ("CSR") or its bonus under Chase's recent "one Sapphire" rule. After you finish up your spend on the SW cards, you can bide your time by hitting some of (and only) Amex's business cards (SPG Biz? Business Rewards Gold?), which will give you some minimum spends to earn bonuses on but won't report to your personal credit report and won't count against Chase's 5/24 rule. If you want to go back to Chase, you won't want to apply for personal cards that will add to your --/24 count.

When a slot opens up with Chase in or about November 2018, either (1) go for the Chase Ink Preferred ("CIP"), for which you have to be under 5/24 to be approved but won't count against --/24, so you keep that final slot for... (2) double dip the CSP and CSR on the same day to get around the one Sapphire rule. The CIP currently has a signup bonus of 80k UR points after $5k spent/3 months on a $95 AF. The CSP offers a 50k UR bonus after $4k spent/3 months with a $95 AF that's waived the first year. The CSR offers a 50k UR bonus after $4k spent/3 months, with a $450 AF. I know you said you'd like to avoid cards with large AFs, but the CSR comes with a very easy to use $300 travel credit and makes your UR points 50% more valuable when you redeem them through the Chase UR portal. Getting these 3 cards makes the most of the one slot that'll open up in November (because your next slot might not open up until or after May 2019) and fills a big hole in your awards wallet.

Obviously, this is a lot to digest, so please ask if anything's unclear.

I am trying to figure out the best way to use my variety of points to do Hawaii in 2018 and I came across great fares (I think) from SFO to OGG in May. We would have to use SW points to get from BNA to OGG, and them pay cash for the Hawaiian airlines flights I guess. I looked at how to book UR points for Hawaiian airlines, but it was through Korean and I decided that must not work anymore. So confusing. Anyways, so I wanted to compare doing it all BNA to OGG and Chase UR site shows me no flights available, even though google flights shows several airlines flying BNA to OGG. So then I tried BNA to HNL on UR and it still says none available. What gives?

Anyone have suggestions for me?
We have at the moment...
Southwest 103k

Hilton 352k

Chase UR 250k

AmEx MR 13,800

Hertz 7954

ETA: I kinda prefer to hop to Cali first for night then on to Hawaii b/c we are traveling with a 2 year old.

ETA: I am having a hard time finding Hilton reward avail on Maui at any of the times of year I have checked, so we may do a different island instead. My MIL wants Maui so I was playing along nicely. Ha.

Here are the cards that I have currently:
Discover IT - opened May 2017
SW Plus - opened Oct. 2016
BoA Cash Rewards - opened May 2017
Wells Fargo Dillards - opened May 2017 (still kicking myself on this one - unfortunately Chase is counting this one since it's WF)
SW Biz - opened Dec. 2017

Hopefully this helps! I guess I'm unsure whether to try for 2 Chase cards at the same time or just try for the Premier. The Premier is definitely the priority to get the CP, so I definitely want to do whatever I can for it. If it makes sense to apply for two cards the same day, I really am not sure what other Chase card to try for. Any suggests on that would be appreciated! Possibly a card to try to accumulate points for the hotel in Hawaii for 2019 is what I was thinking. Trying to meet two min. spends would be a stretch but I could probably do it, if they're both $2,000 or so for 3 months. Would probably not be interested in a card with a large annual fee as I don't travel or spend that much to try to offset the advantages.

On the SW Plus card, I think previously I was able to get a refund on the fee a few months after. If that doesn't work out, then oh well I guess, I can cancel it next year. I'll definitely leave it open until after I apply for the Premier.

Thanks again so much!

At this point even if you stopped applying for cards you wouldn't be under 5/24 until Oct '18...Once you hit the min. spend(s) on the SW Premier (and possibly 1 additional card) do you plan to continue applying for other cards this year (with other issuers) or would you hold off until October?

My thoughts are:
1) If you are going to continue to apply for other cards this year (with other issuers) then now is your last chance to snag 2 Chase cards. Obviously 1 is the SW Premier - the others to consider would probably be a CSP or CSR, Marriott could make your list if you have any interest in that card OR if you really are concerned about the high min. spend you could think about a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited although that isn't always the best use of a 5/24 slot.
2) If you are NOT going to continue to apply for other cards this year you could just get the SW Premier now, then wait until Oct 2018 and apply for 2 Chase cards then to complete your double dip (maybe a CSR/CSP if you're looking for big points for Hawaii).
3) You could also apply for a SW Premier now...try for another Chase Biz Card (CIP?) after that min. spend is up and then apply for 2 cards after Oct when you're back to 4/24.

You got a lot of options to consider there. Of course the risk is the rules change on you in between now and Oct. and it doesn't exactly work out - but that's a risk we all face everyday with our churning plan.

I am trying to figure out the best way to use my variety of points to do Hawaii in 2018 and I came across great fares (I think) from SFO to OGG in May. We would have to use SW points to get from BNA to OGG, and them pay cash for the Hawaiian airlines flights I guess. I looked at how to book UR points for Hawaiian airlines, but it was through Korean and I decided that must not work anymore. So confusing. Anyways, so I wanted to compare doing it all BNA to OGG and Chase UR site shows me no flights available, even though google flights shows several airlines flying BNA to OGG. So then I tried BNA to HNL on UR and it still says none available. What gives?

Anyone have suggestions for me?
We have at the moment...
Southwest 103k

Hilton 352k

Chase UR 250k

AmEx MR 13,800

Hertz 7954

ETA: I kinda prefer to hop to Cali first for night then on to Hawaii b/c we are traveling with a 2 year old.

ETA: I am having a hard time finding Hilton reward avail on Maui at any of the times of year I have checked, so we may do a different island instead. My MIL wants Maui so I was playing along nicely. Ha.

As far as I know, Korean is still a partner airline with Hawaiian Airlines so you should be able to book award flights on Hawaii with Korean miles. I don't have any personal experience with this, but the following might help:

http://www.awardhacker.com/#f=SFO&t=OGG&o=0&c=y&s=1&p=0

Awardhacker is a great tool that lets you plug in where you want to go, which airlines (or their partners) will get you there, how many miles you'll need, and what credit card rewards programs can transfer to those miles.

https://kr.koreanair.com/global/en/skypass/flight-award/award-ticket/hawaiian-airlines-/

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/how-to-book-skypass-awards/

I believe @gottalovepluto transferred UR points to Korean to book Delta last year and didn't have the best experience, so travel with care.

ETA: Hilton has a pay with Points & Money option that lets you apply any amount of your points that you want towards your reservation and pay the balance in cash. Have you tried that?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

At this point even if you stopped applying for cards you wouldn't be under 5/24 until Oct '18...Once you hit the min. spend(s) on the SW Premier (and possibly 1 additional card) do you plan to continue applying for other cards this year (with other issuers) or would you hold off until October?

My thoughts are:
1) If you are going to continue to apply for other cards this year (with other issuers) then now is your last chance to snag 2 Chase cards. Obviously 1 is the SW Premier - the others to consider would probably be a CSP or CSR, Marriott could make your list if you have any interest in that card OR if you really are concerned about the high min. spend you could think about a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited although that isn't always the best use of a 5/24 slot.
2) If you are NOT going to continue to apply for other cards this year you could just get the SW Premier now, then wait until Oct 2018 and apply for 2 Chase cards then to complete your double dip (maybe a CSR/CSP if you're looking for big points for Hawaii).
3) You could also apply for a SW Premier now...try for another Chase Biz Card (CIP?) after that min. spend is up and then apply for 2 cards after Oct when you're back to 4/24.

You got a lot of options to consider there. Of course the risk is the rules change on you in between now and Oct. and it doesn't exactly work out - but that's a risk we all face everyday with our churning plan.

EDIT: Point 3 was kind of dumb, even I can forget the rules sometimes. You CANNOT apply for SW now and then apply for CIP...because you'd be considered 5/24 until October LOL! You could either Apply for SW and CIP now (which would be a huge min. spend) OR apply for SW now, then CIP in Oct, then Double Dip CSR/CSP after that...sorry for a dumb comment lol.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@magickingdomprincess, @SouthFayetteFan speaks wisdom and I agree with Thoughts #2 and 3.

When I look at your list of cards, I see that you are so close to getting a SW CP (since you presumably got the SW Biz at 60k RR and those points will post in 2018), so your obvious next card should be the SW Premier using a 50k RR signup bonus link that'll get you to 110k RR while it's still early 2018, thus giving you a CP until the end of 2019.

I would not double dip Chase using your last slot at this time. Wait for another slot to open up in or about November 2018 to use that for a Chase double dip or Chase business card. The reason being is the other thing I see when looking at your cards is you don't have any of Chase's Ultimate Rewards ("UR") cards. UR points are extremely versatile because of the number of Chase's transfer partners and valuable when redeemed through Chase's UR travel portal.

You could apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred ("CSP") at the same time as the SW Premier, but I wouldn't recommend it because that would be a waste and would preclude you from getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve ("CSR") or its bonus under Chase's recent "one Sapphire" rule. After you finish up your spend on the SW cards, you can bide your time by hitting some of (and only) Amex's business cards (SPG Biz? Business Rewards Gold?), which will give you some minimum spends to earn bonuses on but won't report to your personal credit report and won't count against Chase's 5/24 rule. If you want to go back to Chase, you won't want to apply for personal cards that will add to your --/24 count.

When a slot opens up with Chase in or about November 2018, either (1) go for the Chase Ink Preferred ("CIP"), for which you have to be under 5/24 to be approved but won't count against --/24, so you keep that final slot for... (2) double dip the CSP and CSR on the same day to get around the one Sapphire rule. The CIP currently has a signup bonus of 80k UR points after $5k spent/3 months on a $95 AF. The CSP offers a 50k UR bonus after $4k spent/3 months with a $95 AF that's waived the first year. The CSR offers a 50k UR bonus after $4k spent/3 months, with a $450 AF. I know you said you'd like to avoid cards with large AFs, but the CSR comes with a very easy to use $300 travel credit and makes your UR points 50% more valuable when you redeem them through the Chase UR portal. Getting these 3 cards makes the most of the one slot that'll open up in November (because your next slot might not open up until or after May 2019) and fills a big hole in your awards wallet.

Obviously, this is a lot to digest, so please ask if anything's unclear.

Thanks for the compliment - I did just realize that point 3 as it was worded was DUMB, lol! I forgot the rules, you can't get a CIP when you're at 5/24. I edited to clarify and posted that as well separately lol. Now I will ABSOLUTELY say to @magickingdomprincess that @Lain speaks wisdom here too! This detail above is why point 2 and our modified point 3 makes a lot of sense! That way you get a SW CP plus almost 200k URs if you play #3 perfectly.

 

[Lain]

EDIT: Point 3 was kind of dumb, even I can forget the rules sometimes. You CANNOT apply for SW now and then apply for CIP...because you'd be considered 5/24 until October LOL! You could either Apply for SW and CIP now (which would be a huge min. spend) OR apply for SW now, then CIP in Oct, then Double Dip CSR/CSP after that...sorry for a dumb comment lol.

@magickingdomprincess, I'd only caution that you may not want to apply for the CIP with the SW Premier. You theoretically could, if you apply for the CIP first, but since it's a Chase business card it's subject to Chase's 0/30 rule, which is that you can't have had another credit card application with Chase in the past 30 days. Since you got the SW Biz in December 2017, that might push you out a little; and if you try to double dip for the SW Premier first on the same day, you may bar yourself from getting the CIP if that's your second application. I'd also be hesitant to apply for 2 Chase business cards in so close in time.

ETA: To clarify even more, I'd also suggest not double dipping the SW Premier with the CSP because while the CSP offers a 50k UR bonus (same as the CSR), and a waived AF in the first year (vs. CSR's $450 AF), getting the CSP first will bar you from getting the CSR while you hold the CSP, and preclude you from getting the CSR's 50k UR bonus for 24 months after your CSP's bonus posts under the new "one Sapphire" rule. Currently, applying for and getting the CSP AND CSR on the same day is a workaround to the one Sapphire rule, and gets you both cards' bonuses = 100k UR, which is why I suggest trying to double dip them together when another slot opens up. Hopefully this trick is still around in October/November. The CSP is a good card, but it offers only a 25% bonus on the value of your UR points, vs. 50% more value with the CSR.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@magickingdomprincess, I'd only caution that you may not want to apply for the CIP with the SW Premier. You theoretically could, if you apply for the CIP first, but since it's a Chase business card it's subject to Chase's 0/30 rule, which is that you can't have had another credit card application with Chase in the past 30 days. Since you got the SW Biz in December 2017, that might push you out a little; and if you try to double dip for the SW Premier first on the same day, you may bar yourself from getting the CIP if that's your second application. I'd also be hesitant to apply for 2 Chase business cards in so close in time.

All excellent points which argue to avoid my earlier idea of getting both now, lol. @magickingdomprincess I'd get your CP first now and then get UR cards later like @Lain suggested. I know some of this sounds complicated but it's advice like this that takes you from churning 101 to churning 401 and beyond and only the most savvy players can nail the game to this extend. Great clarification @Lain!!

 

[gottalovepluto]

...I believe @gottalovepluto transferred UR points to Korean to book Delta last year and didn't have the best experience, so travel with care...

@disneymagicgirl OMG yes, nightmare. Since u considered it I'll recap: The problem happened when we missed our connection to Hawaii (Delta's fault). Delta re-booked us on a partner airline, Hawaiian. The ticket didn't properly transfer and we ended up trying to board the last flight of the night to Hawaii out of LAX with boarding passes from Delta and Hawaiian said if we didn't pay like $2K for the seats we couldn't board because Delta failed to pay. We paid. We fought it out over the next couple months and got our money back from Delta and some compensation (not much!).

On the trip I got so stressed I called Delta and they claimed no record of issuing my family a ticket for Hawaiian and that nobody made us pay the money. Drowned my misery in MaiTais and ocean views and talked to Delta when we got back at originating airport. Got a good agent who tracked down exactly what happened, as best he could anyway he printed off pages of data & then said the best he could do was offer vouchers because we were traveling on Korean ticket stock. Told us to go to Korean for real compensation on the flight who said "nope, not our problem" on multiple occasions. We thought we'd have to take all of them to court, ugh. We submitted our disaster and documentation to Chase Insurance. A couple days later we got the call from an appalled customer service agent at Delta apologizing all over the place and offering us our money (in $USD, not DL vouchers!) and some miles. I think without the insurance we'd have been in a such a legal mess.

Lessons learned:

-ticket stock matters. Flying one airline on another's ticket stock can result in blame games when it goes bad.
-Flyertalk was helpful and very insightful. Usually ask a dumb question or have a normal problem and you'll be flamed into tomorrow. I posted my issue and they dug into and discovered Delta's gate agent had issued us an old fashioned hard copy ticket or something, not an eticket. Those are VERY rare and that's why everything fell apart, she screwed up. They THINK. They're not even sure. They're conclusion when I asked what to do: you're screwed. With 3 airlines to blame each other I was royally screwed.
-We could have lost our return trip!!! Because our itinerary didn't complete properly in Delta's system (no sign of HA flight) the ticket should have broken and we should have lost the rest of the res. Do you know how much 4 last minute return tickets from Lihue would have cost?! Ack! Thankfully, and no one knows why, that didn't happen.

That is why I'll UR->Korean->DL NEVER AGAIN. (Because DL eventually made it right we have flown them again- had a great flight to MCO actually- and even have their credit card with bonus miles so I'll fly them again in the future. But I'll never try the mile transfer thing. 1 in ??,??? Get burned. We were the 1.)

(Hilarious part? Suitcases made it fine. Were even marked "special handling" by Hawaiian and pulled and placed in their luggage office. Obviously we waited at the carousel in Hawaii and not seeing our luggage called DL to track it down before we went to the HA office and saw our "priority bags" lined up waiting for us...)

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@disneymagicgirl OMG yes, nightmare. Since u considered it I'll recap: The problem happened when we missed our connection to Hawaii (Delta's fault). Delta re-booked us on a partner airline, Hawaiian. The ticket didn't properly transfer and we ended up trying to board the last flight of the night to Hawaii out of LAX with boarding passes from Delta and Hawaiian said if we didn't pay like $2K for the seats we couldn't board because Delta failed to pay. We paid. We fought it out over the next couple months and got our money back from Delta and some compensation (not much!).

On the trip I got so stressed I called Delta and they claimed no record of issuing my family a ticket for Hawaiian and that nobody made us pay the money. Drowned my misery in MaiTais and ocean views and talked to Delta when we got back at originating airport. Got a good agent who tracked down exactly what happened, as best he could anyway he printed off pages of data & then said the best he could do was offer vouchers because we were traveling on Korean ticket stock. Told us to go to Korean for real compensation on the flight who said "nope, not our problem" on multiple occasions. We thought we'd have to take all of them to court, ugh. We submitted our disaster and documentation to Chase Insurance. A couple days later we got the call from an appalled customer service agent at Delta apologizing all over the place and offering us our money (in $USD, not DL vouchers!) and some miles. I think without the insurance we'd have been in a such a legal mess.

Lessons learned:

-ticket stock matters. Flying one airline on another's ticket stock can result in blame games when it goes bad.
-Flyertalk was helpful and very insightful. Usually ask a dumb question or have a normal problem and you'll be flamed into tomorrow. I posted my issue and they dug into and discovered Delta's gate agent had issued us an old fashioned hard copy ticket or something, not an eticket. Those are VERY rare and that's why everything fell apart, she screwed up. They THINK. They're not even sure. They're conclusion when I asked what to do: you're screwed. With 3 airlines to blame each other I was royally screwed.
-We could have lost our return trip!!! Because our itinerary didn't complete properly in Delta's system (no sign of HA flight) the ticket should have broken and we should have lost the rest of the res. Do you know how much 4 last minute return tickets from Lihue would have cost?! Ack! Thankfully, and no one knows why, that didn't happen.

That is why I'll UR->Korean->DL NEVER AGAIN. (Because DL eventually made it right we have flown them again- had a great flight to MCO actually- and even have their credit card with bonus miles so I'll fly them again in the future. But I'll never try the mile transfer thing. 1 in ??,??? Get burned. We were the 1.)

(Hilarious part? Suitcases made it fine. Were even marked "special handling" by Hawaiian and pulled and placed in their luggage office. Obviously we waited at the carousel in Hawaii and not seeing our luggage called DL to track it down before we went to the HA office and saw our "priority bags" lined up waiting for us...)

Wow...nothing about this sounds remotely fun. Thanks for sharing your terrible experience and advice with us!!

 

[Lain]

@disneymagicgirl OMG yes, nightmare. Since u considered it I'll recap: The problem happened when we missed our connection to Hawaii (Delta's fault). Delta re-booked us on a partner airline, Hawaiian. The ticket didn't properly transfer and we ended up trying to board the last flight of the night to Hawaii out of LAX with boarding passes from Delta and Hawaiian said if we didn't pay like $2K for the seats we couldn't board because Delta failed to pay. We paid. We fought it out over the next couple months and got our money back from Delta and some compensation (not much!).

On the trip I got so stressed I called Delta and they claimed no record of issuing my family a ticket for Hawaiian and that nobody made us pay the money. Drowned my misery in MaiTais and ocean views and talked to Delta when we got back at originating airport. Got a good agent who tracked down exactly what happened, as best he could anyway he printed off pages of data & then said the best he could do was offer vouchers because we were traveling on Korean ticket stock. Told us to go to Korean for real compensation on the flight who said "nope, not our problem" on multiple occasions. We thought we'd have to take all of them to court, ugh. We submitted our disaster and documentation to Chase Insurance. A couple days later we got the call from an appalled customer service agent at Delta apologizing all over the place and offering us our money (in $USD, not DL vouchers!) and some miles. I think without the insurance we'd have been in a such a legal mess.

Lessons learned:

-ticket stock matters. Flying one airline on another's ticket stock can result in blame games when it goes bad.
-Flyertalk was helpful and very insightful. Usually ask a dumb question or have a normal problem and you'll be flamed into tomorrow. I posted my issue and they dug into and discovered Delta's gate agent had issued us an old fashioned hard copy ticket or something, not an eticket. Those are VERY rare and that's why everything fell apart, she screwed up. They THINK. They're not even sure. They're conclusion when I asked what to do: you're screwed. With 3 airlines to blame each other I was royally screwed.
-We could have lost our return trip!!! Because our itinerary didn't complete properly in Delta's system (no sign of HA flight) the ticket should have broken and we should have lost the rest of the res. Do you know how much 4 last minute return tickets from Lihue would have cost?! Ack! Thankfully, and no one knows why, that didn't happen.

That is why I'll UR->Korean->DL NEVER AGAIN. (Because DL eventually made it right we have flown them again- had a great flight to MCO actually- and even have their credit card with bonus miles so I'll fly them again in the future. But I'll never try the mile transfer thing. 1 in ??,??? Get burned. We were the 1.)

(Hilarious part? Suitcases made it fine. Were even marked "special handling" by Hawaiian and pulled and placed in their luggage office. Obviously we waited at the carousel in Hawaii and not seeing our luggage called DL to track it down before we went to the HA office and saw our "priority bags" lined up waiting for us...)

Wow is right... I had no idea it got so bad before it all worked out. Glad it did! I will note that if @disneymagicgirl plans on using Korean miles to book Hawaiian, it looks like her SFO>OGG flights would be direct flights so no missed connections. In my many years flying Hawaiian, I'd say 9 out of 10 times they've been on time; but two years ago we were delayed at the gate onboard our SFO>HNL plane for two hours due to maintenance issues.

 

[Albort]

I am trying to figure out the best way to use my variety of points to do Hawaii in 2018 and I came across great fares (I think) from SFO to OGG in May. We would have to use SW points to get from BNA to OGG, and them pay cash for the Hawaiian airlines flights I guess. I looked at how to book UR points for Hawaiian airlines, but it was through Korean and I decided that must not work anymore. So confusing. Anyways, so I wanted to compare doing it all BNA to OGG and Chase UR site shows me no flights available, even though google flights shows several airlines flying BNA to OGG. So then I tried BNA to HNL on UR and it still says none available. What gives?

Anyone have suggestions for me?
We have at the moment...
Southwest 103k

Hilton 352k

Chase UR 250k

AmEx MR 13,800

Hertz 7954

ETA: I kinda prefer to hop to Cali first for night then on to Hawaii b/c we are traveling with a 2 year old.

ETA: I am having a hard time finding Hilton reward avail on Maui at any of the times of year I have checked, so we may do a different island instead. My MIL wants Maui so I was playing along nicely. Ha.

if i recall correctly, SW is suppose to have flights going to hawaii starting this year. i’d probably wait until those come out and start booking it then.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Wow is right... I had no idea it got so bad before it all worked out. Glad it did! I will note that if @disneymagicgirl plans on using Korean miles to book Hawaiian, it looks like her SFO>OGG flights would be direct flights so no missed connections. In my many years flying Hawaiian, I'd say 9 out of 10 times they've been on time; but two years ago we were delayed at the gate onboard our SFO>HNL plane for two hours due to maintenance issues.

Interesting! This was the only time we flew them actually. The only reason we caught the flight in LAX was it was delayed a few hours so we missed the last flight to LIH by the time we got to HNL, got in so late HNL had closed. The whole thing had been so ridiculous that by the time we got to a hotel room (HA put us up at the airport hotel- just say no guys!) I reached over to turn off the nightstand light, saw a cockroach, smashed it with a little sign on the nightstand and turned over for a couple hours of sleep. Didn't even care that I slept next to a dead cockroach. Camel's back was officially broken at that point. But you know what? It was Hawaii, so it was still a magically beautiful trip once we finally got to Kauai!

 

[gottalovepluto]

if i recall correctly, SW is suppose to have flights going to hawaii starting this year. i’d probably wait until those come out and start booking it then.

Idk how accurate they are but this was an interesting article on SWA and Hawaii: http://beatofhawaii.com/southwest-hawaii-airline-update/

 

[calypso726]

I have a question for you (or anyone who knows here) what are the odds of being able to use this method on LAX-AUCK flights? I see on AA site some flights for 40k AA points, they call them economy saver seats.... (they stop in Sydney,any chance if these are usable with Avios redemptions I could book and stay in Sydney for a bit before continuing to NZ? or is this impossible?

Any flights at the saver level can be booked with Avios. How many Avios the flight will cost depends on the distance since Avios is distance based. AA doesn't allow stopovers and it wouldn;t be 40K AA miles since you are using Avios and their program. However, since BA the Avios program is distance based you can create your own. You can fly Quantas LAX-SYD for 54,500 Avios in economy then fly SYD-AKL for 10,000 Avios. This one you can actually search for the award availability and book on BA's website. Hope that helps @hsmamato2

 

[disneedee]

i think i know the answer but want to be wrong so i'm going to ask.

if a credit card is canceled at the 1 yr anniversary, does it still count against the 5/24?

 

[Albort]

i think i know the answer but want to be wrong so i'm going to ask.

if a credit card is canceled at the 1 yr anniversary, does it still count against the 5/24?

5/24 means 5 opened(as in you had a hard pull) credit card lines in the past 24 months. so in a way, yes. it counts.

 

[disneedee]

5/24 means 5 opened(as in you had a hard pull) credit card lines in the past 24 months. so in a way, yes. it counts.

yep. that was the answer i did not want.
thankyou

 

[Albort]

yep. that was the answer i did not want.
thankyou

many cards allow product changes. u might be able to PC to the card of your desire but u will lose out on sign up bonuses.