Help a Drago out (Family trip w/ miles)

[Drago]

Part 1:

Hi all,

I'd appreciate any insight that any of you may have with my potential trip planning.

Background:
We live in Israel, and next August time, I have a family wedding in LA to go to with my family of 5 (parents and 3 young children).
As of now, the date of the wedding is flexible based on when we can arrive.
Additionally, Hawaii may be part of the visit, either b/f or after the wedding, and we'll be spending time in Cleveland before coming back home to Israel.

So we need to figure out how to maximize our travel, preferably using miles.

Please note that the 3 options below are only for the outbound, not the inbound. If you have any good ideas as how to book them in a combined trip, I'd be glad to hear.

Option #1:
So, the simplest (and least comfortable) option would be to book a one way to Hawaii with a stopover in LAX using 45k AA miles p/p in economy (Y). We could fly (subject to availability) LY to LAX, and then either AA, AS, or HA to our ultimate island destination, either direct or with a stopover.

But this is no longer possible since AA no longer allows stopovers in the N. America gateway city.

Additionally, even if we did HNL before the wedding, they no longer allows a HA connection on a TATL booking (at least according to Ben at his blog). And I don't see AA space out of LA, so I'd have to fly AS with a stopover. This would mean that I'd be looking at a routing of something like this.
TLV - LAX - SEA - OGG

However, doing this w/o any real breaks w/ young kids sounds painful to me.

Plus, I'd need to book separate tickets to LAX, CLE, and back to TLV

Option #2:
Option 2 takes advantage of AA's amazing price from TLV to the Far East of only 30k in Biz (J). Additionally, LY often has 5+ seats on their flight to HKG, and from there, Cathay (CX) has many connecting options and that would allow us to choose a destination to spend a few days at.

Then, we could either continue directly to HNL from either Tokyo or ICN on direct flights operated by Star Alliance partners. For example, LifeMiles only charges 25k in Y (40k in J) for this route, and a tad bit more (I think) if it's connecting. And UA is as low as 27.5k I believe.

With the LM mileage sale, 25k would cost around $375 plus tax which is a pretty good deal IMO. However, this would only get me to HNL, not to any of the islands. I'd need to book that separately.

Another option would be to take advantage of AS which allows a stopover on a one way ticket. So if the wedding were before the Hawaii trip, we could fly from the Far East to LAX, stopover, continue to HNL. (However, I'm not sure if they allow a stopover in HNL on the way to LAX. Maybe calling would help)

A problem with AS miles is getting ahold of them. While this could be arranged, it would involve either more risk if I could borrow a friend's account, or more time if I had to use SPG points.

Option #3:
Somehow do New Zealand or Australia using AA's amazing pricing of 45k OW in J from TLV. But as was pointed out elsewhere, this might be going overboard with the kids.

So I'm looking for ppl's advice, and alternative options.

In Part #2, I'll query about possible destination cities.

[Drago]

Part #2:

If we do Asia (as discussed in Part #1), where should we go?

We have been blessed to have done Thailand and Bali with the kids, and while we'd love to go back to Bali, we'd also be interested in seeing new places.

The first question would be if we should do our vacation to Tokyo or Seoul since those 2 cities have direct flights to HNL, and that would allow us to avoid taking an extra flight.

However, from the little I've seen, both of those options are among the more expensive options in Asia, and we're all about paying less than more, and spending more time in beautiful nature.

So if we went elsewhere, it would need to have a direct flight from HKG so we could avoid a third flight ex-TLV and preferable have a direct *A flight to either ICN or Tokyo for our continuing flight to HNL.

Plus, weather is a factor when traveling to Asia in August, so that will play a factor.

So what would ppl recommend? Some places that come to mind include:
A) Vietnam (cheap and beautiful, more rustic and less touristy than Thailand)
B) Cambodia (unsure how much there is to do there besides the temples)
C) Philippines (appears cheap and very nice)
D) Langkawi
E) Bali
F) Bhutan
G) Borneo
H) ??

Thoughts?

[AJK]

All I can think when reading this is, "too bad the Explorer award was 86'd."

[Drago]

All I can think when reading this is, "too bad the Explorer award was 86'd."

Good point, I forgot about those.

To simplify my question, I'd be grateful for ppl to help give me advice about the best way to route from Asia - Hawaii - LAX or Asia - LAX - Hawaii.

What are my best mileage options in Y and J?

[Myccrabbi]

Good point, I forgot about those.

To simplify my question, I'd be grateful for ppl to help give me advice about the best way to route from Asia - Hawaii - LAX or Asia - LAX - Hawaii.

What are my best mileage options in Y and J?

i might be missing something....
but i think 67500 AA tlv-phl-lax with us air would be the best option and they have a much better biz product then ly.
(unless you ONLY want to route with hkg)

[ilherman]

Didn't go thru everything here, but keep in mind , Korean has great availability and they fly ICN-HNL

[Drago]

i might be missing something....
but i think 67500 AA tlv-phl-lax with us air would be the best option and they have a much better biz product then ly.
(unless you ONLY want to route with hkg)

No chance of getting 5 J tix

Didn't go thru everything here, but keep in mind , Korean has great availability and they fly ICN-HNL

I checked, and I believe August is their peak time when they don't allow bookings. (Unless I misread the chart).

[ilherman]

No chance of getting 5 J tix
I checked, and I believe August is their peak time when they don't allow bookings. (Unless I misread the chart).

IIRC, its not the entire Augost. Also IINM peak does not mean they don't allow booking, it's just some more miles (not too much more)

[Drago]

IIRC, its not the entire Augost. Also IINM peak does not mean they don't allow booking, it's just some more miles (not too much more)

Thing is that unless they could give me a few legs in a single booking, I'd need to use UR for them which would mean having to acquire some which is a pricey proposition.
W/ AA, I'm sitting on a bunch of them, and there's a deval around the corner.
And w/ LM, I can buy them at a decent price.

Would any of the distance based programs make sense? Maybe JAL for flying their own metal? (Assuming they fly to HNL)

[Myccrabbi]

W/ AA, I'm sitting on a bunch of them, and there's a deval around the corner.

whats going to happen?

[Drago]

whats going to happen?

Speculation has it when they merge w/ US mileage program, a deval will occur as well.
Right now, they're trailing behind DL and UA for deval announcements, and their reward chart is better than both of theirs.

[Drago]

So I've updated my plans, and started building a framework.
Any advice would be appreciated.

For now, doing Asia and the US on the same trip would be too much. Therefore, I booked a separate ticket for TLV-HKG-SGN (Vietnam) for January time. 5 tix in J costs 300k AA miles.

For the US part, I currently have this on hold.
TLV - LAX - SEA - KOA using 45k AA miles in Y.

Here's a visual of the flights.
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=44320.msg927551#msg927551

I'll address the issues raised in the thread in a few hours.

[Emkay]

So I've updated my plans, and started building a framework.
Any advice would be appreciated.

For now, doing Asia and the US on the same trip would be too much. Therefore, I booked a separate ticket for TLV-HKG-SGN (Vietnam) for January time. 5 tix in J costs 300k AA miles.

For the US part, I currently have this on hold.
TLV - LAX - SEA - KOA using 45k AA miles in Y.

Here's a visual of the flights.
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=44320.msg927551#msg927551

I'll address the issues raised in the thread in a few hours.

Which airline and where you routing through?

[Drago]

Which airline and where you routing through?

SGN trip is LY and CX

KOA is LY and AS

Both are on hold currently.

[Emkay]

SGN trip is LY and CX

KOA is LY and AS

Both are on hold currently.

If I book LY now it will still be valid after the breakup?

[Drago]

If I book LY now it will still be valid after the breakup?

For travel thru 10/2015, but you can't make changes.

[Marco Polo]

Someone CMIIW, but doesn't KE have direct flights to LAX from ICN?

[MEIR613]

Someone CMIIW, but doesn't KE have direct flights to LAX from ICN?

Correct.

[Drago]

that is brutal, how long are the stopovers

6 hrs in LA, 3 in SEA.
I'm hoping that 6 hours in enough time to meet family and pick up food.

And yes, it is brutal, but I don't have a ton of options, besides for what I'll propose soon.

Solo,, but I still might have to say it was brutal

Solo, even in Y, is manageable if you can get lounge access and have enough electronic distractions.

Traveling on some circuitous itinerary as a 20-something-year-old cannot compare to traveling even half the distance with 4 people (three of which are children) in tow.

Regarding the routing, I'm really limited b/c even if i could find availability, I wouldn't be allowed to take an HA flight (due to new restrictions), and AA doesn't seem to open up enough seats on their direct flights.

[Drago]

Someone CMIIW, but doesn't KE have direct flights to LAX from ICN?

Even if I was still routing through Asia, it falls out during their blackout dates.

I found 5+ seats in Y on the ICN-HNL flight w/ Asiana, but we decided doing Asia was too much on this trip, so we split it up.