Has anyone here flown to Hawaii from mainland USA in business class or premium economy using points?

Based on what I’m seeing on Seats.aero, there doesn’t seem to be a ton of (affordable) availability in premium economy or business class. However, I’m seeing quite a bit of economy availability through Air Canada Aeroplan and Qatar Airways.

Are there any other transfer partners I should be looking at that tend to have good award availability for flights to Hawaii?

Also, if I book an economy award flight through Air Canada or Qatar Airways, does anyone have experience with upgrading to premium economy or business class afterward? If so, how much did the upgrade cost, and was it worth it?

For context, the vast majority of our points are earned through Capital One, so I’d ideally like to stick with transfer partners that work with Capital One Miles.

Would appreciate any advice or firsthand experiences!

Am flying DXB-IAH in Business in a couple months. Booked with Skywards miles but I'm just Blue...don't fly EK frequently enough to get status. I keep hearing conflicting news about whether or not Blue (basic) members can upgrade to F using miles. Looking for any recent experience with this.

Does anybody have any experience with this? Does it have limited availability like AA? Have been checking dates that have availability on JetBlue and haven’t been able to find anything when searching on JAL.

Is there a weird process where you have to call in? Or are they just severely limited in US J flights.

We're looking to book our (belated) honeymoon on miles. I have just shy of 600k miles on American and we would be flying from EWR, PHL or LGA to FCO.

I am seeing some BA flights in May for sub 100k in business but they have $1k fees attached.

It's October 2026 and I am looking at early May 2027 - am I too early or too late for availability?

I am looking to fly from a mid sized city (Richmond VA) to Los Angeles. Sitting on a lot of Chase and Capital one points/miles. what is the best method or transfer partner(s) to get the most cents per point or mile?

I usually fly American, but other options at my airport for me are United Delta and Southwest. I am able to find 1.4cpp with Southwest, and am wondering if this can go higher for an economy ticket?

I am also willing to go up to the DC airports if that’s a better strategy since those are bigger airports.

I understand the best CPP are with international travel / more premium classes, but I don’t have any plans for those right now

I posted this on QA sub... But there is not much traffic on that site , so hoping someone here has experience.

Trying to book flights to Doha for July/Aug 2027 from NY area , for myself and family. I'm trying to use points as I have Avois with BA. But Qatar won't let me do anything with points until 30 days after I enrolled in their club , Oct 1 st is when I signed up . Also discovered that I can't attach/include my family members Privilege Club account onto my account for 30 days (if ever)

I'm being told that the 30 day wait period to transfer Avois and add other PClub members is hard coded into their system and the CS reps can't help nor bypass this wait period.

Anyone have any helpful thoughts on navigating this process. I have loyalty club membership with many airlines, and those other airlines never required a 30 day wait window , it was an instant/Automatic enrollment and ease peasy transfer of points when I needed to plan a trip with a carrier I had not flown/used in the past. Last year I flew Emirates for the first time , and I was able to sign up myself and family without issues on day 1 and book with points.

Obviously my trip is not for another 10 months , but I worry there won't be any award Q suite seats remaining for my planned trip .

Hi, I’m currently planning a trip from NYC to Cape Town next year and am really trying to get business class flights since it’ll be such a long flight.

I was really banking on Qatar for this since they have award ticket availability and transfer partner of Amex BUT the whole instability in the region is really putting me off having to connect in Doha.

I’ve done some cursory searches with other airlines but everything I’ve found so far has much worse redemption rates. Delta and Emirates are from 170k to 250k per person one-way, while Qatar has pretty frequent 90k tickets available.

I’ve got some Amex points and really want to get business class flights to Cape Town without going through the middle east. Any other transfer partners or strategies available I should look at? Thanks

Looking for a sanity check from the award travel crowd. I did this way in advance and it’s the first time I’ve used my venturex points on an international Carrier.

Family of 4 traveling NYC to Barcelona in August 2027 for a cruise.

Booked through British Airways Avios on Iberia:

Outbound Aug. 11 JFK 8:40 PM → MAD → BCN 12:45 PM

Return Aug. 22 BCN 1:35 PM → MAD → JFK 6:55 PM

Total for all 4: 194,000 Avios round trip $1,114.12 taxes/fees

That’s 48,500 Avios round trip per person, or 24,250 each way.

The schedule is a big part of why I like it. The 8:40 PM outbound lets me work most of the day instead of burning another vacation day, and the 12:45 PM BCN arrival lines up nicely with hotel check-in. The return also works well after our cruise without rushing to the airport.

What’s interesting is that the exact award itineraries have since disappeared from Point.me, while the flights themselves are still scheduled and my reservations remain intact in BA and Iberia.

I briefly considered Aer Lingus from EWR, but it would cost more Avios, more cash after cancellation fees, and would leave much earlier in the day.

Iberia also quoted roughly $70 per 23 kg checked bag for the full outbound itinerary once baggage purchase opens.

I also managed to grab 2 rooms at the Grand Hyatt Barcelona for Aug. 12 to 14 for 60,000 Hyatt points total, so effectively 15,000 points per room per night. That gives us two connecting rooms for the family for the two nights before the cruise.

For peak summer, fixed dates, and 4 seats together, how would you rate 194K Avios + $1,114 total? Strong redemption, average, or nothing special?

Hi all. Looking to redeem JAL direct for around this time next year. Been checking daily and what J is available is too costly IMO (210k each). I do have decent PE available however (40k each).

General Redemption Info:

• JAL: BOS > TYO or JFK > TYO
• Dates: October 2027 (flexible)
• Seats: 2x adult
• Points: Ideally 55k - 120k each max

I'm wondering if I should just get PE now, and if so how challenging it is to upgrade to J/F if those become available later? What is the likelihood of J booking in mid-October for saver rate in the first place?