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Benefits of Flexible Points

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Towards the end of every year, I always start to look at the balances of my point accounts and start also looking at what I plan to do for traveling over the next year or two. Yes, I really do mean year or two. (Check out our post on our plan for our next Hawaii vacation.) I have found that using flexible points gives us the most travel options.

When I had started to look at the first trip to Hawaii for our family, I planned it out over 2-3 years to make sure I could do as much with points as possible. There are always risks planning that far out such as points needed for the flights or hotels go up or airline carriers changing flight options. We were fortunate that the choices we did gave us some flexibility in case of those changes.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Over the last two years, I have moved to keep points in a program such as Chase Ultimate Rewards. This way my points aren’t locked up with Southwest, Delta, or Marriott. Using this program let us keep our flexible points in one place until we need them.

Using Flexible Points

For the trip to Hawaii we recently went on, I was short the miles needed for all the flights using United. They had nonstop flights that were worth us spending a little more on. By not having my points locked in, I was able to transfer from Chase to United to complete that booking.

Additionally, I was then low on points to finish the hotel booking through Marriott for the travel package for the boutique hotel. I was able to top off the account with Marriott with the points from Chase.

Benefits of Flexible Points – When things Change

During those two years, a lot of changes happened in regards to the points hobby.

  • Alaska Airlines lost the ability to book Delta fights.
  • Alaska gave the flexibility to book American, Alaska or Delta flights.

Starwoods/SPG was a considerable hotel favorite in the points hobby. Starwoods/SPG was purchased by Marriott and changed redemption rates. Additionally, they cut the ability to earn points by 1/3rd the price per dollar than previously. Rumors of other airlines being purchased, hotel groups consolidating, would force many to try to stay ahead of the game. Where having the flexible miles in something like Chase Ultimate Rewards allows transfer partners for hotels as needed with IHG (Holiday Inn), Marriott, or Hyatt (my personal favorite).

For airlines, you have many options including Southwest and United. You can always cash in Points through the travel portal at 1.25 cents per point or penny per point in statement credit. Another example of how flexibility is beneficial. Southwest recently began booking flight options to Hawaii. This gives more options besides United and Delta, and will likely continue to make travel there competitive.

The more flexibility you have, the better.

Planning a Trip to Hawaii on a budget

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Our last trip to Hawaii was a three-year process in the making. We could have done it quicker, but I still wanted to maintain our other trips. So how do you go about planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget?

Figure out your flights. The majority of your cost is going to be getting to Hawaii. You can find decent deals on hotels and food can be as inexpensive or as expensive as you make it in most places. But flights are always the wild card when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget. Here are our considerations for keeping costs down.

General Flight Considerations

To give you an idea of the airline costs; for the three of us to fly round trip from Chicago to Honolulu, it was 135,000 miles total. Joni and I can fly to Cancun from Chicago round trip for 20-25,000 combined usually. It is possible to get the points pretty quickly if you want to do the credit card sign up bonus game.

Southwest Airlines recently got approved for long haul flights from the West Coast to Hawaii. Their first test flight was completed with government review and they have just recently opened up flights to Hawaii. When the news initially broke about Southwest getting closer to having another carrier flying from the Continental United States, some of the other carriers started to run specials with some of the lowest costs seen in a long time.

It is believed that the increase in competition will drop the dollar amount and airline miles required for that once…or twice… in a lifetime trip. With this news, I am having to keep four different airlines as potential options.

Keep in mind what airline and what airport you want to travel out of when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget. Are you ok with a layover? Want a straight through flight? Are you willing to travel super early or want to be flying all day? With a flight this long you may want to travel during waking hours or you may want to fly mostly overnight. These are important questions you need to ask before you book your trip.

Consideration # 1 – Inter-Island Flights with Hawaiian Airlines

Joni had mentioned she wants to go to Maui along with Oahu this next trip. So when we are planning our trip to Hawaii on a budget we have to consider this additional cost. Hawaiian Airlines runs cheap flights between the islands. I have seen prices ranging from about $150 round trip or 15,000 miles between the islands per person. Hawaiian Airlines has a secure online shopping portal where I already picked up around 4,000 miles in the last 4-6 months doing shopping at a couple online stores I like. This will definitely help our budget.

The other quick options for miles if I need for these on shorter notice is through Barclays. They have a Hawaiian Airlines card where just the general offer is 50,000 miles for $1,000 in purchases over 3 months. I also over the past year have seen an offer as good as 60,000 miles after one purchase. That would be 3-4 round trips between the islands for an annual fee of $99.

Flights to Hawaii

Option #1 – United Airlines again (Chicago to Hawaii)

This is what we used last time. Right now we are mostly getting our miles using their phone mobile app making purchases at Buffalo Wild Wings and Starbucks. I already have enough in the account for one round trip ticket. I don’t think Joni would approve on me going on a solo trip for this one. I do not want to lock miles hard into United Airlines as they do not have the best options for Las Vegas.

Option #2 – Southwest

This is more likely the direction we will end up going. I do prefer Southwest over United just as a personal preference. Most of my Southwest miles that I use for my Vegas trips come from the Ultimate Rewards program now with Milwaukee having non-stop flights there.

The superior flexibility that Chase has with their Ultimate Rewards points program is that I can transfer those points to either Southwest or United. This offers us great options when we are planning trips and will certainly come in handing when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget.

Option #3 – Delta through Minneapolis

Delta is my second favorite airline. If I am not flying Southwest to Las Vegas, then most likely I am flying Delta. They have many non-stop flights all over; including some to Hawaii. Delta also has options for flights out from many of the regional airports to get to Minneapolis, Detroit or even Salt Lake City as places to connect from.

One of the new cards I have been looking at over the last 4-6 months is from American Express. Delta Miles take a long time to accrue using their branded credit card at 1 point per dollar for regular purchases. I do carry it and pay the annual fee as I am ahead just on bag fees every year and it also gets me earlier boarding.

But the American Express Gold Card gives 4 Membership Reward Points per dollar spent on Groceries and Restaurants. These points can be converted into Delta Miles. Groceries and restaurants are more substantial expenses in our household, so I am still working the math to see if the cost of the annual fee makes up for the difference.

So what is the next thing we will have to consider when planning a trip to Hawaii on a budget? Hotels… stay tuned we have tips for that too!

5 Tips for Planning the Perfect Cheap Hawaii Vacation

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Previous posts I have always listed as something like “Las Vegas on the Cheap.” Unfortunately, there is nothing cheap on the islands of Hawaii.  So the biggest thing is reducing the costs.  This article covers some of our favorite cheap Hawaii vacation tips.

1. Flights for your Cheap Hawaii Vacation

When Joni, Cheyenne and I flew out to Hawaii, we did this on miles.  Luckily for us, we found an excellent redemption deal on United Miles for 45,000 miles each round trip for a non-stop flight from Chicago.  This still took a long time to save up for, but this also gave us time to plan out our trip.

Southwest Airlines is currently looking at having flights for Hawaii.  Rumors are that they will be available within the next year and that will most likely cause more significant competition meaning more affordable flight costs. These new flight option will be great for anyone trying to plan a cheap Hawaii vacation.

2. Plan for Parking Concerns

Something we learned while we were out there is that the cost of driving in Hawaii is unreal.  We did get a rental car deal going through Enterprise with our work account which was better than anything else I could find.  The rental cost isn’t the issue; the cost killer is the parking. 

With the island being so tight for space, parking costs are at a premium.  Most hotels charge for parking which will add another $40 a day to most hotel stays.  Vacations are also meant to be relaxing.  The bumper to bumper traffic that is so bad, that even the interstates have speed limits of 45 MPH makes it a pain to get from point A to point B. 

We ended up returning our car several days early because of this and the upcoming hurricane.  We did not want to deal with any weather damage claims and saved ourselves the extra parking fees as an added bonus.  The best benefit of the car was those off the path restaurants (Like KoKo Head Cafe) and getting to some of the tourist destinations (Like beaches and Shaved Ice) we wanted to see again.  

3. Best deals for Hotels in Hawaii

With Hawaii being so famous, you have many choices when it comes to booking your hotel stays. Options ranging through Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton are plentiful. Almost every major hotel chain has a hotel and many let you use points you have accumulated.

We ended up staying at a boutique hotel that is part of the Marriott group right of Waikiki Beach.  Not only is this a great tourist destination it puts a lot of things within walking distance.

4. Best Tourist Destinations

Luckily Joni did the research on the site seeing and the best deals. If you don’t plan ahead and just show up at the events day by day, you will find the costs to be huge, or not even able to get access as entrances at certain items are limited. 

The “Go Ohau Card” is part of the “Go City Cards.”  These cards allow you to visit several tourist stops throughout several days depending on the options you purchase. Usually, these are a good deal if you plan to visit a number of the locations the cards offer anyway.

Our Go Oahu card gave us a choice of using a premium feature such as swimming with dolphins.  We were able to then purchase these cards through a shopping portal through Groupon to get even more travel points instead of getting them through their website alone.  The tours are highly recommended, especially the circle tour at the beginning of the trip.

The tours gave us a chance to see some of the tourist places around the island and even if we didn’t stop during the tour we were able to take our car and visit the next day. The things we did were:

  • Pearl Harbor
  • Oahu Hidden Gems and Snorkeling with Turtles
  • Makani Catamaran Sail
  • All of Oahu in one day Tour
  • Iolani Palace
  • Bishop Museum

5. Be Patient

This trip took almost two years for me to plan out and ten years of Joni asking for us to go to Hawaii. The biggest and probably most important tip is to be patient with your planning. Maximize your points and take advantage of points deals to get bonuses and extra savings. If you are looking for a cheap Hawaii Vacation, you will probably need to plan it for several months.

Matsumoto Shave Ice – Review

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When I first heard about Matsumoto Shave Ice I admit I didn’t think it could possible be all that great. I mean what could possible be so special about ice in a bowl with some flavors thrown on top. Well let me tell you all, I was so wrong.

Matsumoto Shave Ice

When we visited Oahu in August 2018 we happened to be there when Hurricane Lane decided to pay the islands a little visit. This meant a lot of the things we had originally planned to do were unavailable or got moved around. We had never even planned to visit Matsumoto Shave Ice.

On one of our tours, we couldn’t go to see a couple of the scheduled things they had originally planned. This left us with extra time so the tour guide decided to drop us off in Haleiwa to do some shopping. We had purchased most of our souveniers already so we decided to head to Matsumoto Shave Ice instead.

The line was super short due to the Hurricane coming and most of the businesses were starting to close up. This was great for us because we got to skip straight to the front of the line. We each got a bowl and sat down to eat, and we were blown away.

Matsumoto Shave Ice in August 2018. So amazingly delicious! #matsumoto #shavedice #shaveice #hawaii

There is just something magical about this treat. It was amazing. We had some amazing food while we were in Hawaii including KoKo Head Cafe. Trying new foods is one of the things we look forward on all of our family trips, so I am super happy we found time to do this one.

This treat was amazing and probably one of the best things we did on the whole trip.  Want to know what else we enjoyed? Read about some of our favorite breakfast spots in Hawaii 

What are some of your favorite activities to do while on vacation? Write us a comment and let us know!

KoKo Head Cafe in Hawaii – Restaurant Review

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This summer we were very fortunate and got to visit the island of Oahu in Hawaii. One of our friends recommended we try to visit Koko Head Cafe if we had the chance. On our second day, we decided we would give it a try.

Koko Head Cafe

The Koko Head Cafe merely is impressive. They are open from 7 AM to 2:30 PM every day featuring brunch style foods with a fun mix of items they are sure to have something there for everyone. Chef Anne Wong runs this little Pan-Asian inspired eatery.

I have to say this was probably the biggest surprise of our entire vacation. Not only was the food amazing, the staff was super helpful and catered to the locals and tourists alike. It was an amazingly refreshing experience.

Food

Cheyenne and Jason both love pancakes, french toast, and waffles. So when they found out one of the items on the Koko Head Cafe menu was a famous Cornflake French Toast, they were sold. This meal did not disappoint. They both gave it an A+ for amazingness.

KoKo Head Cafe meals

I had the daily dumpling special. My dumpling dish was the most fantastic meal I had for my entire vacation. When we visited the dumpling dish featured was beef and mushroom delightful dumpling, and while overall this is served as an appetizer it did not disappoint.

We loved this little restaurant so much; we made a point of returning before we left. All because we wanted to have our French Toast and Dumplings a second time. During our second trip, we tried the Coffee and Doughnuts which are a cinnamon sesame cake donut with a Kona Coffee Anglaise, and they were delicious as well.

Conclusion

The Koko Head Cafe is a must visit location. The food will not disappoint you and will leave you wanting more.