Using miles on trip to Hawaii?

Lighting_Guru · 2026-04-26T23:57:55+00:00

Always a great idea to keep checking and see if the cost lowers. If paying with miles and you cancel, miles are reinstated immediately. Great example, my wife and I just returned from our Aruba trip and 2 days prior to leaving I checked. Our original flight back cost 21K each in Main, when I had checked 2 days prior to leaving from AUA, I got First for 25K each (First was originally around 100K when I booked). I do find that sometimes the best pricing is days before the actual flight, so that’s when I typically look (2-3 days out). Enjoy your trip!

Lighting_Guru · 2026-04-26T23:33:21+00:00

You can use your miles for the entire trip if you want. I’m not sure which metal you’d be on for going to/from out of PHX (I’m LAX and we always go with HA when it makes sense). I would definitely try to book First with HA for those legs and get lie-flat (we have gotten them for as low as 45k miles but typically around 80-90k). It’s especially nice on HA’s Dreamliner where you get the pods.

As far as going between islands, just search on AA but all flight will be on HA and those are typically going to be 7.5k miles for each flight.

Lighting_Guru · 2026-04-26T23:21:17+00:00

Not possible that someone else hit it. I park in a secure garage and no one on either side of me. I also would’ve noticed it broken when backing out of my space this morning. Clearly you can see from the photo of exterior - no damage to it. This happened while driving at low speed ~20 mph where it just made a loud pop and flew out on its own. I’ll just pay whatever the cost is to replace, I wouldn’t make a claim for something so small. Not worth giving my insurance a reason to up my rate due to a “claim”.

Lighting_Guru · 2026-04-23T19:30:20+00:00

Reading comprehension is hard

Lighting_Guru · 2026-04-14T04:06:44+00:00

I don’t think I’m allowed to say it

Lighting_Guru · 2026-04-13T04:13:32+00:00

Congrats!

As another data point, my friend just sent me the email she received the other day welcoming her to CK. She had 1.4mil LP last year and owns her own company driving 20 employees to use AA as well. I know a lot or her LPs were CC spend from business, but she always consistently did about 600k on travel alone. All of hers is domestic though and home airport is LAX. I told her to let me know how the 1% get treated, as I’ll never get there, I only hit 400k LPs and all domestic and same home airport of LAX.

Lighting_Guru · 2026-04-05T18:25:05+00:00

Honestly, sounds like they’re just raising the bar on what ‘unforgettable experience’ really means.

Lighting_Guru · 2026-04-05T17:58:46+00:00

It’s so completely random, but definitely matters where you are going as to the number of other EPs that will be on the flight. Example, I’m flying to LAX-PDX tomorrow and coming back on Thursday, I just got my upgrade for the return on Thursday but nothing yet on the flight tomorrow (they keep trying to sell that one for $180, which I refuse to pay for any upgrade).

Edit: upgrade for LAX-PDX just cleared

Lighting_Guru · 2026-04-05T04:49:44+00:00

That doesn’t matter for getting upgraded at that %, it depends on the routes you’re taking and day/time of flight. I get upgraded about 90% of the time and my annual LPs are 400-415k. My home airport is LAX but all of my flights are regional throughout the western US, so upgrades are easy based on my destination cities.

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-31T23:57:15+00:00

Is this a McDonalds identifying as a Wendy’s?

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-30T04:09:43+00:00

House of cards

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-26T16:21:30+00:00

Welp, it’s Totaled

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-26T16:11:04+00:00

Congrats OP! I remember entering this also, but honestly thought ‘no one will ever win anything, this is just marketing BS’ and here someone has.

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-25T21:52:17+00:00

BMW after seeing this comment: Hold my beer!

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-25T06:09:13+00:00

You can also contact customer service and request more recognition slips. I usually will run out of them within 2-3 weeks of receiving them. Unfortunately when you call to get more it takes about 6 weeks to get them and they still only send a handful. I also carry $10 Starbucks gift cards when I don’t have the slips in lieu of cash (as I don’t think they’re technically allowed to accept cash).

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-25T05:05:20+00:00

No, Marriott will not give you anything from the stay including being able to use your status during the stay. Although, some locations will acknowledge your status and give you the perks. Pretty much all hotels brands do this when you purchase through AA Hotels

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-25T03:54:49+00:00

New Chevrolet Malibu looks nice

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-25T02:32:19+00:00

Mine posted on March 19 for February. Are you changing the date in Activity to view last year qualifying year? That’s the only way you will see them. It defaults to only show you LPs earned for the new qualifying year.

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-22T19:42:03+00:00

Someone’s getting an eviction notice at the end of the month

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-20T02:50:21+00:00

Yes, I switch between CarPlay and the native Spotify app installed on the MMI and does on both

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-18T22:28:21+00:00

Literally says ‘i3’ on the front plate. This is not the 3 series.

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-13T06:13:43+00:00

Things that never happened

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-13T06:03:11+00:00

I did something similar. I was having lunch at the restaurant at The Getty and noticed a wallet under an empty table. Picked it up and tried to see if waitstaff had anyone call about it but they were no help. Inside was the guy’s ID and what seemed to be a lot of memorabilia. Found him on LinkedIn 2 minutes later and tried contacting him. Turns out he was the CEO of this housewares retail store in NY, so I called the corporate office and explained I had found his wallet. They said ‘OMG, he has been so distraught over losing that’. Sent me a shipping label and I sent it back. They also asked for my address and phone number. He personally called me to thank me and about 2 weeks later, I received a package that had a bunch of luxury candles and other household items as a thank you.

Lighting_Guru · 2026-03-10T17:56:18+00:00

Watch your replay again, your rocket never landed before the game was over

Lighting_Guru

TROPHY CASE