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Many people on the west coast can take a trip to Honolulu, Fiji, and Australia or New Zealand with stops in each place for only 50,000 miles one way.

If you live in a city with a direct Alaska Airlines or American Airlines flight to Hawaii, this price is available to you. For folks in other cities, the trip is available for 5,000 to 10,000 miles more.

The trip combines one Avios award with one Alaska Airlines award on Fiji Airways. There is a sweet spot on the Avios award chart between the west coast and Hawaii, and there is a sweet spot on the Alaska chart between Hawaii and Australia/New Zealand on Fiji Airways.

• How can you search for award space for this trip?
• How can you book this trip?
• How long can you spend in each destination?
• What are your options in Australia and New Zealand?
• How can people who don’t live on the west coast book nearly as good of a trip?

Alaska’s Fiji Airways Chart

Alaska Airlines is not part of one of the three global alliances. Instead it has one-off partnership with SkyTeam, oneworld, and independent airlines. For each partner, Alaska publishes a separate award chart. The award chart for Fiji Airways (formerly Air Pacific) is excellent.

For travel from Honolulu to Fiji, Australia, or New Zealand:

• 37,500 miles each way in economy
• 45,000 miles each way in business

For travel from the continental United States* to Fiji, Australia, or New Zealand:

• 40,000 miles each way in economy
• 55,000 miles each way in business

*These prices are only valid if you live in Los Angeles or cities with Alaska Airlines service to get you to Los Angeles.

Alaska Airlines allows a free stopover on one way awards. That means that you can fly from your home airport to Fiji, spend several days or a week there, and continue to Australia or New Zealand for no extra miles.

Fiji Airways Business Class

Relatively, business class is a better deal on the Fiji/Alaska award chart, since it is only a tiny premium over economy. Unfortunately I didn’t see business class award space on any days that I searched. Please let us know in the comments if you find any.

If you find Business Class space, the product is an angled lie flat seat with a personal video monitor.

Los Angeles to Honolulu to Fiji to Aus/NZ

I’m going to focus on the 37,500-Alaska-miles award from Honolulu to Fiji to Australia or New Zealand.

Not only is it intriguing for folks in Hawaii, but for folks in the continental United States, it opens up the chance to stop in Hawaii, Fiji, and Australia or New Zealand on a single trip.

First, folks in the continental United States need to book a one way award to Honolulu. If you live in any of these cities, you can do that for 12,500 British Airways Avios on an Alaska Airlines or American Airlines flight:

• Anchorage
• Bellingham
• Los Angeles
• Oakland
• Portland (OR)
• San Diego
• San Jose (CA)
• Seattle/Tacoma

If you don’t live in those cities, you can book a one way award with American Airlines, Singapore, Lufthnasa, or United miles for as little as 17,500 miles one way.

Next you’ll book a one way award from Honolulu to Fiji to one of these cities in Australia or New Zealand for 37,500 Alaska Airlines miles:

• Auckland
• Brisbane
• Christchurch
• Melbourne
• Sydney

That’s 50,000 total miles and three awesome destinations.

Award Search

I’d perform the Avios award search and Alaska award search simultaneously in different browser windows, so I could find award space that lined up perfectly in terms of stopover duration.

I’d search aa.com for the west-coast-to-Honolulu leg because it shows both American Airlines and Alaska Airways award space.

Here’s a sample search of February 26, 2015 from Los Angeles to Honolulu. There is award space on a direct American Airlines flight that day at the MileSAAver level, which means the flight is bookable with Avios. Ignore the 17,500 mile price in the screen shot. British Airways will charge only 12,500 Avios.

I’d search for the Fiji Airways award space at alaskaair.com. A multi-city miles search shows award space from Honolulu to Nadi, Fiji to Sydney with dates that work well with a February 26 departure from Los Angeles.

If you booked both these awards, you’d have two full days in Honolulu, five full days in Fiji, and however long you wanted in Sydney.

Booking the Awards

Booking the awards is easy in this case. You can book the American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu at ba.com and the Fiji Airways flights at alaskaair.com.

If you used an Alaska flight from the west coast to Hawaii, you’d need to call British Airways at 800-AIRWAYS to book it.

Getting the Miles

The British Airways Signature Visa offers 50,000 bonus Avios after spending $2,000 on the card in the first three months. The card has a $95 annual fee that is not waived the first year. Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards from various Chase and American Express cards transfer 1:1 to Avios. Starpoints also transfer 1:1 to Avios with a 5,000 Avios bonus for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred.

The Alaska Airlines personal and business cards offer 30,000 and 25,000 miles respectively upon account opening, each with a not-waived $75 annual fee. I have five total Alaska Airlines cards. Starpoints also transfer 1:1 to Alaska miles with a 5,000 mile bonus for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred.

Recap

Alaska Airlines’ award chart for Fiji Airways flights is quite cheap. You can fly from the mainland to Fiji and Australia or New Zealand for 40,000 Alaska miles one way.

Or you can fly from the mainland to Honolulu, Fiji, and Australia or New Zealand for 12,500 Avios and 37,500 Alaska miles one way.