Is it even possible to call the re-consideration line before you get the rejection with the reference number or whatever? I don't have a lot of experience with this.
There are tons of reports of people calling in even just ten minutes after they didn't get an instant approval. Have seen reports on both flyertalk and thepointsguy, who BTW is my absolute fav out of all the online points/Blogger guys. Used to like viewfromthewing, but that guy is just so rough ridin' full of himself now that it's not even funny.
Have you read the pointsguy nine different post ba miles breakdown? Just great info. Using your homebase as a stopover on a return flight so that it could save you from having to purchase/use points on an outward flight down the road never, ever occurred to me before reading that stuff and even then I had to read it three times before it made sense. Also, if you really want to go to hawaii again, you should just try to use it as a stopover for an Australia or new Zealand supermega trip.