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Hawaii is a one-of-a-kind destination offering the warmth and exotic experience of a trip to the South Pacific without the hassle and expense of international travel. At the same time, 2,000 miles separate the Hawaiian Islands from the U.S. mainland, and it can be an expensive trip.
Thankfully, there are multiple ways to use points, miles, and perks to book a trip to our 50th state. And, if you're looking for the best deal using points and miles, we've got it below.
Page Contents
- The Best Ways to Get to Hawaii With Points and Miles
- Fly to Hawaii for 7,500 Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
- Use the Southwest Companion Pass to Fly to Hawaii From Just 6,100 Points
- Fly to Hawaii From 12,000 Singapore KrisFlyer Miles
- Fly West Coast to Hawaii for 13,000 British Airways Avios
- Fly West Coast to Hawaii for 12,500 Air Canada Aeroplan Points
- Fly West Coast to Hawaii for 10,000 Alaska Miles
- Beware When Using American, Delta, or United Miles
- Use Flexible Rewards Programs to Fly to Hawaii
- Final Thoughts
The Best Ways to Get to Hawaii With Points and Miles
| Rewards Program | Operating Airline | Economy (Round-Trip) | Business/First (Round-Trip) | Transfer Points From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turkish Miles & Smiles | United | 15,000 | 25,000/ 40,000 | • Capital One Miles • Citi ThankYou Rewards • Marriott Bonvoy • Bilt Rewards |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | Southwest | 12,500+ | N/A | • Chase Ultimate Rewards • Marriott Bonvoy |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Alaska Air | 23,000-25,000 | 84,000-96,000 | • Ultimate Rewards • Amex Membership Rewards • Citi ThankYou Rewards • Capital One Rewards • Marriott Bonvoy |
| Korean Air SKYPASS | Delta | 25,000 | 45,000 | • Marriott Bonvoy |
| British Airways Executive Club | American, Alaska | 26,000(+) | 75,000(+) | • Chase Ultimate Rewards • Amex Membership Rewards • Capital One Miles • Marriott Bonvoy • Bilt Rewards |
| Korean Air SKYPASS | Alaska, Hawaiian Air | 30,000 | 60,000 | • Marriott Bonvoy |
| Air France/KLM Flying Blue | Delta | 35,000 | 60,000 | • Chase Ultimate Rewards • Amex Membership Rewards • Citi ThankYou Rewards • Capital One Rewards • Marriott Bonvoy • Bilt Rewards |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | United | 39,000 | 78,000 | • Chase Ultimate Rewards • Amex Membership Rewards • Citi ThankYou Rewards • Capital One Rewards • Marriott Bonvoy |
| Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles | Hawaiian Airlines | 40,000(+) | 80,000(+) | • Amex Membership Rewards • Marriott Bonvoy • Bilt Rewards |
| United MileagePlus | United | 20,000+ | 80,000++ | • Chase Ultimate Rewards • Marriott Bonvoy |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | American Airlines | 25,000+ | 80,000++ | • Marriott Bonvoy • Bilt Rewards |
| Delta SkyMiles | Delta | 17,000+ | 80,000++ | • Amex Membership Rewards • Marriott Bonvoy |
| Alaska Mileage Plan | Alaska | 20,000+ | 40,000+ | • Marriott Bonvoy |
Fly to Hawaii for 7,500 Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
This Hawaii sweet spot lets you redeem Turkish Airlines miles for United flights to Hawaii for a super-low 7,500 miles each way in economy! No, that is not a typo. That is just 15,000 miles for a round-trip flight from anywhere in the U.S. mainland to Hawaii.
If you are lucky enough to find saver-level award space on United, business-class awards will set you back 12,500 miles one-way or 25,000 miles round-trip. Turkish passes on carrier-imposed charges on award tickets. But, since you're flying United, the fees and taxes are just $5.60 each way.
Turkish lists Hawaii (Honolulu at least) in the North America region, and treats flights between the Mainland and Hawaii as domestic itineraries.
Turkish allows you to book one-way awards for half the price of a round-trip award. So, one-way awards cost just 7,500 miles in economy and 12,500 miles in business class.
Don't have a stash of Turkish miles to throw at flights? Miles & Smiles is a 1:1 transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Rewards, 1:1 transfer of Capital One Miles, and a 3:1 transfer partner of Marriott Bonvoy (plus get an extra 5,000 miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred).
Thus, you can transfer points earned on cards like the Citi Premier® Card or Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card. The current 60,000 point welcome offer on the Citi Premier will fly a family of four to Hawaii, round-trip from anywhere in the continental U.S. for nearly free.
- 60,000 point signup bonus worth $800 towards airfare through the ThankYou Travel Center, or potentially much more when transferred to airline partners
- 3X points per $1 on airfare and hotels and at gas stations, restaurants, and supermarkets
- Annual Hotel Benefit: Save $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when you book through ThankYou.com
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 3X points per $1 spent on airfare, hotels, and at gas stations
- 3X points per $1 spent on dining at restaurants, including cafes, bars and lounges
- 3X points per $1 spent at supermarkets
- 1X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
How to Book Miles & Smiles Awards to Hawaii
A couple of things to bear in mind when booking this award. First, you may run into problems trying to book online. Traditionally, you had to call Turkish to have the award put on hold, then visit a Turkish ticketing office to complete the transaction in person. That made booking this sweet spot completely impractical.
However, you can now book United awards via Turkish Airlines' website or email.
For those that don't have Turkish miles already, the email option can be best. You need to nail down the exact flight details you want to book — including flight numbers. We recommend searching for saver-level award space on United.com to do so. Then, email a Ticket Sales Office with your Miles & Smiles account details and all the flight details, and wait to hear back.
When an agent confirms availability, you need to transfer your Capital One, Citi, or Marriott points to Turkish to get the booking underway. Transfers from Capital One are instant, but those from Citi and Marriott are not, typically taking around 1-2 days for the points to land in your account. Finally, you'll need to fill out and return all the paperwork before Turkish moves forward with ticketing your award.
Turkish Airlines' website has improved, sometimes showing availability for these flights. However, it is not consistent. You can read a complete breakdown in this post for how to book online. If it doesn't work, revert to the traditional phone and email methods outlined above.
Use the Southwest Companion Pass to Fly to Hawaii From Just 6,100 Points
Fares to the Hawaiian Islands have gotten even more competitive, and thanks to Southwest's policy of no blackout dates, there's much more award availability to Hawaii than before.
Rapid Rewards is a revenue-based rewards program. That means the cost of award flights is tied directly to the cash price. When the cost of tickets is high, the cost of award tickets also rises. So, you'll likely get better value from one of the fixed-value rewards programs like Singapore KrisFlyer or Flying Blue during peak season. However, during the off-season, the cost of Southwest tickets falls — both for cash and points fares.
Where that value explodes is if you hold a Southwest Companion Pass — which gives you two-for-one flights on Southwest for up to two years.
In the example below, flying from Los Angeles to Honolulu, the lowest one-way fare was $104 or 6,058 points. If you hold the Southwest Companion Pass, you could book round-trip flights to Hawaii many days of the week for two people for ~12,116 points, or 6,058 points each. That's an exceptional value.
As with most carriers on this list, there are a few options for redeeming rewards on Southwest. If you hold a Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you can purchase these $104 flights through the Chase Travel Portal for 6,933 points using Ultimate Rewards points, redeeming for a fixed value of 1.5¢ per point. Southwest will treat the flight as a revenue fare, and you'll earn 520 additional Rapid Rewards points.
You could also transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Rapid Rewards and redeem 6,058 points plus $5.60 in taxes for the same flight. As the cash price of the ticket is $104, you are getting about 1.6¢ per point for the transferred points. However, you won't earn additional points or miles on the purchase.
Transferring points makes a lot more sense if you hold a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, which only return a fixed value of 1.25¢ per point when you redeem via the travel portal. In this case, the flight would cost 8,320 points through the Chase travel portal.
Southwest will not always be the best use of points and miles for flying to Hawaii, but it's a great benchmark program to ensure you get good value from your points and miles. Short on Southwest points? The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card is currently offering a great introductory welcome offer that could potentially take the whole family to Hawaii.
- Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- 9,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary.
- Earn 4X points on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 3X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners.
- Earn 2X points on rideshare.
- Earn 2X points on social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services and 1X points on all other purchases.
- 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
- Member FDIC
- 4X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases
- 3X points per $1 spent on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car partners
- 2X points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services
- 2X points per $1 spent on rideshare
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Fly to Hawaii From 12,000 Singapore KrisFlyer Miles
There's more than one way of getting to Hawaii with Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. The cheaper option is via a direct partnership with Alaska Airlines. KrisFlyer has a separate award chart for redeeming miles on Alaska Airlines. This chart features lower award prices to Hawaii than if you redeem Singapore miles for United flights.
The downside is that it only applies to flights from the West Coast, Midwest, and the Rocky Mountain states. All cities in Zone 4 are excluded from this pricing with KrisFlyer. Instead, you would need to make two redemptions: one to the West Coast and then the other to Hawaii.
Note that you need to call Singapore Airlines to book Alaska awards. Unfortunately, you cannot book them online.
Booking United Awards to Hawaii Through KrisFlyer
Although you pay a little more for your flights, there are no such geographic or booking restrictions if you redeem Singapore miles on United. KrisFlyer charges 19,500 miles each way to fly United to Hawaii from the contiguous 48 states, with a round-trip award costing 39,000 miles + $11.20 in fees and taxes.
The ease with which you can book United redemptions on the KrisFlyer website makes it much less hassle than booking over the phone or email. And you can redeem miles for nonstop flights from many United hubs, including Newark, Chicago-O'Hare, Washington-Dulles, Houston-International, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Denver.
If you're able to find award availability for United business class, KrisFlyer charges 39,000 miles each way for that.
A big part of the value of Singapore KrisFlyer is that you can transfer points from Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards, ThankYou Points, Capital One, and Marriott Bonvoy. This makes KrisFlyer an ideal solution if points are spread across multiple rewards programs.
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining, and 2x on all other travel purchases, and $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, plus more.
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
- Member FDIC
- 5X points on Lyft rides through March 2025
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Fly West Coast to Hawaii for 13,000 British Airways Avios
One of the most well-known and high-value redemptions for flights to Hawaii from the West Coast comes courtesy of British Airways Executive Club. British Airways, which counts both American and Alaska as partners, offers a distance-based award chart with partner flights between 2,000 and 3,000 miles costing just 13,000 Avios points one-way. That's 26,000 Avios round-trip.
This includes non-stop flights to Hawaii operated by American and Alaska from Oakland, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Bellingham, San Jose, Portland, Seattle, and even Anchorage.
While British Airways awards can be incredibly expensive out-of-pocket, the taxes and fees on this award are just $5.60 each way.
Read through our guide on how to redeem British Airways Avios and check out the latest credit card offer for the British Airways Visa Signature® Card if you're looking to take more people to Hawaii. British Airways even allows you to pool points in their loyalty program, Executive Club, with others.
- Earn 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
- Earn 3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL.
- Earn 2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel. Plus earn 1 Avios per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- 10% off British Airways flights starting in the US when you book through the website provided in your welcome materials.
- Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you'll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years.
- Pay no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad.
- Simply tap to pay with your contactless British Airways Visa Signature Card. Just look for the contactless symbol at checkout. It's fast, easy and secure!
- Member FDIC
- 3X Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL
- 2X Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations
- 1X Avios for every $1 spent on all other purchases
Fly West Coast to Hawaii for 12,500 Air Canada Aeroplan Points
Air Canada's Aeroplan program also has a distance-based award chart, with partner flights to Hawaii costing 12,500 or 22,500 Aeroplan points depending on where you are flying from.
You can get a roundtrip for twice the points price of a one-way ticket. Aeroplan is in the Star Alliance with United, so you can use Aeroplan points to fly on United's non-stop flights to Hawaii.
Even better, Aeroplan is the newest 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards. So if you don't have Aeroplan points, you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Aeroplan.
Fly West Coast to Hawaii for 10,000 Alaska Miles
Using Alaska Mileage Plan miles for flights to Hawaii is another good option for those flying from the West Coast. Flights start at only 10,000 miles one-way in economy or 40,000 miles in first class. If you don't fly out of the West Coast, you could take advantage of Alaska's “stopover trick” for more value.
Beware When Using American, Delta, or United Miles
More people than ever before are utilizing frequent flier miles. But, when it comes to leveraging different programs, most of us still focus on legacy airlines that are now merged into just three carriers: American, Delta, and United.
All three of these legacy carriers no longer have a traditional award chart, so the miles price will vary drastically depending on where you're coming from and your travel dates. While there will be some routes and dates where you can get a good deal — particularly from the West Coast — generally, it's hard to find outsize value by booking directly with American, Delta, or United.
Use Flexible Rewards Programs to Fly to Hawaii
Our preferred method of collecting miles to get to Hawaii is with flexible rewards programs that offer transferable points. This strategy allows you to transfer travel rewards into mileage programs with airlines that have available award flights at the lowest rate.
There are top flexible rewards currencies:
- Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
- American Express Membership Rewards Points
- Citi ThankYou Points
- Capital One Rewards
- Bilt Rewards
- Marriott Bonvoy points
Get to Hawaii with Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Our favorite program for flights to Hawaii is Chase Ultimate Rewards, which offers 20 different ways to redeem points. Points can be earned with Chase's Ultimate Rewards earning cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card. You can transfer these points at a ratio of 1 point:1 mile (in 1,000-point increments) to 11 different airlines including United, Southwest, JetBlue, Singapore, Air France/KLM, British Airways, and now Air Canada Aeroplan.
- Earn 100k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,000 cash back or $1,250 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
- Round-the-clock monitoring for unusual credit card purchases
- With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more - your points don't expire as long as your account is open
- Points are worth 25% more when you redeem for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Member FDIC
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
Get to Hawaii with American Express Membership Rewards
Using points from American Express Membership Rewards, you have the option of transferring points to miles to 18 different airlines — including the options previously mentioned for Delta, Singapore, and British Airways.
Additionally, Hawaiian Airlines offers Coach SuperSaver awards starting at 20,000 miles one-way from the West Coast, along with more available Saver and Flex awards at 30,000 and 40,000 miles each way. First class with Hawaiian starts at 40,000 miles each way.
Despite recent changes to the program, another option is Flying Blue, the frequent flyer program for Air France and KLM which offers award flights to Hawaii operated by Delta for as low as 35,000 miles round-trip in economy class. Flying Blue is one of a few airlines that partner with Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards, ThankYou Points, and Marriott Bonvoy, making it one of the easiest programs to fund a balance for redemption.
You can earn Membership Rewards points with many American Express cards, including:
- Amex EveryDay® Credit Card
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- Business Green Rewards Card from American Express
- American Express® Business Gold Card
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
Transfer Marriott Bonvoy Points to Korean Air SkyPASS
If you've got points from Marriott co-brand cards like the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card, you can choose from over 40+ transfer partners available.
Using Korean SkyPASS miles, you can book awards to Hawaii on Delta for just 25,000 miles round-trip in economy class or 45,000 miles in first, which can be a fantastic deal. You can transfer points from Marriott Rewards to SkyPASS, and be sure to check out our post on how to redeem miles within the Korean SkyPASS program.
Final Thoughts
The key is knowing which points make the most sense for your unique situation. If you value flexibility, it's hard to beat Chase Ultimate Rewards with some of the best transfer partners available at the best rates.
We also need to add ThankYou Rewards into the mix when discussing the best points for flights to Hawaii. While not traditionally one of the best programs for this route, the discovery of the Turkish sweet spot and the ability to redeem KrisFlyer miles on Alaska make ThankYou points from cards like the Citi Premier® Card some of the most valuable points to get to Hawaii.
Have a preferred travel rewards currency for trips to Hawaii? Let us know in the comments!
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I searched last year from Chicago and found a couple options to HON. As I search now, the site always shows no availability on any dates. I attempted to e-mail a booking agent and they said there was no availability either. On the United site, I see seats varying in miles from 22.5k to 40k, but nothing to indicate a “saver” award. I have 100k+ Citi points I would love to use for this if anyone can offer another suggestion. Only other thing I can think is that my Turkish air currently has 0 miles because I don’t want to transfer and have them stuck there. Any help would be appreciated.
Ugh. Yeah, Turkish Airlines has really reduced the number of awards that can show online. Frustratingly, even if there’s saver award availability available to partners, Turkish Airlines may not show it. I went through the long process of emailing a ticketing office for a booking to book an award for my dad’s honeymoon – but it’s a process that certainly requires a few steps and lots of patience. I’d recommend emailing the Atlanta sales office (sales.atl@thy.com) as they were easier than Chicago.
Chuck, do you have any tips on searching and finding availability that can be booked via email? I’ve been trying to match up X class economy fares from united.com (not logged in) as well as Air France award search. The space available doesnt match between the two. Emails to turkish havent been responded to.
Seems like a unicorn at this point, but I do see occasional success stories such as yours.
Clint – the Turkish website has improved a lot lately, showing more availability online for United flights. I had success making a booking in the app last year when the website was giving me problems, so there’s also that option for Turkish. Not sure if I understood the 2nd part of your comment correctly. Flying Blue / United space won’t match up because they don’t have the same partners. You can use Turkish to book United and can use Flying Blue to book flights on Delta. Their availability won’t match. If I misunderstood, let us know if you still have questions.
Starting from your information here I now have booked a couple of non-stop round trip tickets between DENver and Hawaii for the total price of 30k Turkish Airlines miles. We leave in 45 days. My question is about how much baggage will be included. When I got a United MileagePlus Quest Visa card I was told each passenger would get a free checked bag if flying on a United plane. United says since the tickets were purchased with Turkish miles it depends upon Turkish Airlines rules. I’ve been trying to get an answer from Turkish Airlines, but not confident I’m reaching the right people. They say to expect no baggage is included.
Do you know what rules apply here?
Will we have to pay for carry-ons and checked bags?
Chuck – there’s a workaround for this that I have done several times. Get the confirmation number for your flight, log into your United account, and then go to “my trips”. There’s an option like ‘find a trip that isn’t listed’ or similar name. Add that trip to your United account. Now it will be associated with the fact you have a United credit card linked to your account! You can even then go to this page for the baggage calculator and use the “my flights” option. https://www.united.com/en/US/baggage-calculator/my-flights
Amazing Hawaii!
Being able to travel to this paradise using points, miles and advantages to book the trip is a great deal.
Each incentive program has to be well evaluated to see what best fits your situation. Having this range of options is great so rate, choose and enjoy your trip.
Aloha!!!!!
Seems good. I wish miles and rewards would just simplify across the board. No more doing this here and doing that there. its just become a game.
Great news! It’s another pro tip to to consider Hawaii as our next destination for trip holidays. Turkish airlines it’s a fruitful option for only 15k miles.
Much of the success of Method 1 will depend on how responsive (or not) and caring is T Airlines customer service by email.
Any recent data points? Thanks
Miles and Smiles offer the best award to Hawaii even though as indicated in the article the redemption process is not straightforward, it remember me the difficulty in redemption with the now deceased Jet Airways.
So glad a I read this as I am getting ready to plan a Hawaiian getaway soon. I see lots of great opportunities with the partners mentioned. Thanks!
If you’re on the West Coast and have a Southwest companion pass, getting to 2 RT tickets to Hawaii for 12k is an incredible deal…..thanks Southwest!
Nice combination of different options for reward flights to Hawaii, something for every points transfer from a credit card!
Turkish Miles and Smiles is the way to go!
Lots of way to go to Hawaii with points. I am always wanting to earn status so I’m more likely to use flexible points directly rather than airline points which won’t help me toward status. It uses more points but it works best for my overall goals. I benefit a lot from having status with the airline throughout the year.
Hawaii, I´m coming to you
Thanks for the article! Venture holder for years. I opened a Miles&Smiles account and keep trying to book US Star Alliance tickets. Although int’l tickets showed up, any domestic US searches show “Flight not found on the selected date and route…”. I first tried from CLE (home airport) to different cities, then more common routes like NYC-LAX/ORD/IAH/IAD, etc. over different dates, but again, no availability on anything. Called the airline and well-intended but ill-informed agent was clueless. I’m using the Star Alliance partner search, so that’s not the issue. Am I missing something? Thanks!
I finally went through the process myself. And yeah, it’s not easy.
Best case: award availability appears on the website and you can book it online. But, as you’re seeing, availability often doesn’t show up. So, I also tried calling and I was told that there’s no availability on a route where I’ve confirmed X award space (through an Aeroplan award search). So, I tried emailing the ORD ticket office and was also told that there was no availability. But, the ATL ticket office was able to find the availability and hold the award. To ticket, I needed to provide photos of the IDs for the passengers and the credit card – as well as filling out a credit card authorization form.
In the end, I was able to book 2 pax on a flight to Hawaii for 7,500 miles each. But, I’m definitely not going through that process for a mainland award. It seems with Turkish that you need to pick your battles.
I live in Atlanta and I would like to go to Honolulu. I have Chase UR points. I would like to fly Delta. What are my options? I prefer to travel business class if it does not require too many points.
thanks
Delta partners with two Chase UR partners: Air France/KLM and Virgin Atlantic. From Atlanta, you’ll want to try to use Air France/KLM as awards start at just 17.5k each way in economy (43k each way in business class). After a recent devaluation (https://awardwallet.com/blog/virgin-atlantic-flying-club-delta-devaluation/), ATL-HNL now costs 27.5k Virgin points in economy.
Also watch out for cheap Delta flights. I’m finding ATL-LAX-HNL roundtrip for $556 roundtrip. That’s just 37k UR points roundtrip through the Chase Travel Portal if you have the CSR! Here’s more how to use that: https://awardwallet.com/blog/chase-ultimate-rewards-travel-portal/
Looking at chart if I’m reading correctly I see domestic to Hawaii is now 30,000 RT. If so, when did this change happen. No 15,000 mile s RT.
I was trying for a Southwest Companion pass. Chase recently did not approve my credit card request because I did not have a chase account. I was surprised I needed a bank or investment account with Chase.
From the midst of the corona virus shut-down, do you have any advice on when would be the opportune timing of booking tickets to Hawaii, and dates of travel? I plan to use Turkish miles to fly on United.
Hey Chuck, it’s still pretty hard to say. I’m not super familiar with the nuances of the TK award change/cancellation process, but it looks like the fees are pretty reasonable. Awards Info on Turkish here. Considering the total cost of a trip to Hawaii, I wouldn’t hesitate to lock in good awards with a $25-50 cancellation cost if I were confident about not spending hours dealing with customer service to refund an award (I just don’t have much experience with the process to say if this will be a headache). I’d recommend you ask around in our AT101 Facebook group. I know there are lots of folks in there that know Turkish well.
Thank you for that good information, Erik. I’m still hoping to visit Hawaii soon, but know it won’t happen while a 14-day quarantine is required. Has there been any word on a date when Hawaii might be opening up for visitors?
Not that I’ve heard.
The chart at the top seems to indicate you can use SQ points to book Alaska R/T biz/first for 45,000. I don’t see that in the SQ Alaska chart. What am I missing?
Looks like we’re out of date. Here’s the current chart. I’ve updated the values in our table. Thanks for the heads up!
When searching for award availability on UA’s website (for using Turkish miles), if I’m looking for the 7500 one way price, do I have to find SAVER level award availability on United?
So I look for the ones that are 22,500 on UA’s website, then book them with Turkish miles?
Or will the ones that are available for 45,000 on UA’s website be 7,500 Turkish miles as well?
You’re looking for economy that prices at 22.5K on UA website. Keep in mind that if you have the United credit card, you may see “Exclusively available to you as a MileagePlus Chase Cardmember” options at 22.5K that are not bookable by Turkish.
Would you check to see if it is still possible to get a round trip to Hawaii from the US for just 15,000 Turkish Airlines miles? The Miles & Smiles chart I just found shows the North American price to be 20,000 miles.
Thank you
Hey Chuck, thanks for the comment. It looks like there is an exception at the bottom of the award chart (link here) that shows “domestic flights” within the same country at 15K in economy class. (Scroll all the way to the bottom of the award chart table to find this section.
Erik, thank you for responding with that good news! I understand what you are saying and appreciate seeing that.
I think US carriers would be easier and more availability for booking within the US. Thanks for the information!
Yeah, with US carriers it makes more sense booking award flights to 49th state (Alaska), than 50th state (Hawaii).
I’m planning a Hawaii trip and have many avios…. thank’s for info, now I know how to spend it 🙂
Very well-done and contains a lot of information I didn’t know! I can’t believe I’ve been wasting so many miles using my regular points instead of this. Thank you so much!
American also has excellent partner availability with Hawaiian ex-HNL for onwards journeys. Booked awards recently in J for HNL–>HND at MileSAAver 52,500 per person + $5.60. Much availability on this route.
I’m planning a Hawaii trip, thanks for the info!
Please keep up the good work with these types of write ups! These are gold.
Hawaii is definitely always worth a visit!
I love Hawaii, too, but it’s been more than a decade since I’ve been able to use frequent flier miles to get there, (Availability via American Airlines has been a constraint.) Thanks for giving me new ways to make that happen!
I bookmarked this post. Great info in an organized writeup!
Thank you so much! This is a great resource. My family of 4 is beginning to plan a Maui vacation with our good friends and their kids. Saving money on travel by using points will leave us with more spending money for our vacation. We want to see and do as much as possible while we’re on the island.
Super informative on this for RT tickets to Hawaii. Wondering, though, from Cali since it’s such a short distance if it’s better to just rack up points on another mileage CC like Capital One ?
I Love Hawaii! I went in April to Kauai but I hope to visit Maui in January! Living in CA makes Hawaii fairly convenient! The Korean Air Pass l
Good to have Southwest in the fray, now.
The Singapore chart is a little bit confusing for Alaska Airlines and the devil is in the details. Transfers aren’t allowed; like Avios, Singapore charges *per flight* for Alaska flights. So, you can save a handful of points when using Singapore points to fly to Hawaii versus Alaska points, but not a ton.
I’m surprised that Iberia didn’t make the list. When bookings on American Airlines are available (they currently are not), Iberia’s distance based award chart can be a very good way to get to Hawaii. They don’t charge extra for connecting flights, just totaling up the distance for your itinerary by adding up the segments. Beware, though, Iberia only allows round-trip bookings on partner awards, and they don’t allow *any* changes at all after you book.
Always love to see posts about Hawaii, favourite place to visit!
What a great article. Thank you for opening my eyes to this.
For many of Turkish’s fare classes, you are only eligible to earn Turkish Miles and Smiles instead of partner airline points, so this could be a good use of crediting flights to Turkish when you have to.
I didn’t know SQ was a decent option to Hawaii.
Thanks-!
I guess am opening a Turkish Miles & Smiles account now.
That looks pretty obvious, doesn’t it! I’m looking for the credit cards that would transfer miles to Turkish Miles & Smiles.
I love the idea of using miles with partners. Has anyone had issues changing the flights though?
I would be worried about availability with changing at the last minute. I guess that I would have to
really think about that before booking through a partner.
Any tip on finding availability on korean air?
The Korean Air award site is the best free source, but they show availability that isn’t bookable with partner miles. It will be accurate for those using Korean miles only. Delta will display Korean flights available to partners as will Air France. Expert flyer is probably the most accurate and shows partner inventory (leaving out Korean only seats), but it comes with a $9.99 / month cost.
Excellent article to find some awards at good prices.
The redemption with Turkish Airlines anyway seems quite complicated.
Amazing amount of research you did, to find many creative solutions! In future I may use Hawaii as a stepping stone to SE Asia.
The TK 15k/25k price is asterisked as direct flights only. Does that mean single leg (non stop) flights from UA hubs or would 1&2 stop itineraries qualify as well? And would it be considered Biz (25k) or First (40k) since United considers domestic First class.
Domestic first should code as business. We don’t have a lot of intel on how the routing rules are working. Please let us know what you find out.
Direct and non-stop are not synonymous so if it says direct, layovers should be allowed.
It looks like there are many good options for Hawaii. But doesn’t Flying Blue have a good offer too? For me, I have no desire to go there. Not my thing.
I get the whole “not my thing” take. (As with everything in life, I hope you tried it first. 🙂 ) I did and actually found island life too small for me in some way, which was totally reinforced by driving around the island in just a few hours.
Now I know how to get good free flights to one of my favorite destinations.
Island-hopping in Hawaii is one of my travel goals. Especially to Niihau. Since that is going to be incredibly expensive, I appreciate these tip to get there inexpensive you.
I just recently returned from a week each in Kauai and Maui and it was an unreal experience. This article is a great starting point for planning your adventure because it can definitely be pricey!
If I use Singapore Miles to book an award ticket to Hawaii on United will I get a free bag checked if I pay the taxes with my United credit card?
I don’t believe you will get a free checked bag booking with SQ miles (at least not automatically). However, I’m not completely sure. I would recommend using the card to pay the taxes, and make sure you add your Mileage plus number to the reservation with the UA record locator. You may be able to add bags after by calling UA and get them to waive the fee. You also might pay for the bags (if United insists) with the card and call Chase to ask if they can make an adjustment on your statement. Please let us know how it goes. Anyone else have experience with this?
I just wish there was availability to Hawaii on SW so I can use my companion pass
Very comprehensive list. My family and I were fortunate enough to take advantage of a fare sale in 2018 when cash tickets on American from phl – hnl were <$400 so with the chase sapphire reserve cashing in Ultimate Rewards at 1.5 cents each we were able to get 4 revenue tickets for ~100k points and earn AA miles in the process. Now I'm going to keep an eye on United award availability to use some of my thank you points to go back with the tricks you identified. Thanks!
Hawaii is my next travel goal, so I appreciate your information at this time. Thank you. I have some Korean Air miles from one Asian trip, but need to build up the account to use the strategy you describe. What are some ways to earn Korean Miles? (specific credit cards that would transfer to Korean Air miles)
After Chase eliminated Korean as a transfer partner, Marriott is the only option that I know of.
Thank you for that answer, Erik. That’s a big help in forming my strategy.
Marriott doesn’t seem so great at a 3 to 1 points to miles ratio… but it is an option.
Hawaii is my next travel goal, so I appreciate your information at this time. Thank you. I have some Korean Air miles from one Asian trip, but need to build up the account to use the strategy you describe. What are some ways to earn Korean Miles? (specific credit cards that would work for this).
At this point, Marriot is the only Korean Skypass transfer partner. There is a Korean Skypass credit card as well: https://www.skypassvisa.com/credit/welcome.do?
Do you have much experience with using the companion ticket with Alaska Airlines for saving money to Hawaii? I wondered about the best time of year to go with good airfare reduction.
I’m also curious about whether there are any ways to apply companion fares to these redemptions with Alaska. I know of a trick to use UR points to book the travel and then cancel + rebook to apply the companion fare but if anyone has experience doing this from another airlines’ program please let me know!
My daughter and her family used an Alaska companion ticket for a roundtrip SEA-OGG 5 years ago in November — she and one of her sons flew with the main ticket and companion ticket, while her husband and lap-infant younger son used Alaska miles for his ticket. I’m not sure about the best time of year for good airfare reduction, but they were able to book in July for the November flights.
It’s amazing how different these reward charts are and how the choice of partner can make such a difference for the same flight. Thank you to the AwardWallet team for sharing these options.
Gotta love all the success stories,
Dipping my toe into research for a future trip to Hawaii. Did a blog search, and this post certainly looks like a good place to start my investigating.
What would be the best way to book a trip to Hawaii from Minneapolis for a family of four using Chase rewards points. We currently have about 63,000 points, so how can get the most of out my points to book for all of us? We have some frequent flyer miles with several airlines, but it is not enough for another flight. I am guessing we might have to pay for one ticket or is there a way to use points and cash?
You might could check out flying on AA through BA. If they offer four seats, they also offer different levels of cash/point combinations since you won’t have enough points.