AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
Offers for the United℠ Explorer Business Card are not available through this site. All information has been independently collected by AwardWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers.
This promotion has ended; please review current/active promotions.
United has announced an award sale where you will receive a 20% discount on miles needed to fly economy class to Hawaii when booking by December 8, 2017. Instead of 45,000 miles for a round-trip economy saver award, you will pay 36,000 miles. While on the surface this sounds like a deal, it is highly dependent on where you currently have your points and miles.
Key Terms
- Bookings must be completed by December 8, 2017, at 11:59 PM CST
- Travel must start on or after January 7, 2018, and be completed on or before March 10, 2018
- Economy roundtrip fares cost 36,000 miles excluding taxes and fees
Is It Worth It?
As is normally the case, the devil is in the details. If you already have the miles in your United account or are very close to 36,000 miles then yes, it is worth it. If on the other hand you are transferring points to United to get the award, then there are ways to use fewer miles with other programs for the same seats on United.
Alternative Options
If you want to book flights to Hawaii, you are better served using other airlines’ programs and booking a partner award. You can fly to Hawaii using the following programs:
- Singapore: 35,000 miles economy roundtrip flying with United
- Korean Air: 30,000 miles economy roundtrip flying with Alaska or Hawaiian (and only 25,000 miles with Delta)
- British Airways: 25,000 Avios economy roundtrip flying with Alaska or American Airlines for flights less than 3,000 miles. This covers flights to Hawaii from destinations including Anchorage, Bellingham, Oakland, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, and Portland.
All the above programs are Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners, as is United. If you have multiple balances across several programs, but not enough for the award flight, then you need to ask yourself: what is the minimum number of Ultimate Rewards needed to get me to Hawaii? Keep in mind that Singapore, British Airways, Korean, and Delta are also transfer-partners of other programs as well.
Choosing Between United and Singapore
Since airline miles are generally non-transferable, but Ultimate Rewards are, you want to use the least number of points possible. To decide on whether to transfer points to United or Singapore, you will need to compare your United points balance to your Singapore points balance, to determine what is the most cost-efficient way of getting to Hawaii.
Points To Remember
One thing to remember is that if you hold the United℠ Explorer Card or the United℠ Explorer Business Card, then United will make more award space available to you. The same holds true with Elite status as well. Just remember to log in to your MileagePlus account before searching for award space. Sadly, this will not help you out when making a partner booking with United.
Our Take
This promo does provide some value, however, to get the most out of it you will need to take some time, and work out how it will stack up against the other options available. If you have or almost have all the needed United miles, then it is an easy pick, otherwise, grab a coffee and a spreadsheet and start crunching some numbers!
Source: View from The Wing
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.
Always looking for a way to Hawaii. United direct from Newark can be worth it
Let’s go to Hawaii! I like promos like this.
Wow – great promo!
Hawaii is high on my list, but unfortunately I can’t get there in that time frame 🙁
This really perked up my ears but then I saw the travel dates, which are outside of when I need to go. Somehow it always is but the info on miles with the other carriers is REALLY helpful! Now would biz travel be the same good deal with Avios? Hubby has a biz trip and I know he would prefer to be a little more comfortable. I do see it’s hard to get availability either way. ergh! How do you guys find availability without spending a week on it?
Avios to Hawaii in business isn’t a particularly good value due to how BA prices out domestic first class. I search for availability using tools like ExpertFlyer and Award.Flights
A longer time frame would be nice but I guess they are trying to fill the planes in the off season.
I’m sure they don’t need much help filling planes in late May when I need to go.
This would be the perfect time of year to head to Hawaii! I like the idea of a sale, unfortunately I do not have enough miles to consider this promotion, but some day perhaps. Its good to know they put on promotions like these so I can watch for them.
Thanks for the tip! I was just looking at a trip to Hawaii!
Great deal; but I wish it went through March so we could go for Spring Break!
Nice to see a reduction in miles on redemptions.
Good deal I guess. United pts are so devalued that I don’t even bother collecting
Never found it made sense to buy miles. Maybe if you need a few to reach a redemption but outside of that is rather not. Not cost effective.
I have a bunch of BA Avios for the Hawaiian trip. 25K Avios for Hawaii is a great, great deal if you can land open award seats for that trip.
Thanks for the head’s up! I just racked up some United miles and might be able to take advantage of this.
Avios is cheap to redeem but availability really sucks
Wish they’d open this pricing up to a wider window. As of now, you’re just better off flying a different carrier for fewer miles.
That is one heck of a deal! I wanna go to Hawaii!
I didn’t know how cheap Hawaii was with Avios!!
Me neither – but now I’m really checking in how to get some more Avios quickly – to use them on Trips like these!