Guide to using transferable points for award flights to Hawaii

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Hawaii is an amazing travel destination, and the best part is that if you’re American, you don’t need a passport to go there. It’s almost like visiting another country, but with a lot less hassle. However, from the mainland U.S., flights can be long and expensive.

Luckily, there are easy and affordable ways to redeem miles and points from the best credit cards for travel for award flights to Hawaii.

Earning transferable points is a great way to start because you’ll have many more options when it comes time to book your flights. This can help you get around blackout dates that some airlines impose, or just general difficulty in finding available award seats.

So we’re putting together a guide on how to use transferable points for flights to Hawaii!

How to use transferable points for flights to Hawaii

To give you options for your trip, we’ll cover flights to Hawaii and also flights within the Hawaiian Islands. We won’t cover every option available, but rather just the best and most useful.

We’ll cover the basics that will help you make an informed decision like:

• Transfer ratio:  How many points do you need to transfer to get the number of miles you need?
• Transfer time:  How long does it usually take to transfer your points to the airline?  This is important because you don’t want to find an award only to see it disappear while you’re waiting for the miles to show up in your account.
• Award prices:  How many miles will it take to book a flight to Hawaii with a particular airline?
• Partner award prices:   You can use most airline miles to book award flights on their partner airlines.  However, typically airlines have different award charts for their partner airlines.  And partner award seats are usually harder to find because in many cases, you’ll only be able to book the lowest priced (i.e. saver level) awards.  Also, sometimes airlines don’t allow partner bookings for Business or First Class seats.
• Fuel surcharges:  When you book an award ticket, you’ll always have to pay for taxes and fees.  But some airlines also add fuel surcharges, in addition to the taxes and fees.  This can add $100s to the ticket cost.  So I’ll let you know whether or not you can expect these types of charges with each particular airline.
• Pros:  What are the reasons you’d want to transfer points to an airline?
• Cons:  What are the downsides of transferring points to an airline?
• Other notes:  If there are any special rules, tips, or tricks you should know for the airline, they’ll be covered here

How to get to Hawaii with Chase Ultimate Rewards points

You can earn transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the following cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Ink Business Preferred Credit Card

And the Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earn with the following no-annual-fee cards can be pooled onto the “premium” cards listed above, and then transferred to Chase’s travel partners:

• Chase Freedom®
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• Ink Business Cash Credit Card
• Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card

The information for the Chase Freedom has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

British Airways operates a distance-based award chart, so the usefulness of British Airways Avios points depends on where in the U.S. you are starting from and whether you are taking a direct flight or a connecting flight. With British Airways, you pay based on the distance of each flight segment, not the total flight distance. So, short, non-stop flights can be a good deal, but longer flights and connecting flights generally aren’t.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award prices:  British Airways operates a distance-based award chart. You can use the Great Circle Mapper to estimate the distance of each segment of your flight.

Note that Zone 1 pricing (flights from 0 to 650 miles), does not apply to flights within the U.S. Rather, those flights are priced at the Zone 2 level (flights from 651 to 1,150 miles).

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Partner award prices:  British Airways uses the same chart for their awards and partner awards unless you book a flight with 2+ or more partner airlines. For travel to Hawaii from the U.S., this will never happen.

For flights from the U.S. to Hawaii, you’ll want to focus on flights offered by American Airlines and Alaska Airlines — both British Airways partners.

British Airways Avios points are going to make the most sense for those of you that are taking a direct flight to Hawaii from the West Coast. That’s because there are a number of flights that cost only 12,500 Avios points + taxes and fees in each direction. A few examples of the flights that you’ll want to focus on if you want to redeem your British Airways Avios are:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Honolulu (HNL)
• Oakland (OAK) – Honolulu (HNL)
• Phoenix (PHX) – Honolulu (HNL)
• Sacramento (SMF) – Honolulu (HNL)
• Seattle (SEA) – Honolulu (HNL)

Fuel surcharges:  None when you redeem British Airways Avios points for partner flights within the U.S.

Pros:  Great for booking direct flights from the West Coast

Cons:  Not good for folks who can’t fly non-stop or are flying from the East Coast

For more tips check out our complete guide to British Airways Avios points.

Flying Blue (Air France / KLM)

Flying Blue is the rewards program of both Air France and KLM, and you can use Flying Blue miles to book travel to Hawaii on Delta!

Transfer Ratio:  1:1

Transfer Time:  Instant

Award Prices:  Flying Blue doesn’t publish an award chart anymore.  Rather, they offer a pricing calculator. Unfortunately, the pricing calculator page often redirects to the home page, so for your reference, the following prices are typically the lowest available:

• Coach – 30,000 Flying Blue miles round-trip
• Business Class – 60,000 Flying Blue miles round-trip

Fuel surcharges:  Flying Blue does pass on fuel surcharges on other flights, but this is not something you need to worry about on flights to Hawaii.

Pros:  Even though the Flying Blue price calculator can be hit or miss, their award search engine does a pretty good job. The award calendar is a great bonus.

Cons:  It can be tough to find available award seats on Delta, especially if you need to connect in the contiguous U.S.

Iberia operates a distance-based award chart, just like British Airways. And you can even transfer Avios points between your Iberia & British Airways account, but you’ll have to jump through a few hoops to do it.

Iberia is a member of the oneworld alliance, so you’ll be able to book partner awards flights with American Airlines to get to Hawaii. Keep in mind, Iberia only allows you to book round-trip flights on partners like American Airlines, not one-way tickets.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award prices:  Here’s the Iberia award chart for American Airlines flights:

 

One advantage of using Iberia Avios points instead of British Airways Avios points is that Iberia charges you based on the total distance traveled instead of by segment. So if you have a connection you could potentially pay fewer miles.

That said, their pricing to Hawaii from the West Coast isn’t as good as British Airways. For example, a round-trip flight between Los Angeles and Maui has a total flight distance of ~4,970 miles, which puts it just inside the band for 28,000 Iberia Avios points in coach. That’s 3,000 points more than what you’d pay with British Airways Avios points on the same route.

But looking at Los Angeles to Honolulu, the total flight distance is ~5,112 miles round-trip, so would cost 42,000 Iberia Avios points in coach. That’s not nearly as good a deal.

Fuel surcharges:  Minimal. You’ll pay ~$20 round-trip in taxes and fees to Hawaii.

Pros:  You’ll be charged for the total distance flown, not by segment.

Cons:  Can be pricey especially from the East Coast due to distance-based award chart. Only round-trip awards are permitted on American Airlines.

Other Notes:  You can book American Airlines partner awards online.

One of the biggest advantages of Singapore Airlines miles is how easy they are to earn. You can transfer points to Singapore Airlines from Citi ThankYou, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards and Marriott. So if you don’t have enough flexible points to get to Hawaii in any single program, you can easily combine points together and book award flights with Singapore Airlines miles.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Up to two days

Award prices:  Singapore Airlines offers the cheapest award prices for booking award flights on United Airlines to Hawaii.

• Coach – 35,000 Singapore Airlines miles round-trip
• Business Class – 60,000 Singapore Airlines miles round-trip

One-way partner awards are half the price of the round-trip partner awards.

Fuel surcharges:  Singapore Airlines does not add fuel surcharges to their own flights.  But if you’re booking a partner award flight you’ll pay fuel surcharges when the airline you’re flying with has them.  Luckily, this doesn’t matter for flights to Hawaii, so redeem away!

Pros:  Some of the easiest airline miles to earn as they transfer from Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Venture miles, Citi ThankYou and Marriott.

Cons:  Not the cheapest deal for flights from the West Coast.

Southwest

Southwest began flights to Hawaii in early 2019, which was great news for anyone with a Southwest Companion Pass because they’ll get to take a friend or family member to Hawaii as often as they want for just the price of taxes & fees. You can transfer both Marriott points (3:1 ratio) and Chase Ultimate Rewards to Southwest, so they’re pretty easy to collect.

There are also plenty of Chase credit cards that come with  Southwest points, so they’re even easier to collect:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card – Earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months your account is open.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card – Earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months your account is open.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card – Earn 40,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months your account is open.
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card – 60,000 Southwest points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card – 80,000 Southwest points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award prices:   Southwest is unique to these other airlines in that they don’t have an award chart. The award prices they charge are directly proportional to the cash price of the ticket. And you’ll generally receive a value of ~1.5 cents per point.

For example, I found a flight from Chicago to San Jose, California, for $175.

The same exact seat costs 10,957 Southwest points + $5.60 in taxes. That’s a value of 1.54 cents each ($175 cash price – $5.60 in taxes = $169.40 / 10,957 points).

Fuel surcharges:  No, Southwest does not add fuel surcharges for their award flights.

Pros:  When Southwest flights go on sale, their award prices drop, too! That’s the benefit of award prices being tied directly to cash prices.

Cons:  There are no Business or First Class awards on Southwest. So if you’re averse to flying long distances in coach, this isn’t the airline for you.

Other notes:  Seriously, you should look into earning the Southwest Companion Pass. It’s the best airline perk because it lets a friend or family member travel with you for free whenever you travel on Southwest. It doesn’t matter if your flight is booked with points or paid for with cash – your companion flies for just the cost of taxes and fees as long as Southwest is selling seats on that flight.

Check out this Southwest Companion Pass post for all you need to know.

United Airlines moved to a dynamic pricing model last year, so while there’s no longer an award chart, you can still find award tickets that are similar in price to what award tickets cost before dynamic pricing went into effect.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award Prices:  For flights from the contiguous U.S. to the Hawaiian islands, you’ll pay around:

• Coach – 22,500 United Airlines miles for a one-way Saver Award, up to 45,000 United Airlines miles for a one-way Everyday Award
• Business class – 40,000 United Airlines miles for a one-way Saver Award, up to 90,000 United Airlines miles for a one-way Everyday Award
• First class – 50,000 United Airlines miles for a one-way Saver Award, up to 110,000 United Airlines miles for a one-way Everyday Award

But remember, pricing is dynamic now so you could pay more or less depending on when you’re traveling.

If you want to visit a couple of different islands on your trip, redeeming United Airlines miles is a great choice for inter-island flights on partner Hawaiian Airlines. You’ll pay around the following prices:

• Coach – 7,000 United Airlines miles for a one-way Saver Award, up to 14,000 United Airlines miles for a one-way Everyday Award
• Business class – 9,000 United Airlines miles for a one-way Saver Award, up to 18,000 United Airlines miles for a one-way Everyday Award.

Fuel surcharges:  United Airlines does not add fuel surcharges for their award flights.

Pros:  United Airlines awards are easy to find and book and typically there are lots of available award seats. United Airlines miles are also a great option if you want to fly between the Hawaiian islands during your trip.

Cons:  Traveling in any class aside from coach with United can expensive for travel to Hawaii.

Other notes:  Don’t forget about the “United Airlines Excursionist Perk” which allows a free stopover or a free one-way on round-trip award flights. In addition, if f you have one of the Chase United Airlines credit cards or United Airlines elite status, you’ll have access to more available award seats.

Virgin Atlantic miles are another great way to book Delta flights if they have the available award seats you need. Better yet, you can use your Virgin Atlantic miles for flights on Hawaiian Airlines too.

But, you can’t fly both Delta and Hawaiian airlines on the same award ticket, only one partner is allowed. Virgin Atlantic miles also transfer from other major transferable points currencies like Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou points, so even if you don’t have enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you may be able to combine points for your flights to Hawaii.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award prices:  For flights from the contiguous U.S. to Hawaii, you’re looking at 40,000 Virgin Atlantic miles for a round-trip flight in coach, or 75,000 Virgin Atlantic miles in First Class if you want to fly Delta.

Depending on where you are flying from, flying Hawaiian Airlines may not be as good of a price. Flights from the West Coast to Hawaii start at the same 40,000 miles in coach and 80,000 miles in Business Class. But, if you want to fly from the East Coast on Hawaiian Airlines, you’re looking at 80,000 miles in coach and 130,000 miles in Business Class. Flights from the East Coast on Hawaiian Airlines probably shouldn’t be booked with Virgin Atlantic miles.

You can book flights between the Hawaiian Islands on Hawaiian Airlines for 15,000 miles round-trip in coach and 30,000 miles round-trip in Business Class.

One-way bookings are permitted.

Fuel surcharges:  Not something you need to worry about on flights to Hawaii.

Pros:  Can book flights on Delta and Hawaiian Airlines, sometimes more Delta award availability. And one-way bookings are permitted.

Cons:  High prices for flights on Hawaiian Airlines from the East Coast.

When to book through the Chase Travel Portal instead

Depending on how much your plane tickets cost, it doesn’t always make sense to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to airline partners for award flights. Instead, you might save points by booking a cheap fare through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

Whether or not it makes sense to book through Chase Travel will depend on a few things: How much the ticket costs, what transfer partner you would be using, and which Chase card(s) you have.

Let’s start out with which Chase card you have. Here’s what your points are worth through the portal with each Chase Ultimate Rewards card:

Chase Ultimate Rewards Card	How Much Are Points Worth Toward Travel?
Chase Sapphire Reserve®	1.5 cents
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card	1.25 cents
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card	1.25 cents
Ink Business Cash Credit Card	1 cent
Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card	1 cent
Chase Freedom®	1 cent
Chase Freedom Unlimited®	1 cent

Generally, the cheaper your plane ticket is, the more likely it makes sense to redeem points through Chase travel instead of through a transfer partner.

Let’s look at a quick example first. Suppose you were going to transfer miles to United Airlines to book a coach ticket. United Airlines charges around 45,000 miles to fly to Hawaii and back in coach. You would be better off redeeming through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal if your ticket cost less than the following:

• With the Chase Sapphire Reserve:  $675
• With the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or Ink Business Preferred:  ~$563
• With other Chase cards:  $450

Depending on what miles you are using, these numbers wouldn’t necessarily be the same. To find out what the breakeven price would be, take the numbers required and multiply by the value of your Chase points. For example, 45,000 United Airlines miles X 0.015 (for the Chase Sapphire Reserve) = $675.

Looked at another way, let’s say that your round-trip flight to Hawaii was going to cost $475. This is how many points you would pay if you booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal:

• With the Chase Sapphire Reserve:  ~31,667 Chase Ultimate Rewards points ($475 / 0.015)
• With the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred:  38,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points ($475 / 0.0125)
• With other Chase cards:  47,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards points ($475 / 0.01)

In this case, you would be better off booking through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred, or Chase Ink Business Preferred compared to transferring and paying 45,000 United Airlines miles for an award ticket.

Of course, if your alternative is booking with British Airways Avios points, that completely changes the equation. If you could book an award flight from Phoenix to Honolulu for 25,000 British Airways Avios points round-trip, you would be better off doing that no matter what card you have assuming a ticket price of $475.

To find out how many points you need for a given ticket price when booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, take the ticket price and divide by the value of your Chase points depending on what Chase card you have.  To use our example from above, $475 / 0.015 (for the Chase Sapphire Reserve) = ~31,667 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Two other benefits to redeeming your points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal is that you don’t have to worry about finding available award seats or blackout dates. As long as there’s a seat available for sale, you will be able to book it, and you’ll also earn frequent flyer miles and credit toward status for your airline ticket.

How to get to Hawaii with American Express Membership Rewards points

Amex Membership Rewards points are very helpful for getting to Hawaii because they have lots of useful airline transfer partners.  And they are easy to earn!

Even better is that Amex Membership Rewards points offer frequent transfer bonuses to their partner airlines, so you can get even more value out of your points!

If you’re working with only Amex Membership Rewards points, you have a lot of great options for flights to Hawaii.

Air Canada Aeroplan is part of the Star Alliance, so it is useful for redemptions on Star Alliance member United Airlines for flights to Hawaii. Aeroplan doesn’t have the best award prices to Hawaii, but they are still a good option if you want to fly United Airlines, especially if there is a transfer bonus.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award prices:  A round-trip flight to Hawaii costs 45,000 Aeroplan miles in coach, 80,000 Aeroplan miles in Business Class, and 110,000 Aeroplan miles in First Class. One-way awards cost half of what a round-trip award costs.

Fuel surcharges:   Aeroplan does pass on fuel surcharges for some partners, but this isn’t something you’ll have to worry about on flights on United Airlines to Hawaii.

Pros:   Frequent transfer bonuses

Cons:   Not the best award prices to Hawaii

Other notes: Air Canada charges reasonable lap infant fees – $50 to $125 or 5,000 to 12,500 Aeroplan miles. For more tips check out our guide to using Aeroplan miles.

ANA

You can redeem ANA (All Nippon Airways) miles to book flights on United Airlines, just like Air Canada. ANA offers lower prices for the same flights as Air Canada in both coach and Business Class.  If you want to fly First Class, you’ll get a better deal with Air Canada, so it won’t usually make sense to use ANA to book First Class flights to Hawaii.  Unfortunately, ANA does not allow one-way bookings, so if you want to book one-way flights, you’ll need to turn elsewhere.

The biggest drawbacks to using ANA miles are that the award chart and routing rules are relatively complicated.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Two to three days

Award Prices:  As mentioned, ANA’s First Class price isn’t great, but they’re a good option for coach and Business Class flights to Hawaii. ANA charges 40,000 miles round-trip for coach flights, 68,000 miles round-trip for Business Class flights, and 120,000 miles round-trip for First Class flights. One-way flight bookings are not possible with ANA miles.

Fuel Surcharges:  ANA does pass on fuel surcharges for some partners, but you won’t have to worry about this for flights to Hawaii.

Pros:  Cheaper prices for coach tickets that booking with Air Canada

Cons:  Business and First Class flights to Hawaii are expensive and you must book round-trip award flights

Other notes:  ANA miles expire after 36 months and cannot be extended.

It’s not uncommon for there to be an Amex Membership Rewards transfer bonus to British Airways. And they can be quite generous, which could make British Airways a useful option, especially if you have your eye on a direct flight from the West Coast.

Transfer ratio: 1:1

Transfer time: Instant

For more details on using British Airways Avios points to get to Hawaii, check the Chase Ultimate Rewards points section.

Cathay Pacific operates a distance-based award chart. And they are a member of the oneworld alliance, which includes American Airlines. Cathay Pacific is also a partner of Alaska Airlines, so you can fly Alaska Airlines to get to Hawaii as well.

Cathay Pacific does have good prices for certain flights to Hawaii, but understanding their award chart and booking rules will take some work and booking awards can present some challenges too.

One good thing about Cathay Pacific is that they are transfer partners of most flexible points programs, so it might be easier to accumulate the miles you need.

Transfer ratio:   1:1

Transfer time:   1 to 2 days

Award Prices:   As mentioned, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles has a distance-based award chart.  In fact, they have a couple of different distance-based award charts. Generally their prices for shorter flights are better than for longer flights.  Flights that fall into the Ultra-Short and Short categories are the only ones that will really make sense to book.

Here is the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles award chart for flights on Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon.  Unfortunately, you won’t exactly see these prices when looking at flights to Hawaii.  That’s because flights on a single partner airline cost 5,000 more miles for a one-way flight, but Cathay Pacific does not publish their partner award chart anymore.

For example, a flight on Cathay Pacific that falls into the “Short” category in coach would cost 10,000 Asia Miles. If a flight of the same length is on a partner airline, like American Airlines, it would cost 15,000 Asia Miles.

That means that Ultra-Short flights on a partner cost more than British Airways would charge for the same flight (but no flights to Hawaii are this short anyway).  And British Airways would charge less for Short flights (on a partner) as well. Because Asia Miles is more complicated than British Airways, if you don’t need to connect, using British Airways Avios points is going to be a better bet.

However, if you need to make a connection, you might be better off redeeming Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. This is because British Airways charges for each flight segment separately, but Cathay Pacific charges for the entire one-way flight distance.

You can use Great Circle Mapper to find out the approximate distance of your flight, and make sure to include any connections!  There aren’t that many flight options from the US to Hawaii that are going to fall into that 1,151 to 2,750 mileage band, however, but here are a few examples:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Honolulu (HNL):  2,556 miles each way
• San Francisco (SFO) – Honolulu (HNL):  2,398 miles each way
• Sacramento (SMF) – San Francisco (SFO) – Honolulu (HNL):  2,484 miles each way

All of these flight itineraries fall into the “Short” flight category, but only the flight from Sacramento to Honolulu with a connection in San Francisco would be a better use of Asia Miles than British Airways Avios points.

Flights that are longer than 2,750 miles would fall into the medium category and generally wouldn’t be a great use of Asia Miles unless they were the only option.

When booking an Asia Miles Standard Award, one-way bookings are permitted. Additionally, a Standard Award round-trip award flight can have up to three stopovers and one open-jaw, but the rules are complicated and this doesn’t apply to all award flights. You can read more about the stopover and open-jaw rules under #5 in the terms.

This award chart only applies to award bookings which include only 1 partner airline or 1 partner airline and Cathay Pacific or Cathay Dragon. This will have you covered for flights to Hawaii, but for flights to other regions you may have to check out Cathay Pacific’s oneworld multi-carrier award chart.

Fuel Surcharges:  Yes, but not something you need to worry about on flights to Hawaii.

Pros:  Easy to earn – they transfer from Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and Marriott, useful for short-haul or one-way awards, potentially generous stopover and open-jaw policy

Cons:  Overly complicated, expensive for longer flights, and many partners can’t be booked online

Other notes:

• You can book award flights online if you’re flying on Cathay Pacific, Cathay Dragon, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Qantas, or Qatar Airways.  But for awards which include any other partner airline, including American Airlines flights to Hawaii, you’ll need to fill out a “Flight Award Request Form“ or call 866-892-2598 to book your award
• Use this tool to figure out how much a specific award flight will cost
• Sometimes you’ll get a phone agent that doesn’t completely understand Cathay Pacific’s convoluted award booking rules.  Don’t be afraid to hang up and call again.

Delta no longer publishes an official award chart. So it’s a bit of a guessing game estimating how many Delta miles it will cost to get to Hawaii.  Nevertheless, Delta miles are worth considering if you want to fly Delta to Hawaii.

Additionally, Delta does have frequent award flight sales, and they could include flights to Hawaii! This is a good option to keep in your mind in case a good deal pops up.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award Prices:  Delta doesn’t publish an award chart anymore, but in general, you’ll be able to find award flights for as low as 22,500 Delta miles one-way in coach and 40,000 Delta miles one-way in Business Class.  Delta occasionally has award flash sales where prices can be even lower than this. It’s also not uncommon to see much higher prices.

Fuel Surcharges:   Yes, but not something you need to worry about on flights to Hawaii

Pros:   Potentially useful award sales

Cons:   No award chart

Other notes:  Remember, when you transfer Amex points to U.S. based carriers like Delta, you’ll be charged a small fee of 0.06 cents per point up to a maximum of $99. For example, if you transfer 45,000 Amex points to Delta, you’ll be charged a fee of $27 (45,000 X 0.0006 = $27).

Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)

Amex has offered transfer bonuses to Flying Blue in the past, which can make Flying Blue an even better option for flights to Hawaii.

Transfer ratio:   1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

For more information on using Flying Blue miles to get to Hawaii, check out the Chase Ultimate Rewards section.

Hawaiian Airlines doesn’t offer the best prices to fly to Hawaii, but it’s always nice to have more options in case it’s the only award availability you can find.

Additionally, there have been transfer bonuses to Hawaiian Airlines in the past, so that could make this a more interesting opportunity, but only if you want to top up your Hawaiian Airlines account for an award flight.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award Prices:  The prices listed in the chart below are for one-way tickets.

Hawaiian Airlines doesn’t offer the cheapest prices for flights to Hawaii from North America. However, flights to neighbor islands can be a great use of your miles. You can book flights for the same price with other airlines, but Hawaiian Airlines offers more available award seats to people booking with their own miles. If you can’t find award availability with another airlines, booking with Hawaiian Airlines miles can be a great way to snag a seat!

Fuel Surcharges:  None

Pros:  More award available on flights between Hawaiian Islands, another set of flight options for travel from the U.S.

Cons:  Not the lowest prices available

Other notes:  This is really only a useful option if you already have a collection of Hawaiian Airlines miles and only need to transfer some Amex Membership Rewards points over to top off your account, or if you can’t find availability or a schedule that works with other airlines.

Iberia operates a distance-based award chart, just like British Airways.  You can even transfer your Avios points between your Iberia and British Airways accounts, but you’ll have to jump through a few hoops to do it.

Iberia is a member of the oneworld alliance, so you’ll be able to book partner award flights with American Airlines for flights to Hawaii.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  1 to 2 days

Award Prices:  Iberia has a separate award chart for each of their partner airlines, although most are exactly the same.  You’ll pay based on the total distance of the flight.  And for most partners, you’re only allowed to book round-trip award flights.

To book a flight on American Airlines, you’ll use the award chart below.  Not relevant for flights from the U.S. to Hawaii, but this is the same award chart for flights on Japan Airlines and for flights with more than one oneworld partner.

Flights from the U.S. to Hawaii can vary significantly in length depending on where in the U.S. you are starting from and how many connections you have.

For example, a non-stop flight from the West Coast might be as few as 5,000 miles round-trip, while a connecting flight from the East Coast could easily be over 10,000 miles round-trip. In general, you’ll be looking at flights in those two distance bands. The lower band is generally an okay (but not great) deal, and the higher band is not a good deal.

A few example flights include:

• Sacramento (SMF) – San Francisco (SFO) – Honolulu (HNL):  4,968 miles round trip
• Los Angeles (LAX) – Honolulu (HNL):  5,112 miles round trip
• Phoenix (PHX) – Honolulu (HNL):  5,834 miles round trip
• Houston (IAH) – Dallas (DFW) – Honolulu (HNL):  8,017 miles round trip

Like with British Airways, the best deals are on the shortest flights, and unfortunately there aren’t any super short flights from the U.S. to Hawaii. It’s also important to know that Iberia award flights are completely non-refundable. So make sure your travel plans are set in stone before you book.

Fuel Surcharges:  Yes, but not something you have to worry about for flights to Hawaii

Pros:  Easy to earn – they transfer from Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Marriott, and British Airways

Cons:  Partner awards are non-refundable, relatively high prices for flights to Hawaii

Other notes:  All Iberia partner awards are non-refundable. So only book if you’re 100% certain of your travel plans because once you book, you can’t get your points back even for a fee!

Singapore Airlines is a great option for flights to Hawaii and they are easy to earn!  You can transfer points from Citi ThankYou, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Marriott to Singapore Airlines.  If you don’t have enough points with any one program, you can pool your points easily with Singapore Airlines miles!

Transfer ratio:   1:1

Transfer time:   Up to 24 hours

See the Singapore Airlines notes under the Chase Ultimate Rewards section for more details.

Virgin Atlantic miles are a good option for flights to Hawaii.  Like Singapore Airlines miles, you can transfer to Virgin Atlantic from Citi ThankYou, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Marriott, so you have an opportunity to combine your miles if you need to.  Additionally, Virgin Atlantic sometimes has access to more Delta award seats than other airline partners do, so they’re worth a look even if you don’t think there are available award seats!

Transfer ratio:   1:1

Transfer time:   Instant

For more information, see the Virgin Atlantic information under the Chase Ultimate Rewards section.

When to book through the Amex Travel Portal instead

Depending on how much your plane tickets cost, it doesn’t always make sense to transfer Amex Membership Rewards points to airline partners for award flights.  Instead, you might save points by booking a cheap fare through Amex Travel.

Whether or not it makes sense to book through Amex Travel will depend on a couple of things:  How much the ticket costs, what transfer partner you would be using, and possibly on what Amex card you have.

For the most part, the Amex card that you have won’t make a difference as to how much your points are worth. For most cards, your Membership Rewards points are worth just 1 cent each when redeemed for airfare. But, there’s one exception.

If you have The Business Platinum Card® from American Express  ($595 annual fee; $695 if application is received on or after 01/13/2022)(see rates and fees), you’ll get 35% of your redeemed points back (up to 500,000 points back per calendar year) in two cases:  If you’re booking Business or First Class airfare on any airline through Amextravel.com, and if you’re booking coach on your airline of choice (the same airline that you’ve chosen to get the up to $200 airline fee credit reimbursement from). In these cases, your Amex points are worth ~1.54 cents each when you factor in the rebate. Enrollment required for select benefits.

Generally, the cheaper your plane ticket is, the more likely it makes sense to redeem points through Amex Travel instead of through a transfer partner, but the scale doesn’t tip as easily as it does for some Chase cards.

For example, let’s assume that you are considering transferring Amex points to Delta to book a coach ticket. Delta charges 45,000 miles for a low-level award flight to Hawaii and back in coach.  Your breakeven price between transferring to Delta or using points as cash would be the following:

• With most Amex cards: 45,000 Delta miles X 0.01 = $450
• With the Business Platinum Card from American Express AND Delta chosen as your airline: 45,000 Delta miles X ~0.0154 = ~$693

If your flight price is less than the price listed above (for this example), it would cost less for you to redeem your Amex points as cash through American Express Travel instead of transferring to Delta.

Depending on what miles you are using, these numbers wouldn’t necessarily be the same.  To find out what the breakeven price would be, take the numbers required and multiply by the value of your Amex points.

Looked at another way, let’s say that your round-trip coach flight to Hawaii was going to cost $400 on Delta.  This is how many points you would pay if you booked through Amex Travel:

• With most Amex cards: 40,000 Amex Membership Rewards points ($400 / 0.01)
• With the Business Platinum Card from American Express AND Delta chosen as your airline: ~26,000 Amex Membership Rewards points (Simply: $400 / 0.0154 = ~26,000, or to get the exact amount: $400 / 0.01 = 40,000; 40,000 – (40,000 X 0.35 Rebate) = 26,000 miles)

In this case, you would be better off booking through Amex Travel with your Amex points rather than transferring 45,000 Delta Airlines miles for an award ticket no matter which Amex card you have.  If our example flight had been more expensive, that may not have been the case.

Note:   You’ll need the full number of Amex Membership Rewards points in your account (in this case, 40,000 points) to book the ticket.  You’ll receive the 35% rebate from having the Amex Business Platinum card in 8 to 10 weeks.

To find out how many points you need for a given ticket price when booked through Amex Travel, take the ticket price and divide by the value of your Amex points.

Two other benefits to redeeming your points through Amex Travel is that you don’t have to worry about finding available award seats or blackout dates.  As long as there’s a seat available for sale, you will be able to book it, and you’ll also earn frequent flyer miles and credit toward status for your airline ticket!

How to get to Hawaii with Citi ThankYou points

Citi ThankYou points are another great option if you want to book award flights to Hawaii. Like Chase Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards points, they have a number of useful airline transfer partners (and some of the partners even overlap!).  You can earn Citi ThankYou points from cards like the Citi Premier® Card.

Avianca LifeMiles

LifeMiles is the mileage program for Star Alliance member Avianca, and has made headlines in the past for miscategorizing airport codes into different regions.  This has led to some incredible redemptions, but there’s nothing sneaky you can do for Hawaii flights.  That said, Avianca’s rates are still pretty good for travel from the U.S. to Hawaii.

Because United Airlines is also part of Star Alliance, you can redeem Avianca miles for travel on United Airlines.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award Prices:  Avianca splits the US up into multiple regions:  United States 1, United States 2, and United States 3, plus Hawaii. However, for flights between the US and Hawaii, it doesn’t matter where you are flying from or to.  The prices are the same. If you want to fly in coach (X), it costs 22,500 Avianca miles each way, Business Class (I) costs 40,000 Avianca miles each way, and First Class (O) costs 50,000 Avianca miles each way.

The Business and First Class prices are not great with Avianca, but the coach price isn’t bad.

Fuel surcharges:  Not something you need to worry about on flights to Hawaii.

Pros:  Average coach prices for flights to Hawaii

Cons:  High award prices for Business and First Class

Other notes:  Avianca charges a $25 fee for all award bookings

Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is also a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards points. They operate on a distance-based award chart, and are a reasonable option for flights to Hawaii.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

For more information on using Asia Miles to get to Hawaii, check out the Amex Membership Rewards section of this post.

Etihad has different award prices for each partner, which can make things pretty complicated. Luckily, if you’re considering using Etihad miles to get to Hawaii, there’s only one partner that you care about – American Airlines.

Transfer ratio:   1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award prices:  Etihad’s award prices between the U.S. and Hawaii aren’t bad, but they’re not great either.  Business and First Class awards are quite expensive, but don’t cost as much as some other airlines charge. Coach prices are average to good, especially during the off-peak travel time.

Etihad considers off-peak for Hawaii to be January 12 to March 8, August 22, and December 15. So, you’re not really getting a ton of options for travel during off-peak dates.

Something that is intriguing is the inter-island Hawaii price at only 5,000 Etihad miles.  However, American Airlines doesn’t operate any inter-island Hawaii flights, so it doesn’t seem possible to actually book a flight for that price, but if American Airlines ever offers flights between the islands it could offer a good opportunity to redeem some Etihad miles.

Fuel surcharges:  None on flights to Hawaii

Pros:  Reasonable coach and coach off-peak award prices

Cons:  Not many off-peak travel dates, high Business and First Class award prices

Other notes:  If American Airlines ever starts operating flights between the Hawaiian Islands, the price Etihad charges for inter-island flights is pretty good (but don’t hold your breath)

Flying Blue (KLM/Air France)

Flying Blue is a transfer partner of all of the major transferable point currencies, and is a good option for flights to Hawaii.

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

To find out more about using Flying Blue miles to get to Hawaii, reference the Chase Ultimate Rewards section of this post.

Turkish Airlines

Transfer ratio:  You can transfer Citi ThankYou points to Turkish Airlines at a 1:1 ratio and Marriott points transfer to Turkish Airlines at a 3:1 ratio. So it’s not hard to get the Turkish Airlines miles you need.

Transfer time:  Transfers can take up to 72 hours, so plan accordingly.

Award prices: Turkish Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance so you can book these awards to Hawaii on United Airlines. To book these awards you’ll need to call Turkish Airlines at 1-800-874-8875. Turkish Airlines includes Hawaii in the same zone as the mainland U.S. so you can book one-way coach award flights for 7,500 miles one-way or one-way business-class awards for 12,500 miles.

Fuel surcharges:  None.

Pros:  Paying only 12,500 miles for a one-way business class flight is an outstanding deal.

Cons:  Premium awards are hard to come by and it can be time-consuming to book these awards over the phone.

Qantas isn’t a bad program to work with, and they have a really good award search engine. Their prices for flights to Hawaii, in the right circumstances, aren’t bad either!

Transfer ratio:  1:1

Transfer time:  Instant

Award prices:  Qantas has a distance-based award chart.  If you’re flying from the U.S. to Hawaii, most flights are going to be around 2,500 to 5,500 miles in length each way, depending on where in the US you are flying from and how many connections you need to make.  This means that your one-way flights are likely going to fall into Zone 4, 5, or 6.

Only Zone 4 pricing is really worth considering, and even then, only in coach.  In most cases, using British Airways Avios points is going to cost fewer points than Qantas if you are flying from the West Coast, but if you are making a connecting flight it could make sense to book with Qantas instead.

You can check the approximate distance of your flights on gcmap.com and compare the cost of booking with Qantas and booking with British Airways if you want to fly American Airlines.

For example, here are some one way flight distances to Hawaii:

• Los Angeles (LAX) – Honolulu (HNL):  2,556 miles one way
• Phoenix (PHX) – Honolulu (HNL):  2,917 miles one way
• Dallas (DFW) – Honolulu (HNL):  3,784 miles one way
• Albuquerque (ABQ) – Phoenix (PHX) – Honolulu (HNL):  3,246 miles one way

Fuel surcharges:  None to worry about on flights to Hawaii.

Pros:  Great award search engine, okay award price in coach, in certain circumstances (for example, a connecting flight on American Airlines where the first leg is relatively short like the last example shown above)

Cons:  High prices for Business and First class.

Singapore Krisflyer

Singapore Airlines is a transfer partner of all of the major transferable point currencies and offers great prices for flights to Hawaii.

Transfer ratio:   1:1

Transfer time:   Instant

To find out more about using Singapore Airlines miles to fly to Hawaii, refer to the Chase Ultimate Rewards section of this post.

Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner of all of the major transferable point currencies.  They sometimes have access to more Delta award seats than other partners, so they may be worth a look if you’re coming up short elsewhere!

Transfer ratio:   1:1

Transfer time:   Instant

For more information on using Virgin Atlantic miles to fly to Hawaii, refer to the Chase Ultimate Rewards section of this post.

When to book through the Citi ThankYou travel portal instead

Depending on how much your plane ticket costs, it doesn’t always make sense to transfer Citi ThankYou Points to airline partners for award flights.  Instead, you might save points by booking a cheap fare through the Citi ThankYou Travel Portal (and earn miles when you fly!).

Whether or not it makes sense to book through the Citi ThankYou Travel Portal will depend on a couple of things:  How much the ticket costs, what transfer partner you would be using (and the points cost of your potential award ticket), and which Citi card(s) you have.

Let’s start out with which Citi card you have. Things are simpler here than for Chase and Amex. If you have the Citi Prestige card, your ThankYou points are worth 1.25 cents each towards airfare. With the Citi Prestige, this drops to 1 cent per point. If you have any other card that earns Citi ThankYou points, your points are worth 1 cent each.

The information for the Citi Prestige has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Generally, the cheaper your plane ticket is, the more likely it makes sense to redeem points through the Citi ThankYou Travel Portal instead of through a transfer partner.

Let’s look at a quick example first. Suppose you were going to transfer miles to Etihad to book an off-peak, round-trip coach ticket. Etihad would charge 35,000 miles for this ticket. You would be better off redeeming through the Citi Travel Center if your ticket cost less than the following:

• With the Citi Prestige: $437.50 (35,000 X 0.0125)
• With other Citi cards: $350 (35,000 X 0.01)

Depending on what miles you are using, these numbers wouldn’t necessarily be the same. To find out what the breakeven price would be, take the number of miles required and multiply by the value of your Citi points. For example, 35,000 Etihad miles X 0.0125 (for the Citi Prestige) = $437.50.

Looked at another way, let’s say that your round-trip flight to Hawaii was going to cost $375. This is how many points you would pay if you booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal:

• With the Citi Prestige:  30,000 Citi ThankYou points ($375 / 0.0125)
• With other Citi cards:  37,500 Citi ThankYou points ($375 / 0.01)

In this case, you would be better off booking through the Citi Travel Portal if you have the Citi Prestige, compared to transferring and paying 35,000 Etihad miles for an award ticket. If you have other Citi cards, it would still cost less to transfer.

Two other benefits to redeeming your points through the Citi ThankYou Travel Portal is that you don’t have to worry about finding available award seats or blackout dates. As long as there’s a seat available for sale, you will be able to book it, and you’ll also earn frequent flyer miles and credit toward status for your airline ticket.

How to get to Hawaii with Marriott rewards points

There are a ton of airline partners available if you have Marriott points. All together, Marriott has 45 airline transfer partners!

We won’t go into details about how to fly to Hawaii with every single possible partner. Instead, we’ll just tell you the best Marriott transfer partners to get you to Hawaii. Here’s our guide to transferring Marriott points to airlines.

Marriott points aren’t your only option for transferring to Air Canada Aeroplan. You can also transfer American Express Membership Rewards points!

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~5 days

To find out more about using your Air Canada Aeroplan miles to get to Hawaii, check out the Amex Membership Rewards section.

Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines miles are a good option for getting to Hawaii on Alaska Airlines and an okay option for traveling to Hawaii on American Airlines.  Unfortunately, Alaska Airlines isn’t a partner of any other transferable point currency, so they’re a little bit harder to earn than some of the other options.  Nevertheless, it may be the best way for you to get to Hawaii.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~2 days

Award Prices:  Alaska Airlines charges different award prices for each partner. So, depending on if you want to fly on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines, you’ll have to look at different award charts and pricing.

Alaska Airlines charges the following prices for their own flights:

• Coach: 15,000 to 50,000 Alaska Airlines miles one-way
• Business Class: 40,000 to 80,000 Alaska Airlines miles one-way

At the low end of those ranges, the prices are pretty reasonable.  Especially for coach!  But, if you’re being quoted more than 25,000 miles one-way for coach or 40,000 miles one-way for Business Class, there’s almost surely a better option.

If you want to fly American Airlines, the following prices apply:

• Coach: 22,500 Alaska Airlines miles one-way
• Business Class: 40,000 Alaska Airlines miles one-way

These prices are solid, but not really anything special.  There’s a good chance that you can almost always book with another airline for the same price or less, and usually with miles that are easier to earn than Alaska Airlines miles.  That said, if you have a bunch of Alaska Airlines miles or can’t make anything else work, this isn’t a bad option.

Fuel surcharges:  No

Pros:  Low coach prices on Alaska Airlines’ own flights, ability to stopover on a one-way award flight

Cons:  Relatively tough miles to earn

Other notes: One of the best things about Alaska Airlines miles is the ability to do a stopover on a one-way award ticket. This means if you are flying Alaska Airlines, you could stopover in their hub, Seattle. If you’re flying American Airlines, you could spend a day or two in Phoenix or Los Angeles (or any other American Airlines hub) on your way to Hawaii. If you book your return flight with Alaska Airlines miles, you can have another stopover on your return itinerary.

All Nippon Airways (ANA)

ANA is a good option for flights to Hawaii, but really only for coach flights. They are also a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards, giving you an option to pool your miles.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~7 days

The award chart and routing rules are relatively complicated, but if you want to find out more, check out the Amex Membership Rewards section of this post.

American Airlines

You can use American Airlines miles to book flights on both American Airlines and Alaska to get to Hawaii. Coach prices can be pretty good, especially if you are traveling during off-peak times, but we generally wouldn’t recommend booking Business Class or First Class with American Airlines miles unless you don’t have other options.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~2 days

Award prices:  American Airlines offers flights to Hawaii in coach, Business and First class. Coach prices are pretty reasonable. While American Airlines uses dynamic pricing, the regular coach price is around 22,500 American Airlines miles each way. Business and First class flights are usually significantly more expensive making them not that great of a deal.

In general, they are not as good of a deal as the coach prices. Business Class flights start around 40,000 American Airlines miles each way.

If you want to try out flying First Class, you can do so on some flights to Hawaii.  But, prices aren’t cheap!  You’re looking at around 65,000 American Airlines miles (or more!) for a one-way flight.

Fuel surcharges:  None on flights to Hawaii

Pros:  Often ore access to American Airlines award seats than other partners have

Cons:  High Business and First class prices — sometimes difficult to find SAAver award availability

Other notes:  Sometimes difficult to find low priced award availability at peak times

Asiana

Asiana might not be a program that you’re very familiar with, but they have some great prices for flights to Hawaii. Unfortunately, Asiana miles aren’t that easy to earn, so you’ll have to save up your Marriott Rewards points if you want to use Asiana miles to get to Hawaii.

Asiana is part of Star Alliance, so you can use Asiana miles to book flights to Hawaii on United Airlines.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000-mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  10 days

Award prices:  Asiana offers good award prices for flights from the U.S. to Hawaii. Coach awards start at only 25,000 Asiana miles round-trip and Business Class and First Class awards cost 45,000 Asiana miles and 65,000 Asiana miles roundtrip, respectively.  These are all great prices for flights to Hawaii if you can find award availability on United Airlines flights that works for your trip.

One-way award bookings are permitted at half of the price listed below.

Fuel Surcharges:  Not something you need to worry about on flights to Hawaii.

Pros:  Great award prices, especially for Business Class and First Class, no phone booking fee, one-way award bookings allowed, low cancellation fee ($30 or 3,000 miles), no change fees

Cons:  Relatively difficult to earn, poor award search for partner flights online, fuel surcharges on some partners (but not on flights to Hawaii)

Other notes:  If you want to book a partner flight, you’ll have to call Asiana (800-227-4262) in order to do so. The call center is only open from Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Pacific Time.

Avianca

Avianca miles are a good option for flights to Hawaii, and are also a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou Points.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  Unknown at this time

For more information on using Avianca miles to fly to Hawaii, visit the Citi ThankYou Point section of this post.

British Airways presents one of the cheapest ways to get to Hawaii with miles if you are flying from the West Coast with a direct flight.

Transfer ratio:   3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  Under 24 hours

For more information on redeeming British Airways Avios for flights to Hawaii, check out the Chase Ultimate Rewards section.

The Cathay Pacific Asia Miles award chart is one of the more complex charts out there.  But, if you’re willing to put in some extra time, there is great value to be had!

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~10 days

For more information on redeeming Cathay Pacific Asia Miles for your Hawaiian vacation, read more in the Amex Membership Rewards section.

Delta doesn’t publish an award chart anymore, so it can be difficult to know if you’re getting the lowest price possible.  Nevertheless, they do occasionally offer pretty good award sales for flights to Hawaii.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:   ~2 days

For more information on using Delta miles to fly to Hawaii, check out the Amex Membership Rewards section.

Emirates

Emirates isn’t part of an alliance, but they do have a ton of partners.  If your goal is to get from the US to Hawaii, you can use Emirates miles for travel on Alaska Airlines.  Emirates has different award prices for each partner, so for flights on Alaska Airlines, you’ll have to reference their Alaska award chart.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~6 days

Award Prices:  As mentioned before, Emirates has different award prices for each partner.  For flights on Alaska Airlines to Hawaii, you’re looking at prices of 40,000 Emirates miles in coach and 75,000 Emirates miles in Business Class (First Class) for round-trip flights.  Emirates does not allow one-way award tickets on Alaska Airlines, so you’ll have to book round-trip.

Emirates coach award prices are decent, but their Business Class (First Class) award price is pretty high.

If you’re not quite set on your dates, Emirates charges only a $25 date change fee which is incredibly reasonable.

Fuel surcharges:  None on flights to Hawaii

Pros:  Reasonably low coach award price, low $25 date change fee

Cons:  Round-trip bookings are required, miles are relatively difficult to earn

Other notes:  Infant tickets are not permitted

We’ve already covered Etihad in the Citi ThankYou points section of this post, and they’re a good option if you need to combine points from multiple programs or if you are traveling during their off-peak dates.

Transfer ratio:   3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:   ~5 days

To find out more about using Etihad miles to get to Hawaii, visit the Citi ThankYou points section of this post.

Flying Blue (KLM/Air France)

KLM/Air France Flying Blue miles are one of the best ways to fly to Hawaii with miles if you can find available award seats. Not only do they have low prices, but they are also transfer partners of Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou points, giving you great ability to combine miles from multiple programs.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~1 day

If you want to read about using Flying Blue miles to fly to Hawaii, visit the Chase Ultimate Rewards section of this post.

Hawaiian Airlines miles are a great way to fly to Hawaii, especially if you are running into trouble finding award seats on other airlines. They are also a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~2 days

To find out more about using your Hawaiian Airlines miles to fly to Hawaii, check out the Amex Membership Rewards section.

Iberia offers a distance-based award chart which can be very valuable if you have relatively short flights (even if they involve a connection!). Iberia is also a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards, giving you the opportunity to combine your points.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~6 day

If you want to find out more about using Iberia Avios points to get to Hawaii, visit the Amex Membership Rewards section of this post.

Lufthansa

Lufthansa miles are a pretty useful option for United Airlines flights to Hawaii.  Like United Airlines, they are a member of Star Alliance. Unfortunately, Lufthansa miles aren’t that easy to earn because they are not a transfer partner of any of the other major transferable point currencies.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:   ~6 days

Award Prices:   ufthansa has a zone-based award chart, and award prices start at 40,000 Lufthansa miles round-trip in coach.  Business Class awards cost 70,000 Lufthansa miles and First Class awards cost 125,000 Lufthansa miles for round-trip bookings.  One way award bookings are allowed and cost half of what a round-trip booking does.

Fuel surcharges:  None on flights to Hawaii

Pros:  Reasonable coach and Business Class award prices, one-way bookings allowed

Cons: Relatively difficult to earn

Other notes:  Lufthansa allows two stopovers on round-trip awards, but unfortunately this doesn’t apply to stopovers in the same region as your departure. So, while this isn’t helpful for flights to Hawaii, it’s a great perk of the Lufthansa Miles&More program.

Qantas also offers a distance-based award chart and they have one of the best award search engines for oneworld flights. They’re not going to be the best award option for everyone, but in certain circumstances they can be!

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~6 days

To find out more about using Qantas points to get to Hawaii, read the Citi ThankYou point section.

Singapore Airlines is a great option for flights to Hawaii, made even better by the fact that they are a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points in addition to Marriott Rewards.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  ~6 days

To find out more about using Singapore Airlines miles to get to Hawaii, check out the Chase Ultimate Rewards section of this post.

United Airlines miles aren’t going to give you the best prices for flights to Hawaii, but they are easy to earn and they are incredibly easy to use.  United Airlines’ award search engine is straightforward, and you generally won’t have too much trouble finding available award seats, as long as you’re at least a little bit flexible.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  Under 24 hours

If you want to find out more about using United Airlines miles to fly to Hawaii, visit the Chase Ultimate Rewards section of this post.

Virgin Atlantic miles are a great way to access both Delta and Hawaiian Airlines award seats, but not on the same ticket. Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou points in addition to Marriott Rewards.

Transfer ratio:  3:1 with a 5,000 mile bonus for transfers in increments of 60,000 Marriott Rewards points

Transfer time:  Under 24 hours

For more information on using Virgin Atlantic Miles to get to Hawaii, visit the Chase Ultimate Rewards section of this post.

Bottom line

Redeeming transferable points for award flights to Hawaii gives you the most flexibility and options to this popular bucket-list spot. That way, your trip to paradise won’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

Have any questions about getting to Hawaii we haven’t answered here? Let us know in the comments!

For rates and fees of the Amex Business Platinum card, click here.