The 5 best ways to book flights to Hawaii with credit card points in 2024

Ehsan Haque and Andrew Kunesh, CNN Underscored
·12 min read

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EuToch/iStockphoto/Getty Images/

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Hawaii is a dream destination for many travelers, known for its pristine beaches, incredible surf scene and jaw-dropping scenery. Hawaii has something for everyone.

That said, vacationing in Hawaii can get expensive very quickly. Fortunately, you can reduce the cost of a Hawaiian vacation by using travel rewards to book your flights.

Let’s take a look at a few of the best ways to redeem travel rewards for flights to Hawaii. Plus, we’ll show you how to earn the points required to book these flights.

Get the best deal with Turkish Miles&Smiles

Transferring credit card points to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles is the cheapest way to book United flights to Hawaii. - Andrew Kunesh/CNN Underscored
Transferring credit card points to Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles is the cheapest way to book United flights to Hawaii. - Andrew Kunesh/CNN Underscored

Let’s start with one of the best sweet spots in all of points and miles. Turkish Airlines charges just 15,000 miles round trip for flights anywhere on the US mainland to Hawaii and back in economy. Yes, you read that correctly.

Turkish Airlines uses a region-based award chart and lists Hawaii in its North American region. This means that all flights are priced at the same 7,500 miles one way, whether you are flying nonstop from the West Coast or you are connecting from a smaller airport in the Midwest or on the East Coast.

This is significantly less than most other programs charge for a one-way ticket. You can find United Airlines (a Turkish Airlines Star Alliance partner) award space on Turkish Airlines’ website. United offers nonstop flights to Hawaii from Newark (EWR), Chicago-O’Hare (ORD), Washington-Dulles (IAD), Houston (IAH), Denver (DEN), Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO).

For example, you can fly from Chicago to Honolulu (HNL) nonstop for just 7,500 miles one way.

Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines

Meanwhile, United often charges over 25,000 miles one way for the same flight if you book with United MileagePlus.

With the Turkish Airlines programs, you can fly to Hawaii in business class for just 25,000 miles round trip. However, business-class award space is more difficult to come by, but it’s one of the best sweet spots in award travel.

How to earn Turkish Miles&Smiles

Turkish Miles&Smiles is a transfer partner of Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy. All transfer at a 1:1 ratio, except Marriott Bonvoy which transfers at 3:1. You’ll receive a bonus of 5,000 miles for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred.

Some of the best credit cards for earning these points include:

Book Alaska and American flights with British Airways Avios

You can transfer credit card points to British Airways to book flights on Alaska and American Airlines. - 400tmax/iStock Unreleased/Getty Images
You can transfer credit card points to British Airways to book flights on Alaska and American Airlines. - 400tmax/iStock Unreleased/Getty Images

Another sweet spot in award travel is for those on the West Coast using British Airways Avios. This airline is a Oneworld member, so you can book flights to Hawaii with partners Alaska Airlines and American Airlines.

Thanks to British Airways’ distance-based award chart, you can fly nonstop to Hawaii starting at just 16,000 Avios one way in economy from many West Coast airports.

The key is to look for nonstop flights that fall between the 2,001 to 3,000 miles distance-band. This includes nonstop flights to Hawaii from airports such as Anchorage (ANC), Los Angeles (LAX), Phoenix (PHX), Portland (PDX), San Diego (SAN) and Seattle (SEA).

British Airways charges per flight segment, meaning that connections will be priced higher. You will want to look for nonstop flights from specific airports mentioned above if you want to maximize your miles.

For example, you can fly nonstop from Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL) for 16,000 Avios and $5.60 on this Alaska Airlines flight.

British Airways
British Airways

How to earn British Airways Avios

British Airways Executive Club is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles and Chase Ultimate Rewards. These flexible points currencies transfer at a 1:1 ratio.

Some of the best credit cards to consider include:

You can also transfer points from Marriott Bonvoy at a 3:1 ratio. You’ll receive 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred to British Airways Executive Club.

Finally, Chase issues the British Airways Visa Signature® Card that earns Avios on all purchases. New card members can earn 75,000 Avios after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. The card has a $95 annual fee.

The card includes a handful of benefits like 10% off British Airways flights departing the US and a Travel Together Ticket that’s issued when you spend $30,000 on the card in a single calendar year.

Book Southwest to Hawaii with Rapid Rewards

Southwest Airlines operates a large Hawaiian route network. - DaveAlan/iStock Unreleased/Getty Images
Southwest Airlines operates a large Hawaiian route network. - DaveAlan/iStock Unreleased/Getty Images

Southwest Airlines is the carrier of choice for many. The airline has no change fees and gives all flyers two free checked bags. Plus, its Rapid Rewards loyalty program has no blackout dates on award tickets.

However, unlike other loyalty programs mentioned here, the number of Southwest Rapid Rewards points you’ll need for your flight is directly tied to the cash fare of your ticket. This means that award redemption rates will vary depending on your exact itinerary.

For reference, travel website The Points Guy values Southwest Rapid Rewards points at 1.4 cents per point. However, you may get slightly more or less value depending on a specific ticket.

Southwest often has low fares to Hawaii from its various US bases. For example, you can fly one way from Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL) for well under 8,000 points on select dates this September.

Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines

It is worth noting that if you have a Southwest Companion Pass, you can get two tickets for the price of one, which can make a great points and miles deal even sweeter. The Companion Pass effectively doubles the value of your Southwest points. You only need to pay the taxes and fees for your companion, which is $5.60 one way on Southwest flights to Hawaii.

How to Southwest Rapid Rewards points

Chase offers several Southwest personal and business credit cards. Traditionally, you’ll earn the Southwest Companion Pass after earning 135,000 qualifying points in one calendar year. This includes miles earned with a sign-up bonus with a cobranded credit card.

However, currently, three of the Southwest credit cards are offering the opportunity to earn a promotional Companion Pass once meeting the minimum spend requirement. Here’s a look at Southwest’s credit card portfolio. Note that each card has unique features and varying fees, so run the numbers and see which is the best fit for your wallet.

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards is also a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio. That said, points transferred from Chase do not count toward Southwest Companion Pass qualification.

You can transfer most credit card points to Singapore Krisflyer

Most credit card rewards programs transfer to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, which you can use to book flights to Hawaii on United at a reasonable rate. - Angel Di Bilio/iStock Editorial/Getty Images
Most credit card rewards programs transfer to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, which you can use to book flights to Hawaii on United at a reasonable rate. - Angel Di Bilio/iStock Editorial/Getty Images

Like Turkish Miles&Smiles, you can book United Airlines tickets with Star Alliance partner program Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. Award pricing is not as low as Turkish Miles&Smiles, but Krisflyer has more credit card transfer partners.

You can transfer points from the following programs to KrisFlyer:

  • American Express Membership Rewards.

  • Capital One Miles.

  • Citi ThankYou Rewards.

  • Chase Ultimate Rewards.

One-way flights from the continental US to Hawaii start at 19,500 miles. You will want to look for saver-award space to find the flights with the least points required.

Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines

How to earn Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles

As mentioned, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards. All of these flexible points currencies transfer to KrisFlyer at a 1:1 ratio.

Some credit cards to consider include:

You can transfer points from Marriott Bonvoy to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer at a 3:1 ratio. You’ll receive a bonus of 5,000 miles for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred to Singapore KrisFlyer.

Delta SkyMiles often has low-cost award tickets to Hawaii

DaveAlan/iStock Unreleased/Getty Images
DaveAlan/iStock Unreleased/Getty Images

Delta Air Lines flies to various airports in Hawaii from Atlanta (ATL), Detroit (DTW), Los Angeles (LAX), New York-JFK (JFK), Salt Lake City (SLC) and Seattle (SEA). It also flies to Honolulu (HNL) from Tokyo-Haneda (HND).

Delta SkyMiles — the airline’s loyalty program — prices award tickets dynamically. This means prices change by day, route and other factors. For example, a flight from Detroit (DTW) to Honolulu (HNL) could have a different price depending on the day of the week you want to fly. Flexibility is key to finding the best deals.

The carrier often has great awards prices from the continental US to Hawaii on off-peak travel dates. For example, you can fly one way from Seattle (SEA) to Honolulu (HNL) for as few as 14,000 SkyMiles this September.

Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines

These deals come and go quickly, so run regular searches on Delta’s website to find the best SkyMiles deals to Hawaii. You can also check the airline’s SkyMiles Deals page for posted sales.

How to earn Delta SkyMiles

Delta has an extensive lineup of credit cards, each offering a different set of benefits. Its premium cards have large annual fees but include benefits like lounge access, checked bags and annual companion tickets.

Here’s a look at Delta’s consumer credit cards and their current welcome offers. Note that the airline has three business credit cards too.

You can also transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Delta SkyMiles at a 1:1 transfer rate. And like the other programs on this list, Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to Delta at a 3:1 ratio. However, transfers to Delta are not eligible for the 5,000-mile bonus when you transfer 60,000 Marriott points.

Bottom line

A trip to Hawaii is at the top of many travelers’ bucket lists, thanks to its beaches, resorts and cuisine. And while getting to Hawaii can be expensive, you can significantly reduce the cost by redeeming credit card points and airline miles for airfare.

With so many redemption options available, consider price, award availability and the points you already have when booking your trip. And if you don’t have enough points to book now, it might be worth considering applying for a new travel credit card to build your travel rewards balance.

Click here for rates and fees of the Amex Gold card.
Click here for rates and fees of the SkyMiles Blue card.
Click here for rates and fees of the SkyMiles Gold card.
Click here for rates and fees of the SkyMiles Platinum card.
Click here for rates and fees of the SkyMiles Reserve card.

Looking for a new travel credit card? Check out CNN Underscored Money’s list of the best credit cards currently available.

Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

Note: While the offers mentioned above are accurate at the time of publication, they're subject to change at any time and may have changed, or may no longer be available.

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