The Ultimate Hawaii Mileage Award Chart And Everything You Need To Know About The Hawaiian Islands

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The updated chart below attempts to break down some of the best options for getting to Hawaii with miles.

See Hawaii travel tips, a list of every flight between the mainland US and Hawaii, and all of the mileage possibilities to Hawaii after the jump:

Tips for finding saver award availability:

Award tickets to Hawaii can be tough depending on the season, but can be obtained easily with some basic strategy.
1. Check availability at least daily (if not more often) as award seats can come and go very quickly.

2. Be willing to connect for better availability.

3. If you are ready to fly on a whim airlines often open up saver awards as it gets closer to the flight. Anytime within a month of travel in advance is a typical sweet spot. Otherwise try booking 11 months in advance of the flight when award space begins to open up.

4. Realize that not all partners will be displayed online and you need to do your own research on partner sites and/or call to find partner availability. For example BA.com won’t show Alaska flights, Korean awards must be booked over the phone, etc.

5. Airline search engines are only so powerful. Use free stopovers and open-jaws to your advantage. If you are flying from somewhere besides Los Angeles you should still search for awards from LAX to Hilo, Kauai, Kona, Honolulu, or Maui. Say you are flying United from NYC, there may not be availability on the nonstop from Newark to Honolulu, but you can always piece together an award (over the phone or by using the multiple destination award search) by searching for NYC-Los Angeles separately then Los Angeles-Hawaii, especially if you are willing to have a long connection or are willing to stay overnight in Los Angeles. In fact you can stopover in Los Angeles for as long as you want in that example.  The same goes for other airports with direct flights to Hawaii.

6. Don’t forget to book a free domestic trailing flight anytime in the year after you arrive back to your destination. United and USAirways still have free stopovers. You can fly NYC-Honolulu-NYC and then stopover in NYC for up to a year before continuing on to say, Miami, for no extra miles. You can book this on United.com with the multiple destination search.

7. Say you are flying using 85K United miles to go from Newark to Tel Aviv on April 1st and returning on April 15th. For an extra 2,500 miles you can “stopover” in Newark on the way back home for as long as you want and then book the rest of your flight nonstop from Newark to Honolulu. You have an entire year to fly that final NYC-HNL leg, so just make it for say December 1st, and you can always change the date later or you can just throw that leg away if it doesn’t work out.

8. Find award availability before transferring miles. Once they’re transferred they can’t be reversed!

9. Need help? You can post your travel dates and which miles you have in this DDF thread and ask for help. Consider offering a monetary or mileage reward to the forum member that can come up with the best award ticket to meet your needs and you may find that suggestions will come flooding in!
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As I wrote before, it’s helpful to search for just the segment from the mainland to Hawaii that you want and then search for a flight from your origin city to there.  Availability to Honolulu can be easier than to the outlying islands.

You can use miles to get from Honolulu to the other islands.

To help with award searches, below are all of the flights between the mainland US and Hawaii.

Flights between the mainland US and Honolulu, Oahu (HNL):
Alaska: Anchorage, Bellingham, Oakland, Portland, S. Diego, S. Jose, Seattle
Allegiant: Las Vegas, Los Angeles
American: Dallas, Los Angeles
Delta: Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York/JFK (seasonal), Minneapolis (seasonal), Portland (seasonal), Salt Lake City, S. Francisco, Seattle
Hawaiian: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York/JFK, Oakland, Phoenix, Portland, S. Diego, S. Francisco, S. Jose, Sacramento, Seattle
United: Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, S. Francisco, Washington DC
USAirways: Phoenix

Flights between the mainland US and Kahului, Maui (OGG):
Alaska: Anchorage (seasonal), Bellingham (seasonal), Oakland, Portland, S. Diego, S. Jose, Sacramento, Seattle
American: Dallas, Los Angeles
Delta: Los Angeles, Seattle
Hawaiian: Los Angeles, Oakland, S. Francisco, S. Jose, Seattle
United: Chicago (seasonal), Denver, Los Angeles, S. Francisco
USAirways: Phoenix

Flights between the mainland US and Hilo, Hawaii (ITO):
United: Los Angeles

Flights between the mainland US and Kona, Hawaii (KOA):
Alaska: Anchorage (seasonal), Oakland, Portland (seasonal), S. Diego, S. Jose, Seattle
American: Los Angeles
Delta: Los Angeles, Seattle (seasonal)
Hawaiian: Los Angeles (seasonal), Oakland (seasonal)
United: Denver, Los Angeles, S. Francisco
USAirways: Phoenix

Flights between the mainland US and Lihue, Kauai (LIH):
Alaska: Oakland, Portland, S. Diego, S. Jose, Seattle
American: Los Angeles
Delta: Los Angeles
Hawaiian: Los Angeles, Oakland
United: Denver, Los Angeles, S. Francisco
USAirways: Phoenix

Want to read more about Hawaii?  My love affair with Hawaii started exactly 9 years ago when I posted and grabbed a deal paying just $87 for airfare and hotel.  Since then I’ve been lucky enough to spend several months between the stunning islands, which each offer a unique and wonderful experience.  You can’t go wrong with any of them, there are just 2 things is to be careful of.

1. Don’t get stuck in Honolulu. I’ve heard from too many people who spent an entire week and never left the city limits.  That’s just a shame, they may as well have gone to Miami Beach.  While I prefer The Big Island, Kauai, and Maui to Oahu, there is still plenty to see and experience on Oahu as long as you leave Honolulu behind.
2. Don’t try to “do” several islands in a week. If you just have 4-7 days of vacation then you should stick to one island. There will be plenty to do to keep you busy and it will allow for some time to relax. There’s no need to add the stress of interisland travel just for the sake of “doing” another island. With 9 days or more to play with, it does make sense to experience more than 1 island.

DansMeals: Hawaii For The Kosher Traveler:
–Part 1: General Info And The Island Of Oahu
–Part 2: The Big Island of Hawaii
–Part 3: Maui
–Part 4: Kauai

Trip reports and posts on Hawaii:
-Trip Notes: Maui No Ka ‘Oi (2014)
-Trip Notes Kauai: Heaven On Earth (2014)
-The Hawaiian Islands. (2011)
-Traveling To Hawaii…With A 5 Month Old (2011)
-View From The Room (2011)
-Pearl Harbor…70 Years (2011)
-Shaloha! (2011)
-Hawaii Trip Notes: Kauai (2009)
-Hawaii Trip Notes: Oahu (2009)

DDF forum threads:
–Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
–Big Island Of Hawaii Master Thread
-Kauai Master Thread
-Lanai, Molokai, and Niihau, Hawaii Master Thread
–Maui Master Thread
-Oahu Master Thread
-Links to trip reports from other DDF members.

Which island should you go to and how long should you spend there?

It’s generally not worth island hopping if that will cause you to be on an island for less than 4 days.

The first thing you need to do is buy the “revealed” book for your island. They read like thriller novels and have great pictures and trip ideas. Their apps are also popular as they can guide your GPS towards sites and along hikes written about in the books.

Oahu Revealed
Maui Revealed
The Big Island Revealed
Kauai Revealed

Oahu: The center of the population base and capital city Honolulu. Most tourists go to a hotel on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, but frankly you may as well go to a beach in Florida. There are definitely nice places to check out in Oahu, but most people just stay around Waikiki and complain afterward. Pearl Harbor is on Oahu if you’re a history buff.
Highlights: Hiking Diamond Head, Jetskiing or watching the surfers on the North Shore’s killer waves. Kayaking on the leeward (east) coast. There is a Chabad House within walking distance of the resort area (Waikiki).
Lowlights: Extremely touristy and overcrowded in Honolulu.

Maui: A beautiful island with great weather in the Windward (west coast) major resort areas (Ka’anapali in West Maui and Wailea in South Maui) and in Kihei (South Maui) where affordable condos are available for rent. A convertible is perfect for the road to Hana.
Highlights: The road to Hana (stunning drive with tons of waterfalls and great hikes), sunrise on Haleakala, hiking around the Nakalele Blowhole/Olivine Pools, whale watching boat tours in the winter, browsing the shops in downtown Lahaina at night, the beaches from Wailea and further south are fantastic.
Lowlights: Still feels relatively touristy and built-up.

Kauai: A lush green isle with jaw-dropping scenery, most of it inaccessible without flying over it, hiking to it, or having a 4WD vehicle. The weather (in the winter at least) is much better on the south side than the north side.
Highlights: Waimea Canyon hikes and 4 wheel drives, taking a helicopter your over the entire island, Na Pali Coast, snorkeling at Poipu Beach, kayaking the Wailua River to secret falls, pristine and deserted Polihale Beach. Grand Hyatt Kauai. Much less touristy feel than Maui and Oahu.
Lowlights: Traffic around Kapa’a and Lihue. Rainy and buggy on the north shore, especially in the winter.

Hawaii, aka The Big Island: A massive island with active volcanoes. A 4WD vehicle here is essential.
Highlights: Volcanoes erupting, hiking through past eruptions, dipping in volcanically heated hot springs, sunset on Mauna Kea, exploring Waipio Valley, Hilo Wednesday market, touring Kona coffee plantations, watching crazy people jump off South Point, diving or snorkeling with Manta Rays. Much less touristy feel than Maui and Oahu.
Lowlights: The least green/beautiful of the islands due to the black lava everywhere, though greenery can be found. Long drives to get places, Vog (Volcanic Smog) can be an issue for sensitive breathers, fewer hotel point options (1 mediocre Starwood, no Hyatts) than the other islands.

Other islands include Lanai and Molokai off the Maui coast, but I have never made it to those islands (no free hotels!). Kahoolawe and Ni’ihau are generally inaccessible.

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There are 4 transferable point currencies that can transfer points into miles.

-Starwood points can be earned from the Starwood Consumer AMEX or the Starwood Business AMEX. 20,000 Starwood points generally transfer into 25,000 miles, though the transfer can take between 1-12 days. Some partners (like USAirways) do not care if you transfer to someone else’s account while others (like AA) are stricter. There are no transfer fees.

-American Express Membership Rewards points can be earned from consumer cards like The Amex EveryDay Credit Card , The Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card, the Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card and The Amex Platinum Card.

Business cards include The Enhanced Business Gold Rewards Card and The Business Platinum Card.
Points generally transfer instantly (exceptions includes transfers to ANA and Singapore which can take a day or 2) and can be made to anyone over the phone. A fee applies for transfers to domestic carriers like Delta.

-Chase Ultimate Rewards points are earned from cards like Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Freedom, Ink Plus, or Ink Cash.
You or your spouse need to have either a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or an Ink Plus to actually transfer points into miles. Points generally transfer instantly with no fees (transfers to Singapore can take up to a day). There are no transfer fees.

-Citi Thank You points require either a Citi ThankYou Premier, Citi Prestige, or Citi Chairman card to transfer points.  Transfer options are more limited than with the other point currencies. There are no transfer fees.

Miles listed in the chart below are for round-trip travel. Close-in fees apply for tickets booked within 3 weeks of departure. Rates are for departures from anywhere in the mainland to US to anywhere in Hawaii unless stated otherwise.  Airlines like ANA, British Airways, and JAL have a distance based chart, so examples from select cities are posted as rates will vary by city.  If no city is listed then the rates from any city in the mainland US will be the same.

There are no fuel surcharges assessed for flights between the mainland US and Hawaii.