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US frequent flyer programs overcharge for Hawaii awards relative to ticket price — at 45,000 miles roundtrip, even from the West Coast, you’re not getting much for your miles. But Hawaii awards are in high demand, people earning miles for business travel and wanting to use them for leisure often want to take the family to Hawaii.
I generally think the best way to Hawaii in coach is the Alaska Airlines $99+tax companion ticket that comes with the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa. It’s good for any Alaska Airlines flights, and offers last seat availability in economy. So one paid ticket, the second one a little over $100. (It used to be an even better deal when these certificates were valid for first class with the second ticket for $99 plus tax..)
But non-US frequent flyer programs offer better deals with miles, even though you’re flying US airlines between the mainland and Hawaii. Delta is notoriously tough for award space, but right now there’s some good availability.
And that’s especially true with partners like Korean Air — which lets you fly Delta, Alaska, or Hawaiian between the US and Hawaii for fewer miles than US programs do. And points transfer from a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or other Chase cards whose points transfer to miles instantly into Korean Air.
Here’s award space for four people in economy from New York JFK to Maui in Winter.
When Delta’s award calendar shows space for 22,500 miles, that’s saver award availability. And that’s available to partner airlines.
Here’s Atlanta – Maui for 4 passengers in economy:
And Los Angeles – Maui for four:
Here are Tricks and risks transferring bank points to Air France KLM Flying Blue.
- The Air France program charges 30,000 miles roundtrip between the US mainland and Hawaii, and just 25,000 miles roundtrip between the US mainland and Caribbean (so if you wish, add saver space between the US and Caribbean to drop the price).
- American Express, Citi, Chase, and Starwood points transfer to Air France.
Even better, and here are 17 tricks and things to know about Korean Air SkyPass.
- Korean Air charges just 25,000 miles roundtrip for economy Hawaii awards
- You should be able to put these seats on hold for 5 days before transferring points.
- You can only book awards for family members.
- Chase, Starwood and Marriott points transfer to Korean
I’m not a huge fan of spending miles generally for economy Hawaii awards, given how many miles they usually cost (via US frequent flyer programs), but at 12,500 miles each way it’s a pretty good value — around 3 1/3 cents a point.
(HT: Milecards)
The headline says 25K, then the body says 45K.
Also, I assume these are all Delta screenshots, despite your mention of Korean Air?
Delta charges 45k. Using Korean miles for those same flights costs 25k.
Confusing post; the headline misleads.
Notice the blackout for the winter holidays. Jan/Feb not really useful for most family travelers (and nothing to crow about compared to other carriers), but I gather that isn’t the target audience of this blog.
I looked up a date that I was interested in for 1 pass and the award calendar said 22,500 miles for that date but when I clicked on it the lowest price was 27,500 miles. So their award calendar isn’t working right….or maybe it is.
@boraxo: I found some dates avail on Air France for Spring Break season at 30K RT. While not as good as the 25K/pp deal, it’s still better than the insane DL gouging for Hawaii.
Another misleading headline or click bait?
Lost this reader.
Clickbait? Are y’all kidding me? This is dead-on exact. You can get Delta award seats to Hawaii for 25k miles roundtrip using points from Korean Air, from Chase or SPG transferred to Korean Air, or even from ANY of the bank programs transferred to Air France using Caribbean.
Readers who can’t follow that when I clearly spell it out probably SHOULDN’T be reading this site?
No YQ on these since DL doesn’t impose YQ right? Do you have to call a Korean Air call center to book or can you book online?
Wait, I have to marry my girlfriend before Korean will let me use miles for her ticket?
What about F/Biz seats? Is Korean the best option for those as well? If so, what am I looking for on the DL site to know that Korean will have access to that seat? tx for all the info.
Hi Gary, could you please show me how to get to the screenshots that you took? Are those from the delta award booking screen? Thanks much!
Saver award space (at 22,500 miles) shown on the Delta site is not necessarily available to Korean Air. Happened to me twice, as recently as last week. Korean agent could not see any availability on route I had given them.
If you use Korean Air points to fly Alaska to Hawaii round trip is a stopover possible?
Careful with the Korean booking, they make it extremely difficult to book for anyone else not the account holder. They once asked for a marriage certificate to prove someone was married before they’d issue the ticket.