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Hawaiian Airlines is the Aloha State’s largest carrier and the tenth-largest commercial airline in the U.S. Although it’s not in any major alliance, Hawaiian has codeshare agreements with a dozen airlines in various alliances and serves many destinations, including Asia and Oceania.
HawaiianMiles is the airline’s frequent flyer program. Though many flagship carriers now award redeemable miles based on the cost of a ticket, HawaiianMiles still lets flyers earn miles based on the distance of their flight.
This helps program members earn miles more quickly! For example, Los Angeles to Honolulu would earn 2,556 redeemable HawaiianMiles, and New York to Honolulu would earn 4,981 redeemable HawaiianMiles.
If you’ve collected enough points for an award flight — either through credit card spending, by flying the airline and its partners, or by shopping and dining with its partners — keep on reading for some of the best ways to use HawaiianMiles.
Amex points transfer to Hawaiian Airlines at a ratio of 1:1. Look out for sporadic transfer bonuses that can Amex offer to Hawaiian, too! The last major bonus offered a 25% bonus.
Terms Apply / Rates & FeesThe Amex Platinum reigns supreme for luxury travel, offering the best airport lounge access plus generous statement credits, and complimentary elite status.
If you're approved and accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
When it comes to cards that offer top-notch benefits, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better card out there than The Platinum Card® from American Express.
Make no mistake — the Amex Platinum card is a premium card with a premium price tag. With amazing benefits like best-in-class airport lounge access, hotel elite status, and tremendous value in annual statement credits, it can easily prove to be one of the most lucrative cards in your wallet year after year.
Terms Apply / Rates & FeesThis is the best card for food lovers who dine out at restaurants (worldwide), order take-out and want big rewards at U.S. supermarkets!
If you're approved and accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
The American Express® Gold Card is a game-changer.
With this card, you can earn 4x Membership Rewards points at restaurants and you’ll also earn 4x Membership Rewards points at U.S. supermarkets on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1x.
There isn’t another card on the market that offers a 1-2 punch like this. Of course, there are several other benefits of the Gold Card as well, including extra monthly dining rewards and more.
If you’re a business owner, see our list of the best Amex business credit cards.
The following cards also collect HawaiianMiles directly, but this is not our preferred method because the points are not transferable or flexible like Amex points are.
You can earn Marriott Bonvoy points and transfer those to Hawaiian at a transfer rate of 3:1. Plus, for every 60,000 Marriott points that you transfer, you’ll receive an extra 5,000 HawaiianMiles bonus. See our list of the best Marriott credit cards in our guide.
As mentioned above, Hawaiian Airlines is not part of an alliance, but it does have several airline partners. These partners include:
Passengers who hold a Hawaiian Airlines World Elite card (or have HawaiianMiles elite status) are eligible for discounted flight awards.
The credit card typically offers a welcome bonus, but the annual fee of $89 is not waived in the first year.
If you’re already in Hawaii and want to take advantage of an opportunity to island-hop, one-way flights in coach are 7,500 to 20,000 miles.
Hawaiian Airlines also offers premium cabin awards for 15,000 to 30,000 miles.
Do you enjoy flying in style on short flights? Economy flights booked with cash can be upgraded to first class for 7,500 to 15,000 miles.
All award upgrades must be processed through reservations and ticketed at least 26 hours before departure.
Here are a few great example redemptions you can make:
Most travelers looking to fly to Hawaii on points are likely located in the continental U.S. and will benefit from this redemption opportunity.
First class awards are as low as 80,000 miles round-trip, with a maximum of 160,000 miles round-trip from the West Coast and 260,000 miles round-trip from the East Coast.
Here are a few great example redemptions you can make:
Hot Tip: The Amex Platinum card provide miles you can transfer to HawaiianMiles and also offers great travel benefits like lounge access and airline fee credits to help pay for bags and other services!
Hawaiian Airlines also connects the mainland with the land down under and presents some interesting redemption opportunities.
A round-trip flight from Hawaii to either Sydney or Auckland in first class ranges from 130,000 to 260,000 miles.
In comparison, you’ll need 180,000 Delta SkyMiles to book a flight from Honolulu to either Sydney or Auckland at the lowest redemption level.
We’ve found availability for a round-trip ticket from Honolulu to Auckland at the Saver level on United for 140,000 MileagePlus miles. American Airlines requires 150,000 AAdvantage miles.
Here are a few great example redemptions you can make:
Hawaii and Japan are 2 of the most intimately connected regions. In fact, the first known arrival of Japanese came in 1806, and the Japanese have since become the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii.
For this reason, Hawaiian Airlines, among other airlines, offers some of the most unique routes to/from Japan. And by booking these tickets on Hawaiian Airlines, you’ll get to experience its long-haul business class product on point-to-point routes.
For one-way flights between Hawaii and Japan on Hawaiian Airlines, you’ll pay as little as 35,000 miles in economy and 65,000 miles in business.
Here are some great example routes you can take:
The South Pacific region includes far-flung tropical destinations such as Pago Pago in American Samoa and Papeete in Tahiti.
Many travelers put Tahiti and its gorgeous islands high on their bucket list and using HawaiianMiles to get there isn’t a bad redemption if you depart from the Hawaiian Islands.
A round-trip flight from Hawaii to Papeete in first class is 95,000 to 190,000 miles round-trip.
Here are a few great example redemptions you can make:
Hawaiian has several partnerships with other airlines and offers a separate award chart for each of its partners. For example, Hawaiian uses a region-based award chart for flights booked on Japan Airlines, the second-largest airline in Japan after ANA.
You can book either one-way or round-trip flights on Japan Airlines, where round-trip is twice the cost of a one-way ticket.
Flying round-trip on Japan Airlines between North America and Japan will cost 90,000 HawaiianMiles in economy, 120,000 in premium economy, and 180,000 in business class.
Flying round-trip on Japan Airlines between Japan and Hawaii will cost 80,000 HawaiianMiles in economy, 100,000 in premium economy, and 150,000 miles in business class.
For shorter hops, travelers will spend 24,000 HawaiianMiles on a round-trip flight within Japan in economy and 30,000 miles for premium economy. One thing to remember that each flight is priced by sector, meaning this price is only valid for nonstop flights. If you want to book a connecting flight, it’ll double in price for adding that extra segment.
Hawaiian Airlines’ own redemption rate to Japan ranges from 80,000 to 280,000 HawaiianMiles round-trip.
Here are a few great example redemptions you can make:
Hot Tip: Looking to fly to Japan using points and miles? We’ve got you covered in our guide!
Just as with ANA, it is possible to redeem HawaiianMiles for flights operated by Korean Air (but not Korean Air’s other partners). This award chart is region-based. At the moment, you can only redeem flights for:
Passengers can book a round-trip flight within Korea for 15,000 HawaiianMiles in economy and 30,000 miles in business class. Flyers can also book a round-trip within Asia for 30,000 HawaiianMiles in economy and 60,000 miles in business.
A round-trip flight between Korea and the U.S. can be booked for 100,000 HawaiianMiles in economy and 200,000 in business class.
All the redemptions above can actually be booked with Korean Air SKYPASS miles for a bit cheaper: 10,000 miles for flights within Korea, 30,000 miles within Asia (China and Japan, for example), and 70,000 miles from Seoul to Honolulu — all in economy class.
Please note, awards on Korean Air booked through Hawaiian Airlines are based on round-trip travel only, while Korean Air allows one-way award bookings through its own program.
Hawaiian Airlines’ own redemption rate to Korea ranges from 80,000 to 280,000 HawaiianMiles round-trip originating in Hawaii.
Here are some great example redemptions you can make:
Hot Tip: Need help booking? Check out our step-by-step guide to booking Korean Air business class.
This award chart is distance-based, meaning a longer flight will require more miles to book.
Flights within Australia can be booked for 20,000 miles in economy if they’re 1,000 miles or shorter, and 40,000 miles in economy for distances longer than 1,000 miles.
These rates increase to 30,000/60,000 miles for awards booked in premium economy, and 40,000/80,000 miles for business class flights.
International destinations served by Virgin Australia also vary. Passengers can book economy flights of 2,000 miles in length or shorter for 40,000 HawaiianMiles (60,000 in premium economy and 80,000 in first).
Travelers can book flights that are between 2,001 and 4,000 miles in length for 60,000 HawaiianMiles in economy, 90,000 miles in premium economy, and 120,000 miles in business class.
Flights longer than 4,000 miles can be booked for 100,000 HawaiianMiles in economy, 150,000 miles in premium economy, or 200,000 miles in first class. All mileage calculations are based on round-trip bookings.
Similar to airlines previously mentioned, these awards cannot be booked on flights operated by Virgin Australia’s other partners.
Here are some great example routes you can take:
It is possible to redeem HawaiianMiles on JetBlue flights, and this award chart works a little differently. Redemption levels are directly correlated with a monetary ticket value, which is a little unusual considering most other partner redemptions are distance- or region-based.
JetBlue tickets that cost $99 or less require 10,000 HawaiianMiles. If the flight costs between $100 and $179, then redemptions fall between 15,000 miles and 20,000 miles. Tickets that cost between $180 and $259 will cost between 25,000 and 30,000 miles.
Flights costing $260 and $339 require 35,000 to 40,000 miles to book, and a ticket that costs $340 to $419 can be booked for 45,000 to 50,000 HawaiianMiles.
As you can see, redemption values are the poorest for the more expensive flights, coming in at about 0.8 cents per mile. Generally, redeeming TrueBlue points will return a better value of about 1.5 cents per mile.
Redeeming rewards on this Hawaiian Airlines partner will be based on regions rather than distance flown or ticket costs. As with the other partners we mentioned, HawaiianMiles can be redeemed for flights operated by Virgin Atlantic only.
Flying round-trip from the U.K. to the Caribbean, Africa, Middle East, or North American East Coast will cost 60,000 miles in economy, 100,000 miles in Premier Economy, and 125,000 miles in Upper Class.
For flights originating in the U.K., awards to India, Asia, Australia and the West Coast of North America come to 80,000 miles in economy, 130,000 miles in Premier Economy, and 160,000 miles in Upper Class.
It turns out that redemptions from the East Coast to the U.K. are on par with many U.S. carriers’ mileage redemptions, which makes this a decent use of HawaiianMiles. Expect to pay 60,000 miles in economy, 100,000 in Premier economy, and 125,000 miles in Upper Class for North America East Coast flights.
North America West Coast flights are slightly more expensive at 80,000 miles in economy, 130,000 miles in Premier economy, and 160,000 miles in Upper Class.
Another bonus of using HawaiianMiles to book Virgin Atlantic flights is that Hawaiian does not charge exorbitant fuel surcharges on these flights.
Here are some great example redemptions you can make:
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about what we feel are some of the best ways to use HawaiianMiles.
Hawaiian Airlines does not always present the most lucrative options for booking award flights, but there are a few sweet spots travelers can leverage if they’ve amassed a healthy balance of HawaiianMiles.
Hawaiian Airlines is also an Amex transfer partner if you need to top off a balance before booking one of these awards.
The information regarding the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Hawaiian Airlines Business Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information for The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card has been independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® card, click here.
HawaiianMiles are the miles associated with Hawaiian Airlines’ frequent flyer program.
The value of HawaiianMiles depends on how you redeem your points. It is easily possible to get at least 1 cent per point in value for your miles, but the value can be much higher depending on what exact ticket you’re booking.
No, but you can redeem your HawaiianMiles for flights on its partner airlines.
HawaiianMiles is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards.
There are more than 10 Membership Rewards credit cards: the Amex Gold card, The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card, The Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card, the Amex Platinum card, and more!
Hawaiian’s own co-branded Hawaiian Airlines World Elite card also offers the opportunity to earn more miles.
As of February 12, 2021, HawaiianMiles no longer expire.
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Stephen is an established voice in the credit card space, with over 70 to his name. His work has been in publications like The Washington Post, and his Au Points and Awards Consulting Services is used by hundreds of clients.
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