Hawaii Sweet Spot

The way to book these tickets, is by using your British Airways Avios miles to book a flight on their One World partner, American Airlines.  British Airways uses a mileage-based award chart to redeem points for flights on British Airways or with their partner airlines.  Based on their award chart, you can book flights that are less than 3,000 miles for only 13,000 Avios each way.

Fortunately for everyone on the West Coast, Hawaii is located just under 3,000 miles from the mainland.  British Airways calculates the cost of the award based on each flight segment, so this deal only works on nonstop flights.  British Airways partners with both American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, so there are plenty of nonstop options from multiple West Coast cities.

American Airlines – You can fly nonstop from either Los Angeles or Phoenix to Honolulu, Maui, Kauai or Kona.

Alaska Airlines – Flying on Alaska Airlines gives you options to fly out of many more cities than American does.  You can fly to the Hawaiian Islands from any of these cities; Anchorage, Bellingham, Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle.

How To Find Award Availability

When you start your search to see if award space is available, be aware that availability on Alaska doesn’t show up on the British Airways website.  I always start my search on American’s site because they are partners with Alaska too and have access to their award space.  Just be sure you log in to your frequent flyer account first.  When you do your search, you’ll want to look for dates that have Mile Saver availability.

If you’re planning to fly on Alaska Airlines, you’ll need to call British Airways and book the flight over the phone.  Just have the flights you found available to give to the phone agent to make the call go quicker.  Before transferring points to your Avios account, I would call them and confirm the availability of the Alaska flight with them first.  If you’re flying on American, you can go to BA’s website and confirm the flight is available there.

After you select the nonstop flights you want, you’ll see the total is 26,000 miles plus the $11.20 for the airport taxes.

Booking Flights

Once you have confirmed the flights you want are available, you’ll need to transfer enough points to your Avios account.  Simply log in to your Chase Ultimate Rewards account and find British Airways by selecting “transfer to travel partners”.  Every time I’ve transferred points from my UR account to BA, it has taken less than 5 minutes for the points to show up in my Avios account.

If you’re flying on Alaska, I would politely ask the agent to wait a moment while you transfer the points.  Just be sure you’re already logged into your Chase account and ready to go before you make the call.  Once your points are in your account, book your flights to the Aloha State.

How To Book For Less

This sweet spot works any day of the year, as long as there is availability on the flights you’re looking.  However, sometimes it is possible to book flights to Hawaii with less than 26,000 points.

Transfer Bonuses – Occasionally, credit card companies will offer bonus points if you transfer your points to British Airways.  Recently, Chase UR offered a 30% bonus on points transferred to BA.  In this case, you could book your flights to Hawaii for only 20,000 points!  Keep an eye out for these transfer bonuses if you’re planning a trip to Hawaii.

Travel Portals – Periodically, I’ve also seen some really great sales to Hawaii from the West Coast.  If you have the card_name, card_name or card_name you can redeem your points for travel at a fixed rate.  Based on their redemption rates, if you see a fare for less than $390 and you have the Sapphire Reserve card, it will cost you fewer points by booking through Chase.  The same is true if you find a fare for less than $325 and use one of the other cards.

Do You Need More Points

Are you a few points short for your trip to Hawaii or are you just starting out earning miles?  My favorite way to accumulate points for this redemption is by using my Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards.  By using the card_name, card_name and Chase Freedom Flex cards together, you can easily build up your balance over time.  However, if you need points in a hurry, the quickest way to get them is through a welcome bonus.

You can transfer both Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express’ Membership Rewards points to British Airways.  Keep in mind the 5/24 Rule if you’re applying for a new Chase card.  Right now, the cards with the best welcome bonuses are:

• card_name – bonus_miles_full  This is a great bonus for this card. Here’s why I think this is the best rewards card for people to start earning points.
• card_name – bonus_miles_full  Terms apply. You can read my review of the card here.
• card_name – bonus_miles_full.  Here’s why I think this is the best travel rewards card out there.

Final Thoughts

Remember that Hawaii is a popular destination and will require some flexibility when looking for award space.  If there’s no availability, try other dates or check back periodically because awards seats can open up later. We planned our trip when the kids were out of school for Spring Break.  At first there was no availability at all during the week we wanted to go.  I checked back every week and few months before we wanted to go, seats became available on multiple flights.

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