Deal alert: Cheap redemptions to Hawaii for under 20,000 miles round-trip

We've recently seen many Hawaii deals that are too hard to pass up, with fares under $200 round-trip from various airlines. While these are phenomenal, United is currently offering some of these same flights for 9,100 MileagePlus miles one-way or 18,200 miles total. If you want to save your cash and burn your points and miles for incredibly low prices to Hawaii, here's how to do it.

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Airline: United Airlines.
Routes: Los Angeles (LAX), Orange County (SNA) and San Francisco (SFO) to Honolulu (HNL).
Cost: 9,100 miles one-way (plus $5.60 in taxes and fees) or 18,200 miles round-trip (plus $11.20 in taxes and fees).
Dates: October to December 2021.
Pay with: The Platinum Card® from American Express for 5x on airfare booked directly with the airline or through Amex Travel (on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year), the Citi Prestige® Card for 5x on airfare, the Citi Premier® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve for 3x on air travel, the American Express® Gold Card for 3x on airfare when booked directly with the airline or through Amex Travel, or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card for 2x on travel.

The information for the Citi Prestige Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

United makes it easy to find deals, both with cash and with your MileagePlus miles. On United's homepage, check off both "Book with miles" and "Flexible dates" in the upper right corner to find the lowest award prices in the calendar viewfinder.

For example, there's plenty of availability for a one-way flight from LAX to HNL around the holidays.

If you need to top off your MileagePlus balance, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders can transfer Ultimate Rewards points instantly at a 1:1 rate. Since transfers occur in 1,000-point increments, you'll need just 10,000 Ultimate Rewards points one-way or 20,000 points for a round-trip booking.

How to book

There are no special codes needed to find these fares. Just visit United's website to conduct a search of your own using MileagePlus miles.

Maximize your purchase

Don’t forget to use a card that earns additional points on the remaining taxes and fees, such as The Platinum Card from American Express (5x on flights booked directly with airlines or Amex Travel, on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year), Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x on travel), American Express Gold Card (3x on flights booked directly with airlines or Amex Travel), Citi Premier Card (3x on air travel) or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (2x on travel purchases). Check out this guide for more on maximizing airfare purchases.