Sweet Spot Sunday: Fly to Hawaii for 20,000 AAdvantage miles each way
Quick summary
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You might assume a flight to Hawaii is expensive. However, especially when paid rates are high, you can save a lot of money by redeeming airline miles for your flight.
There are many ways to get to Hawaii using points and miles. In this guide, I'll discuss a Hawaii sweet spot that travelers with American Airlines AAdvantage miles may want to utilize: American Airlines off-peak awards.
Why it's special
As I mentioned above, there are many ways to get to Hawaii using points and miles. There are also some excellent sweet spots to consider if you have transferable points. For example, we've previously covered how to fly to Hawaii for 13,000 British Airways Avios each way.
However, if you already have American Airlines AAdvantage miles, you may want to redeem these miles before transferring points to another program. After all, points and miles are a bad long-term investment. Also, points and miles in specific programs like American Airlines AAdvantage are more susceptible to devaluation than transferable points.
Based on American's award charts, you can redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles as follows for a one-way main cabin economy ticket between Hawaii and the contiguous 48 U.S. states and Canada:
- MileSAAver Off Peak: 20,000 miles.
- MileSAAver: 22,500 miles.
- AAnytime Level 1: 40,000 miles.
- AAnytime Level 2: 50,000 miles.
You may also see other award prices when you search for a main cabin economy award. After all, you may see Web Special awards for select flights and dates when you search on American Airlines' website or mobile app. In this guide, though, I'll focus on MileSAAver off-peak awards between the contiguous 48 U.S. states and Hawaii.
You'll only see MileSAAver off-peak award pricing between the continental U.S. and Hawaii on flights operated by American Airlines. As evidenced by the "off-peak" part of its name, MileSAAver off-peak awards are only available on select dates:
- To Hawaii: Dec. 29 to March 12, Aug. 11 to Nov. 18 and Nov. 24 to Dec. 10.
- From Hawaii: Jan. 7 to March 19, Aug. 18 to Nov. 27 and Dec. 3 to Dec. 25.
Of course, you might not find any MileSAAver availability on some off-peak dates and routes. You'll also need to pay taxes and carrier-imposed fees on these awards. However, if your itinerary doesn't have any long layovers, the taxes and fees will typically be $5.60 per person per award.
Related: American's loyalty chief reveals the fate of AAdvantage award charts
How to book this award
American Airlines makes it relatively easy to search for awards on its website. Go to aa.com and enter your origin, destination, travel date and the number of passengers. Be sure to check "Redeem miles" before clicking "Search."
You'll hopefully find some results on the next page. You'll see the minimum price for your search date and surrounding dates, but the first results you see will likely cost more than this minimum price.
You can click the arrow next to "Main Cabin" to sort prices from lowest to highest.
You can also click "Stops" and "Nearby airports" to filter out specific options. For example, when flying from New York City, I often filter out inconvenient airports.
Although there are multiple MileSAAver off-peak awards bookable on my sample date, I could click on "Calendar" to see my options for other dates. Any of the filters you selected so far should carry over to the calendar search. As you can see, there's pretty good MileSAAver off-peak award availability from New York City to Honolulu in January 2023.
Click on a date to move forward with booking. If I wanted to depart on Jan. 20, 2023, I'd have several MileSAAver off-peak one-stop award options.
Click on the main cabin award cost for the option you want. You'll see your trip summary on the next page. But, you'll need to log in to continue booking.
After logging in, you'll need to enter passenger details, select seats if you want to and then review and pay for your trip.
I have enough miles for this award. However, if I didn't have enough miles, I assume American Airlines would have told me after I logged in.
Now let's consider how to earn enough miles for this award.
Related: I had sworn off Hawaii during the pandemic — here's why I went back (and plan to again)
How to earn miles for this award~~~~~~~~`
This sweet spot is best suited for travelers who already have American Airlines miles in their account. After all, you'll want to consider other sweet spots to Hawaii if you have transferable points.
If you decide an American Airlines award is best for your trip and you need to earn more American Airlines AAdvantage miles, you can transfer points to American AAdvantage from:
- Marriott Bonvoy at a 3:1 ratio (transfers typically take 48 hours).
- Bilt Rewards at a 1:1 ratio (transfers are usually instant).
Or, you could sign up for a new American Airlines credit card. Here are some of the best cards and their current sign-up bonuses:
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®: Earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $2,500 on purchases within the first three months of account opening (see rates and fees).
- AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard: Earn 60,000 bonus miles after making your first purchase and paying the $99 annual fee in full, both within the first 90 days.
- Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® : Earn 100,000 bonus miles after spending $10,000 within the first three months of account opening (see rates and fees).
- American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp®: Earn 10,000 bonus miles and get a $50 statement credit after $500 in purchases in the first three months of account opening.
The information for the AAdvantage Aviator Red, Citi Platinum Select, and AAdvantage MileUp cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
However, note that you'll need to meet the minimum spending requirements on your new card and then wait for your bonus miles to post. So, signing up for a new card is only a good option if you're planning your trip well in advance.
If you only need a few extra miles, you can also earn American Airlines miles through the AAdvantage shopping portal, AAdvantage Dining, SimplyMiles and other partner programs. Or, you could consider buying American Airlines miles during a promotion.
Related: How to change or cancel an American Airlines flight
Bottom line
If you want to fly to Hawaii, there are many award options to consider. Although American Airlines MileSAAver off-peak awards aren't the least expensive awards you can book, they can be a good option if you have unused American Airlines miles sitting in your account.
However, it's also worth checking paid rates. After all, we've recently seen several flight deals to Hawaii. So, be sure to consider whether to pay cash or points for your flight before booking.
If you're not sure how to compare, check out this article on how to decide whether to redeem points for a flight or pay cash. If you choose to pay cash for your flight, consider using one of the best credit cards for airfare to maximize your earnings.