2 Round Trip Tickets from Los Angeles (LAX) to Hawaii (HNL, OGG, LIH, KOA) for $105
For whatever reason, people think Hawaii is really expensive to visit, but if you know how (read this post to learn how) you can get 2 round trip tickets from Los Angeles, CA (LAX) to any airport in Hawaii (HNL, OGG, LIH, or KOA) for $105.
Don’t live near LAX? No problem. At the end of this post, there will be instructions on how to get to Hawaii from wherever you live.
Before I show you how to get 2 round trip tickets to Hawaii for $105, let’s take a look at how much round trip flights from LAX to Hawaii for 5 to 7 nights would cost. The following screenshots came from ITA Matrix (an online travel search engine). From October to December 2013, the cheapest round trip flights are $517 (per person) during the first 2 weeks of December, otherwise, prices are constant at $537.
At this point, you are probably disappointed and ready to give up. This is painful, but necessary to show you how important travel credit cards are and how much money they can save you and your family when you travel.
The first thing you will need to do is apply for the Chase British Airways Visa card. This credit card will give you 50,000 British Airways Avios after you spend $2,000 in 3 months. Avios (pronounced “ah-ve-oh-s” or “aye-ve-oh-s”) are British Airway’s frequent flyer miles.
Wait a second, I thought we were flying to Hawaii, not London. You are correct, we are flying to Hawaii but we will be using British Airways Avios to get there. Here is how it works. British Airways uses a distance-based award chart to calculate the number of miles for each flight.
As you can see, shorter flights require less Avios than longer flights. British Airways is the Holy Grail for short, non-stop flights. Let’s take a look at flights from LAX to Hawaii by using Great Circle Mapper.
As you can see, each flight is between 2,400 and 2,700 miles each direction. This is great because it falls into a sweet spot on British Airways’s award chart. Flights from LAX to Hawaii will be 12,500 Avios each way or 25,000 Avios round trip.
If you are flying from Dallas, TX (DFW) to Hawaii, the flights are longer (between 3,700 and 3,800 miles each way).
Because these flights are longer, the British Airways’s award chart requires more miles. Flights from DFW to Hawaii will be 20,000 Avios each way or 40,000 Avios round trip.
Now that you know LAX to Hawaii is 25,000 Avios for a round trip flight, how do you get British Airways Avios?
Before you apply for the Chase British Airways Visa, you will need a British Airways frequent flyer mile account. Sign up for a British Airways account here. Click the red button on the bottom that says Enter Additional Details to Join the Executive Club.
Fill in your address so they can mail you a frequent flyer card (all the way from Great Britain).
Agree to the terms and click the red Join the Executive Club button.
You should now have a British Airway Avios frequent flyer account number. You will need this number when you apply for the Chase British Airways Visa.
Apply for the Chase British Airways Visa Credit Card with the 50,000 Avios sign up bonus. You must spend $2,000 in 3 months, but that is pretty easy to do with Vanilla Reload Cards and Bluebird.
Apply for the Chase British Airways Visa. I will wait here for you until you submit the application. Best case scenario, you are instantly approved for the Chase British Airways Visa. Woo Hoo!
Unfortunately, not everyone gets approved instantly online. Not to worry. Welcome to the world of the Reconsideration Department. All online applications are either approved, denied, or pending further review based on the credit card company’s approval algorithms. To speak to a credit analyst at Chase Bank, call 888-245-0625 and let them know you recently applied for the Chase British Airways Visa and wanted to check the status of your application. Chase is great about moving credit around and working with you to get approved for new cards. I have called the Reconsideration Department and been approved many times for various Chase cards. If you are nervous about calling the Reconsideration Department, read Million Mile Secret’s post.
After you get your card, activate it online or over the phone. To receive the 50,000 bonus Avios offer, you need to spend $1,000 in 3 months. Click this link to learn tips on how to reach the minimum spend requirement (MMS link). After 1, 2, or 3 statements, you should receive the 50,000 bonus Avios in your account (assuming you spent at least $1,000 during those 3 months). At this point, you should have more than 50,000 British Airways Avios in your account.
It’s time to find your flight and pack your sunscreen, swimsuit, and flip flops!
Go to www.AA.com and enter LAX to HNL (or OGG, or LIH, or KOA). Enter the dates you would like to fly, click the Redeem Miles box, and click Refine your Search.
Change the carrier preference from AA + AAdvantage Participating Airlines to the second option (AA, American Eagle and AmericanConnection). Then click the blue GO button.
You will be brought to the Select Dates screen. From here, click Show Full Calendar and change Number of Stops to Non-Stop Only. Do this for both the Departure and Return flight sections.
Click a light green box for your departure and return flights, then click the red CONTINUE button. I have 2 choices for my departure flight, so I select the 8AM flight because I want to spend as much time in Hawaii as possible.
Then click the return box to look at return flights.
I only have 1 choice for my return flight, so that choice is easy.
At this point, write down your dates for your departure and return flights. My departure date is September 17 and my return date is September 25.
Now, go to British Airway’s site to book the award flight. Go to www.ba.com and log into your account.
Click the Spending Avios link on the left side of your screen.
Click the Book flights with Avios link.
This is where you enter your airports and dates. Follow these 6 steps:
- Type LAX in the FROM Field
- Type HNL in the TO Field
- Select September 17 in the DEPART Field
- Select September 25 in the RETURN Field
- Do not change economy class
- Click the red GET FLIGHTS button at the bottom.
British Airways will check for available seats on your selected routes.
Take a look at that! The same American Airlines flights I found earlier on AA.com.
You might see a message that says “Only 7 reward flight seat(s) left in this class.” This is the default message when there are more than 7 seats available. Click the red CONTINUE button.
My round trip flight from LAX to HNL will cost 25,000 British Airways Avios and $5.00 in taxes and fees.
Scroll to the bottom of the page, agree to the terms, and continue to the payment page.
Fill in your email address, name, date of birth, and telephone number. Then click Continue.
Verify your flight dates and times before paying.
Enter your payment information. I would recommend using your British Airways Visa card because the charge is coming from Great Britain and the British Airways Visa does not charge any foreign transaction or processing fees (like some credit and debits cards). If you use a debit card, the charge might be flagged as fraud. So just use your British Airways Visa card to be safe.
Enter your billing address and click the red MAKE BOOKING button.
If I were actually purchasing this ticket, I would show you a confirmation screen. From here, you should receive an AA confirmation number which will allow you to select your seats.
If you have any questions about flying from LAX, leave a comment below. If you have a question about flying from somewhere else, read Don’t live near LAX? No problem.
This is the first time I’ve read your blog. I really like the simple step by step breakdown with all the photos. Ok, I’ll be stalking you now
Thank you for the compliment. I try to make complicated things simple. On the right side of my blog, I have 11 step-by-step guides. Check them out, I’m sure you will find them interesting.
Truly informative and very easy to follow instructions. Thank you.
Thank you, I know it is a long post, but it should be easy to follow.
I am at this a lot longer than you have been, and I knew that BA rewards were distance based, but I didn’t appreciate the implications of that for actual flight paths on a round globe, and that it could mean that booking a flight with BA miles could be “cheaper” than booking the flight with the miles of the airline that actually operated the flight. Good thinking (and good teaching) young man.
Good morning David, BA Avios are awesome and they keep getting more awesomer every day. I would recommend booking these flights if you live on the West Coast.
I just found your blog. I am very new to the credit card travel scene. How would you recommend me to get to LAX? Also, does it matter what airline you use? Did you choose American because they are in the same “club?” I have a Delta Skymiles Debit card, so I rack up Skymiles when I transfer money to Bluebird, so it’s easy to earn Skymiles. . But it appears to take a lot more of them to fly than other airlines, so I’m looking for a more economical way to go. Most of my travel is to the west, especially Utah. I also recently got a Delta Gold Skymiles and an Amex business card I appreciate any suggestions you have.
Nancy, thank you for the comment. It depends where you are flying from and what time of the year you are travelling. A little known secret is that you can use Delta SkyMiles on Hawaiian Airlines flights and Alaska Airlines flights.
Great stuff grant
Thank you Mr. Vu!
Grant, I just found your blog as well and it is now bookmarked. Looks like this got you at least two stalkers. I am very interested in the BA Companion fare program you mentioned. Do you have to spend $30,000 by the end of the calender year or is it rolling 12 month period after you get the card. If it ends at the end of the calender year, do you think they will be offering the 50K bonus mile offer at the end of this year or early next year? Thank you..Mark
Good evening Mark, thank you for the email. The BA Companion Pass is not really a great deal when you take into account all the taxes/fees you have to pay for both tickets. I believe the 12 month is based on when you get the card. I’m not sure when Chase will change the sign up bonus. When I got the card, I got 50,000 BA Avios on approval, then had the option to spend $10,000 and earn 25,000 bonus BA Avios, spend another $10,000 and earn another 25,000 bonus BA Avios.
Sorry for the panicked tweet. I obviously found this thread again. Thank yo for the advice. Perhaps I will try for the SWA Companion Status early next year then. That just seems much steeper hill to climb.
HI Grant, can you pls tell me where the link is for: “Click this link to learn tips on how to reach the minimum spend requirement (insert link).”
I just updated the post with the correct link. Thanks for letting me know.
Grant, I tried to run Minneapolis (MSP) to OGG itinerary and got a message on British Air site that no flights available or British Air with partners do not serve this route. How come? I know American can fly from MSP to OGG with a stop
Try searching each segment separately. MSP to LAX and LAX to OGG (maybe try HNL also).
Grant, thank you for all this important information! Could you please explain in more details how to pay with Delta Skymiles for flights on Hawaiian or Alaska airlines? Do they have to be only Delta operated? Thanks!
Good morning Elaine, I have never used Delta SkyMiles for trips to Hawaii. I believe you can use SkyMiles for flights on Alaska, Delta, and Hawaiian Airlines. You just need to find award space on the route you want and call up Delta and they can book the flight for you. It will probably cost 40,000 SkyMiles round trip.
just an fyi – I tried to use Skymiles on Alaska Airlines, and it doesn’t work. Alaska is an exception, so I wound up having to pay 33% more (40K on Delta vs. 30k on Alaska air) for a trip. After I couldn’t set it up online I called Delta – no go. If you or your readers know a way around this, let me know
Thanks for sharing Nancy, I have a really hard time using Delta SkyMiles for any award trip. I am tempted to use “Pay with Miles” to just liquidate my 50,000 miles…
Grant, you can add to this that Alaska Air is another choice, and especially good for people out of other west coast cities (not just LA). But then you need to call that in and you might not get the phone fee waived. I’ve heard it both ways about whether or not the fee can be waived.
I’m planning on updating this post and will add your suggestion. Thanks Blue Cat!
Regarding Alaska with Avios. We’ve (4 of us) gone to Hawaii from San Diego 3 years out of the last 4 all on Alaska via Avios. Alaska flies direct out of SAN. Just booked another trip, 4 people, cost $11.20 per person. I’ve successfully had the Avios fee waived every time except for our first trip (was unaware they could waive it!). All you do is mention that British Airways systems do not allow you to book Alaska on-line, that you have no choice but to call. When I called last week, the guy actually apologized for the inconvenience and waived the fee no problem.
I flew SAN-HNL 2 years ago on Alaska, but I had a great deal on First Class flights, so I didn’t use miles or Avios for that trip. But I have helped people book SAN-HNL with Avios before, very simple, otehr than calling BA and waiting on hold :)
Just wanted to add too that I liked your idea of maximizing Avios to Hawaii. If you look at this GC mapper map, you can imagine that there are a lot of direct flights that fall within this 3000 mile range.. http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?R=3000miles%40koa&MS=wls&MP=o&DU=mi
Very helpful GC Mapper trick. I will have to remember that for the future.
The Credit Card charge comes from BA US and does not incur foriegn transaction fees with AMEX gold cards.
Of all the misunderstood or little understood aspects of point collection for free flights, this is it, i.e., using points collected in one plan to fly on another.
Please publish the biz class Avios opps on this flight route as well!
If there is business class award space (assuming a 3 cabin plane) it would only be 50,000 Avios round trip per person. If there were first class award space (assuming 2 or 3 cabin plane) it would be 75,000 Avios round trip per person.
That’s WELL worth it given the length of flight
That price is only available from the west coast airports and PHX. Other airports farther from the west coast will cost more.
Which highlights another flaw of many of these blogs (not yours)……most are east coast centric. Alaska Air and the west coast presents some of the best value and partnership transfers going, but you are one of the few bloggers who will write about it.
West Coast = Best Coast, according to Scott from Hack My Trip
Hi Grant,
Thanks for your information. I just went through the British Airways website and look at the credit card feature. I have few questions before I apply and refer my friends.
1. Do you get anything if I click in your blog to apply for membership or credit card.
2. I saw one of the feature is if you spend $30000 in one calendar year, you can get a voucher for you companion to fly free on BA even if you redeem points. Is it worth it or the taxes is too high?
Good morning Hoang, I do not have an affiliate link or a referral link for the Chase British Airways Credit Card, so you can use whatever link you want. The $30,000 companion pass might not be as great a deal as it sounds. Most people redeem for a first class flight to LHR, but you will have to pay around $1,000 in taxes/fees per person. You can only fly British Airways to/thru LHR.
Hi Grant,
How long the Avios points expire? I think about to apply for it but not sure I will go to Hawaii this year. It is also very good for going from Philadelphia to Paris only 20K points each way through partner and the fees very cheap.
I really like you blogs a lot and thanks for your help. By the way with your help and from Flyertalk I will have free gas for this month and next month. I just bought 5 gal container for $18 and it is a good investment since the tank in our cars only 16 gal max. On Monday, driving in Giant gas station with Saturn Vue and 2 5 gallon containers, I save almost $90 !!!
I think British Airway Avios are valid for 18 months, but it’s really easy to keep them alive for longer than that. Glad you saved money on gas this time.
Hi, can you explain the step of going to AA.com to find the flights versus going to BA directly to search for flights and then use miles to redeem?
The AA website is better at searching and finding award space since you can view monthly calendars. On the BA website, you can only see award space one day at a time. Check out this guide: http://travelwithgrant.com/how-to-guides-airlines-miles-points/book-british-airways-award/
You can also check out my award booking reports (see tab).
Grant, I followed your guide and it worked. 50,000 avios for two tickets LAX to OGG in Nov but I don’t have the avios’ credited to the account yet. I assume I need to wait for them to be in there before they allow me to book the reservation? Or is there another tip I don’t see?
You will have to wait for your credit card statement to close and the Avios to post to your British Airways account. Then you can book the flights. You can contact Chase to find out what day that will be, and if they can deposit the Avios early.
Thanks for the fast reply. Enjoying your site and have been learning a lot of things from you. Still trying to figure out the best strategy for me to fly. I just retired and have accumulated a zillion MR points so doubt that I will ever pay for a hotel room again as long as I stay with Marriott and/or their other properties. Now I want to fly for free as often as possible. Once a year to Maui, once a year to Europe, and pop around the Continental US on spur of the moment adventures. Reading about devaluations it seems prudent to spread the miles around but there has to be a reasonably simple 2 or 3 card system that will work most of time?
The British Airways Avios deal works best from the West Coast, what is your closest airport? The best credit cards to have earn transferable miles/points. I would get a Chase Ink or Chase Sapphire Preferred for Ultimate Reward Points, an AMEX card that earns Membership Reward Points, and an AMEX SPG card for redemption at SPG hotels or transfers to airline miles. If you stick with those 3, you will be able to travel to 90%+ of the places in the world.
Fly most of time from LAX and occasionally from Santa Barbara when I don’t want to drive to the airport. I have an offer from AmEx Platinum of 100,000 Membership Rewards points with a $3,000 spend. Fee is high but lots of goodies come with it. I do have the Chase Sapphire which is new. So sounds like the SPG is all I need. One last question should I apply for the two AM Ex cards at the same time or spread them out.
I would definitely go for the AMEX 100k offer, that is a very good offer. That seems like a targeted offer since I haven’t seen it that high in a long time. You can get the SPG card later on since the sign up bonus is almost always the same.
Thanks again for you time and help. Appreciate it a lot.
You’re welcome John. Have a great weekend!
Wouldn’t it be fair to say that transferring Starpoints to airlines only makes sense in specialty cases? Especially for those of us who have cheaper, easier ways to generate airline miles (strong signup bonuses), but no easy way to generate lots of Starwood property points?
You could argue either way. My advice is especially true if you only have 3 credit cards and want the flexibility of many transfer partners. A distant 4th option would be Hyatt Points which can be transferred to several airlines (not a good option) and the Citi Thank You Preferred card which has a few international transfer partners (only Singapore Airlines is good).
There is also a Amtrak & Points.com option which ideal for topping off frequent flyer balances: http://travelwithgrant.com/how-to-guides-airlines-miles-points/chase-ultimate-reward-points/transfer-chase-ultimate-reward-points-to-non-chase-partners/
I see the charge for $5. Where does the other $100 be charge to?
When I first wrote this post, the Chase British Airways Credit Card had a $95 annual fee. Back then, you could get round trip tickets for only $5 in taxes/fees, hence the 2 tickets for $105. Nowadays, round trip tickets will cost $5.60 in taxes/fees and currently the Chase British Airways Credit Card has no annual fee the first year. So the new title should be “2 Tickets to Hawaii for $11.20” :)
Grant, I’m not sure if this post is still relvant but I did some searches trying to fly from northern California. It looked like everything went through LAX. What are the Hawaii options from northern California (SFO, SMF-yeah right)? I know you’re up here now so I thought you might have some new ideas. I have lots of UR points. Thanks
I think this is the post you need to read: http://travelwithgrant.boardingarea.com/2015/01/21/complete-list-of-british-airways-avios-routes-from-the-bay-area-sfo-oak-and-sjc/
I’m planning a trip for Maui in April 2018 and this post has been really helpful. I’m a visual learner and the screenshot HELPS A LOT!!. Thank you for this. I’ve known now for months that you can use Avios to book to Hawaii, but was still confused on how to do it UNTIL I’ve read this post.
Thank you so much, very much appreciated!!!
You’re very welcome. The post is old but should still help with your trip to Hawaii.