Hawaii is a popular vacation destination but it is expensive to get there, especially if you don’t live on the West Coast. Fortunately with points and miles we can get to any Hawaiian islands almost free! There are a few tricks for booking award flights to Hawaii, if your goal is to use the least amount of miles for your flights. We have written in the past about the best ways to book awards to Hawaii on Delta, Alaska and American Airlines. With this week’s announcement of United MileagePlus awards devaluation, United awards to Hawaii will be more expensive after November 1, 2017. In this post, we will show you how to book United awards to Hawaii, for as much as 40% off.
[SEE ALSO: How to book Korean Air awards online for Delta flights to Hawaii or Mexico for 25,000 miles]
[SEE ALSO: Using Avios to your advantage for a family trip to Hawaii on Alaska Airlines or American Airlines]
United non-stop routes to Hawaii
In June, United Airlines announced major expansion on 11 routes from mainland USA to Hawaii, as well as upgrading premium cabin services to Hawaii. That was definitely welcome news, especially if you live on the east cost and want to book the 10+ hour flight in United’s premium class with lie-flat seats.
United provides non-stop services to all major airports in Hawaii:
- Honolulu (HNL) – Chicago, Denver, Guam, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, and Washington-Dulles
- Maui (OOG) – Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles
- Kauai (LIH) – Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco
- Big Island (KOA) – Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco
- Big Island (ITO) – Los Angeles
To find United awards to Hawaii, you can search on United website. It is best to search each direction separately to see availability around your desired date. As of now, economy awards are plenty, but first class awards are nearly non-existent. Award price using United miles is 22,500 one-way in economy and 40,000 one-way in business class.
But starting November 1, 2017, while economy saver award will not change, one-way first class saver award will increase from 40,000 United miles currently to 50,000 miles!
Save up to 40% on United awards to Hawaii with Singapore Krisflyer
You can book the above United awards to Hawaii with Singapore Airlines’ Krisflyer program, and at a much cheaper cost too:
- Economy award: 17,500 Krisflyer miles, vs 22,500 United miles, a saving of 5,000 miles or 22%;
- Business class award: 30,000 Krisflyer miles, vs 40,000 United miles currently, or 50,000 miles starting November 1, a saving of 20,000 miles, or 40%!
- First class award: 40,000 Krisflyer miles, vs 50,000 United miles currently, or 50,000 miles starting November 1, a saving of 37.5%.
That is a huge difference, especially if you are booking business or first class award! Instead of using 100,000 United miles round-trip after November 1, you can spend just 60,000 Krisflyer miles, for the exact same flights!
But what is the catch? There really isn’t one! Singapore Airlines (and all other Star Alliance airlines) have the same access to the saver award space United releases to its members (except for the certain spaces that United set aside for its elite members or holders of United Airlines credit cards). Here are a few points to keep in mind:
- When searching for United awards to Hawaii, be sure NOT to log into your United account if you plan to book using Krisflyer miles.
- When you are ready to book, call Singapore Airlines North America Call center at 800-742-3333. The center is opened 24 hours.
- Provide the agent details of the flight you want to book (i.e. flight number, travel date, departure and destination) to speed up the process.
- Be sure to use a credit card without foreign transaction fees as the award taxes and fees are charged in Singapore dollars.
United First Class to Hawaii: Two vs. Three Cabins
The new United award chart shows three level awards to Hawaii – economy, business, and first class. But very rarely you will find a three-cabin plane on a United flight to Hawaii.
Majority of United’s domestic flights (including flights to Hawaii) have only two cabins and are sold as Economy and First. And for two-cabin flights including those with lie-flat seats, the premium class awards are usually priced as business class award by both United and Singapore. Very rarely, you will find a three-cabin plane on a domestic route. United will charge 50,000 miles (or 55,000 miles starting November 1) if any of the segment is in first class on a three-cabin plane, while Singapore Airlines will charge 40,000 miles.
My advice? stick to the two-cabin planes with lie-flat seats since it would only cost you 30,000 Krisflyer miles.
Conclusion
Using Singapore Krisflyer miles instead of United miles to book United awards to Hawaii can save you as much as 40%. Not only you pay fewer miles, you also pay less fees as Singapore doesn’t charge close-in booking fee, and only $30 for changes or cancellations.
Singapore Krisflyer miles are very easy to accumulate! It is a transfer partner with all four flexible rewards programs including Amex, Citi, Chase and SPG. But transfer is not instant and varies by program. From my experience, it takes anywhere between 24 hours to 3 days for the points to post into Krisflyer account.
Next time you plan to book United awards to Hawaii, consider booking your trip through Singapore Airlines!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Hi. If I have Premier status with United and am a primary MileagePlus Explorer cardholder and book a United flight, say BOS to HNL with 17.5k Krisflyer miles in economy class, will I still be eligible for a CPU?
Thanks.
You are still flying United, and you will have a United recorder locator number which can be added to your United profile. You can select seats on United website. So I would assume all the United elite benefits apply, though I cannot be 100% sure as I am not familiar with United’s upgrade policy.
Can you use United Miles to book a flight on Singapore Airlines?
Yes you can. United website doesn’t display flights on Singapore Airlines. You would have to search availability on Singapore website and then call United to book using United’s Star Alliance partner award chart.
Oh wow, thank you. Is it pretty easy to book tickets that way? I am looking to get 7, would it be hard to do that?
It is easy to book as long as you can find availability. You have to search on Singapore website.
Where does Singapore fly into? I am having trouble trying to find it when I search their site.
Mostly SFO and LAX,, plus 5th freedom routes from IAH and JFK.
Thank you for taking the time to try and explain this to me. When I search on Singapore’s website I don’t see any flights into Hawaii, so I was asking what airport they fly into.
I am trying to get a flight from ORD to Hawaii. Is that possible?
Singapore Airlines do not fly to Hawaii. For ORD to Hawaii, you are looking at United flights. Find the availability on United website and then call Singapore to book using Krisflyer miles. You can save lots of miles. That was the whole point of this post. If you only have United miles, then you are stucked using United miles to book your United flights to Hawaii.
So I look at United flights from ORD TO Hawaii find open flights.
Then call Singapore and transfer my United points to Kris Flyer points. Then I book United flights with Singapore Airlines?
You can’t transfer United miles to KrisFlyer points. You just use your KrisFlyer points (that you transferred in from Chase / Citi / SPG / Amex) and then call Singapore, book the flights with your KrisFlyer points even though the flights themselves are United
Can I use Krisflyer miles to book from West Coast to Saipan or Guam ?
And if so, how much would it be ?
As long as there is a StarAlliance airline flying there, then yes you can. Guam is in North Asia 2 zone. From North America or Hawaii, roundtrip to Guam will be 90K Krisflyer miles in coach. Not sure that is a good redemption.
You can look up SQ award chart for Star Alliance https://www.singaporeair.com/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/StarAlliance_RoundTrip.pdf
If there are only economy seat available on Kris Flyer and I buy them and later a business or first class comes available will they charge a change fee? I know I would have to use more miles but am unsure of the change fee.
Singapore only charge $30 to change an award ticket. So if you book an economy ticket now and later find premium class availability, just call them, pay the fee and additional miles.
Can we use the same “trick” to fly to/from Europe, using less Kris Flyer miles to go first class or business class on United metal than by using United miles?
Singapore Krisflyer charges 55K roundtrip in coach, 130K in business, 160K in first class from North America to Europe. Not sure it is much cheaper than United miles.
I want to book flights to Hawaii using Singapore. Should I wait to book business class as I don’t see any business class for February 2018 or should I just book economy and pay the change fee later? Thanks
You cannot book business class awards unless there is availability. The best bet is to book coach award for now, and watch for business class open up later (you pay $30 change fee per ticket plus additional miles). But keep in mind, there is no guarantee that United will open up business class awards later either.
Thanks! This explains a lot, but ultimately I don’t see how knowing this trick helps if United still isn’t releasing first saver award seats… I don’t see any availability at all on United for those seats after September. Any insight?
You’re correct that you’ll need United saver availability to take advantage of this and that can be hard to come by. Best advice is to keep searching, and try searching hub to hub along different routes / dates
How are you booking business? I only see First available. Will you find business during the call to Singapore?
First on United is usually “Domestic first” which is coded as business
I guess I don’t understand the terminology or am looking at something different. I am looking at IAH HNL and only see 3 classes like the screenshot above: econ, 1st saver and 1st standard. I am looking for this: Business class award: 30,000 Krisflyer miles, vs 40,000 United
Would I be asking Singapore for “Domestic first” tickets if I see the 40k availability on United under 1st saver?
I’m not sure. I’d probably start asking them for business and confirm that it’s 25K Singapore miles
Want to follow.