Guide to Booking Award Flights With Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian Airlines is the largest airline in Hawaii and one of the largest commercial carriers in the U.S. It also happens to be one of an increasingly small group of airlines that continues to publish an award chart so passengers can easily calculate how many miles they'll need to book flights. Here, we'll walk you through everything you need to know to book award travel with Hawaiian.

How many miles do you need to redeem for award flights?

The number of miles depends on your itinerary and whether you're booking main cabin, first class or business fare. To give you a sense of the range, it's possible to book flights with as little as 7,500 miles for one-way travel within Hawaii. Flights between Hawaii and the West Coast start as low as 20,000 miles. Flights to the East Coast start at 30,000 miles.

You can redeem miles for any main cabin seat, with no blackout dates, or use them to upgrade to first or business class. Below is an at-a-glance look at the award chart details for West Coast, East Coast and neighbor island fare redemption minimums.

You'll see that each chart lists discounted award amounts. Those discounted redemptions are available if you're a Pualani Platinum or Gold member or Premier Club member. You can also cash in discounts if you have the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® or Hawaiian Airlines® Business Mastercard®.

» Learn More: The complete guide to redeeming Hawaiian Airlines miles

Book only with miles or combine cash and miles

You have the option of booking award flights with Hawaiian using strictly miles, but you can also book with money and miles. To do that, you'll need to:

• Log in to your HawaiianMiles member account.

• Navigate to the booking dashboard.

• Choose your flight details, then select "Miles/Dollars" to view fares.

• Select your departure and return flights.

Once you've done that, Hawaiian will show you how many miles you'll need and what you'll pay in cash to book. Remember, if you book using your Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® you can earn miles toward your next flight.

» Learn More: The complete guide to earning Hawaiian Airlines miles

Use miles to upgrade award travel

When booking award flights you can use your miles to upgrade to first or business class. You'll need to get in touch with Hawaiian Airlines reservations and complete your upgrades no less than 26 hours before you're scheduled to take off.

There are two upgrade options:

• First/Business Saver: This is the lowest mileage first/business class flight award available.

• First/Business Flex: This option is offered when the Saver upgrade isn't available and requires twice the miles to book.

Upgrades are all one-way and based on availability. This chart shows how many miles you need to upgrade.

» Learn More: Hawaiian Airlines Pualani elite status: The complete guide

Book award flights with Hawaiian Airlines travel partners

If you're traveling to a destination that Hawaiian Airlines doesn't offer flights to, you may still be able to use your miles toward award flights aboard partner airlines. Hawaiian currently partners with these carriers:

• Japan Airlines.

• JetBlue.

• Korean Air.

• Virgin Atlantic.

• Virgin Australia.

The minimum number of miles to redeem for travel partner award flights varies by airline, fare class and whether you're booking a one-way or round-trip flight. It's also worth noting that not all travel partners offer first class fares.

Keep in mind that you can also earn HawaiianMiles when booking with these partner airlines, as well as China Airlines. You just need to provide your HawaiianMiles member number when making flight reservations.

» Learn More: The complete guide to Hawaiian Airlines partners

Earn more award flights with a Hawaiian Airlines credit card

If you're short on miles to book award travel, you could earn more by opening a Hawaiian Airlines credit card. There are two cards to choose from, both of which make earning miles toward free flights easy.

• The Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® offers 3 miles per dollar on Hawaiian Airlines purchases, 2 miles per dollar on gas, dining and grocery store purchases, plus 1 mile per dollar everywhere else. Card perks include a one-time 50% off companion discount, a $100 annual companion discount and free checked bags. This card has a $0 introductory annual fee the first year, then $99.

• Hawaiian Airlines® Business Mastercard® also offers 3 miles per dollar on Hawaiian Airlines purchases. You can earn 2 miles per dollar on gas, dining and office supply store purchases, along with 1 per dollar on all other purchases. You have a chance to earn bonus miles at participating HawaiianMiles Marketplace partners and employee cards are free. The annual fee for this card is $99.