Even while it's better to plan your flights in advance of the holiday rush, you can still use your miles to book a last-minute, inexpensive trip to Hawaii.
Both United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are now providing discounts for last-minute travel.
With these offers, round-trip tickets to Hawaii can cost as little as 32,800 miles, or $397; this is an incredible price considering that they can run into the thousands of dollars during the Christmas season.
Keep in mind that you need a Premier elite membership or a cobranded credit card to be able to take advantage of United's finest mile offers.
Status is not necessary to use Delta's savings on mileage redemptions.
Basics of deals
Airlines: Delta and United.
Routes: If you are a United Premier member or have a United cobranded card, you may take advantage of cheaper routes based on awards to Denver, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, and other Delta and United hubs.
To enjoy the Delta deal, you don't need to have any awards status.
Direct booking through the United.com or Delta.com websites.
Travel dates: the week of December 26.
As soon as possible.
Flight examples
You must experiment with dates and times for United and Delta in order to maximize prizes.
We discovered that the days immediately after Christmas offered some of the best prices for miles; United and Delta both offer one-way flights for under 20,400 miles.
A round-trip Delta flight from Los Angeles to Kahului, Hawaii, was among the trips we discovered with the lowest mileage costs.
For a journey from December 27 to January 5, it involved a total of 35,000 miles.
The cost of a flight from Los Angeles to Kahului, Hawaii, on December 27 was 13,000 Delta SkyMiles, and the distance of the return journey from Kahului, Hawaii, on January 5 was 22,000 miles.
Since the miles add up to 35,000 regardless of whether you book it as a round-trip or as two one-way, you can either plan each flight separately as a one-way trip or a round-trip journey.
Since Delta flights to Kahului, Hawaii, start at $654 in cash, a flight at 35,000 miles is comparatively inexpensive.
Only those with Premier status or a cobranded credit card are eligible for the highest discounts on United miles.
We advise looking for one-way flights when making a reservation with United in order to better understand your possibilities.
On December 30 and December 31, United is offering flights from San Francisco to Honolulu for as little as 18,500 miles.
The optimum day for a return journey to San Francisco would be January 11, when flights are just 14,300 miles if you want to travel as few miles as feasible.
The overall distance for this trip is 32,800 miles.
A round-trip fare would cost at least $406 if you were to pay cash.
In order to maximize your miles, United also offers additional one-way options.
For instance, one-way flights to Honolulu from Newark and Seattle can be purchased for as little as 24,200 miles.
Enhance your purchase
Try to utilize cards that procure extra focuses on airfare buys like The Platinum Card® from American Express (5 focuses per dollar on airfare booked straightforwardly with the aircraft or through American Express Travel), on up to $500,000 on these buys each scheduled year, Citi Prestige® Card (5 focuses per dollar on airfare), Citi Premier® Card, Pursue Sapphire Save (3 focuses per dollar on airfare), American Express® Gold Card (3 focuses per dollar on airfare when booked straightforwardly with the carrier or through Amex Travel) or the Chase Sapphire Favored Card (2 focuses per dollar on movement).
In conclusion
This offer is for you if you need to squeeze in a last-minute vacation, especially if you have United status or Delta SkyMiles that you've been wanting to utilize.
You'll pay a little less for flights when you plan your trips using miles as opposed to cash.
Despite the fact that United offers a much more substantial discount with its miles than does Delta, both routes are still worthwhile, especially given the high cost of flying to Hawaii at this time of year.
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