Pam
There is one way to book a trip to Hawaii that is unbelievably cheap and also quite hard to find. Are you up to it? What if I told you that you could get a roundtrip ticket to Hawaii for 15k miles? Are you willing to put in the work to make it happen? It all takes place by booking a United flight on Turkish Airlines. They are both a part of the Star Alliance, which makes this possible. You have to book with Turkish Miles, though.
Luckily, the Capital One Venture Cards and the Citi ThankYou Cards have Turkish Airlines as travel partners! So your first step is to get the Capital One Venture X Card, the Capital One Venture Card, or the Citi Premier Card, and collect those Turkish Miles. Then you’ll be ready to search for round-trip tickets to Hawaii for 15K miles.
I have not been able to book on the Turkish site so this is how I get around that.
Look on United Airlines for a “saver award” from the airport you are departing from to Hawaii. I am looking at Denver to Maui.
Write all the information from the “details.”
Use that info to draft an email to Turkish ticketing offices. I usually send 3-4 letters because they won’t all reply. Here is a sample of the letter I would write:
Dear Turkish Airlines,
I’m trying to book a Star Alliance booking and am hoping that you can help me. I tried to do it online but did not have success. Here is what I am trying to do, and would like to confirm the cost in miles and fees for economy class seats.
Denver – Kahuli DEN-OGG on 2/44/2023
Segments:
1) UA 233 14FEB DEN-SFO
2) UA 1749 14FEB SFO-OGG
PASSENGERS: JANE DOE AND JOHN DOE TURKISH MILES AND SMILES NUMBER:
I really appreciate your help in this matter.
Sincerely, Jane Doe (Miles and Smiles number)
Send email to several ticketing offices asking for their help.
I sent it to NYC, Dallas, and Houston. NYC and Houston responded that day, with NYC responding within hours. NYC sent me an email that said: Hello Pamela, Kindly be advised each passenger will be required to pay USD11.20 and 15000PTS. You may find the reservation below. The reservation had the exact flights that I had found.
Scroll down here to find the info on the US offices.
Once I heard from an office that there was availability, I did the following:
15K Turkish miles and $11.20 in taxes and fees got us to Maui from Denver.
The very best redemption to Hawaii has got to be using Turkish Miles to fly a United flight for 15,000 miles roundtrip. A roundtrip ticket to Hawaii for 15K miles – unbelievable! It took a little work to get it done, but it will be easier the next time I do it. I heartily recommend the email route. Want a PDF to save to your computer that explains it all and a sample email I sent them? Click here to get that delivered to your email.
P.S. This year (2023), I am not having as much luck doing this – let me know if you are successful!
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