How I scored Hawaiian first class on the Dreamliner for cheap using points and miles — and you can, too

18.12.2024 - 16:17 / thepointsguy.com

It's no secret we love traveling in premium cabins here at TPG, and there's no better feeling than redeeming your hard-earned points and miles for top-tier luxury travel experiences. Whether you're booking business class or first class using points and miles, it's so rewarding to know that you paid a fraction of the cash price.

However, there are times when frequent flyer programs offer a discount on purchasing miles or provide bonus miles on top of your purchase. These offers can provide great value, especially if you're short on miles or saving up for more aspirational redemptions.

I recently utilized a Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles sale to buy miles to upgrade to first class on Hawaiian's new 787-9 Dreamliner for half the cost of a cash ticket.

Here's how I did it — and how you can use another sale to do the same.

Related: Buy bonus points and miles with these promotions

HawaiianMiles offered a lucrative sale on miles recently, giving members 100% bonus miles when they purchased between 3,000 and 100,000 miles. Although I had never utilized the HawaiianMiles program before, I looked into how to take advantage of this sale for an upcoming trip to Hawaii and East Asia.

I looked into purchasing miles to redeem for a one-way ticket to Honolulu outright. However, at the time, Hawaiian was charging 80,000 miles to fly on the Dreamliner. This would equate to purchasing 40,000 miles for $1,000 and, with the 100% bonus, receiving another 40,000.

Cash fares for first class hovered between $850 and $1,200 across my dates of interest, so that wouldn't have been a great deal. In addition, I wouldn't earn miles on a redemption, whereas I would on a cash ticket.

The best-value option then became clear: purchasing an inexpensive Main Cabin cash ticket on the Dreamliner route and upgrading to first class using Hawaiian miles. Flights between the West Coast and Hawaii cost 25,000 miles to upgrade at the saver level (the A fare class).

My first step was to confirm that my preferred date did, in fact, have saver-level availability. For this, I turned to ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG's parent company, Red Ventures) and searched for that date, looking specifically for a Dreamliner flight.

I then purchased three tickets for about $210 each for me and my family.

Because I was traveling in a group of three, I needed 75,000 miles for the upgrade. With the 100% bonus, that meant purchasing 38,000 miles (Hawaiian only sells miles in increments of 1,000).

Within minutes of the purchase, 76,000 miles (38,000 plus the 100% bonus) were deposited into my HawaiianMiles account.

Unfortunately, mileage upgrades on cash fares can only be made over the phone or via Hawaiian's chat function.

After a quick call with a friendly customer