I just got back from a trip to Kauai, and I flew there for free. Seriously, my husband and I both got round-trip flights to Kauai from the West Coast for $0 total. Sound ideal? Today, I’m teaching you exactly how to fly to Hawaii for free too.
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How I Flew To Hawaii For Free
If you’ve always dreamed of going to Hawaii but believe that this tropical paradise is exclusive only for the richest of the rich, then I might just have the perfect solution for you. You see, I used to believe the same thing: that only rich people could vacation in Hawaii, and that I would never get to visit.
Now, I can say that I’ve been to three different Hawaiian islands on a budget (Kauai, Maui and the Big Island). In fact, this past visit, my husband and flew there round-trip for free. Don’t believe me? Here’s our flight booking receipt!
So, how did we do it? Short answer: credit card points and miles. If you’ve been following me, you know how much I swear by credit card points and miles — and this little process called travel hacking — for free travel.
Redeeming Capital One Venture Miles
To fly to Hawaii for free, the first thing I did was check Google Flights for the cheapest flights available to Kauai for our trip dates. We were traveling with friends and family, so our trip dates weren’t very flexible this time around. Normally, I would definitely recommend having flexible travel dates for cheaper flight rates.
Nonetheless, we found two round-trip flights on American Airlines for $352.13 + $34.81 in taxes and fees per person. In total, our two round-trip flights cost $773.88 with taxes and fees. But, like you saw in the receipt, we paid $0.00 out of pocket because we redeemed our Capital One Venture miles.
We redeemed a little over 77K Capital One Venture miles for both of our round-trip flights. This included taxes and fees, so we really, in fact, paid nothing. To earn 75K Capital One Venture miles easy (all you have have to do is spend $4000 on normal living expenses on the card in the first 3 months), open the Capital One Venture here.
Portal Redemption Vs. Transfer Partners
For this Kauai trip, we booked our flights through the Capital One Travel bank portal. Essentially, this means we searched for the flight number we found on Google Flights on Capital One Travel and booked directly through Capital One Travel. While we redeemed our miles inside the bank portal this trip, I actually wouldn’t recommend this nowadays.
Instead, you can get a lot more bang for your points buck by transferring your points to a partnering airline, especially during a transfer promotion, and booking your flight through the partner airline. This can make your points go a lot further. For instance, instead of redeeming 77K points for economy seats like we did, you might be able to find a business class seat for the same amount of points using transfer partners. For a list of Capital One’s current transfer partners, click here.
However, like I said, our trip dates and flight times weren’t very flexible, so we settled for a bank portal booking. Booking through your bank portal is also a great beginner-friendly way to start travel hacking without getting overwhelmed.
How You Can Fly To Hawaii For Free Too
Furthermore, now that you’ve seen how it was possible for my husband and I to fly to Hawaii for absolutely free this year, you’re probably wondering about how you can too. Here’s how you can fly to Hawaii for free.
Travel Hacking For Beginners
You can follow the same steps Kenny and I did. First, open the Capital One Venture and earn the welcome offer (at the time of publishing) of 75K miles by putting $4000 of your normal everyday living expenses on the card within the first three months of opening the card. Make sure you pay off the card in full each month and do not overspend to avoid a decrease in your credit score. Learn more about travel hacking without hurting your credit score here.
Second, search Google Flights for the cheapest flights to Hawaii (ideally you’ll have flexible travel dates/times). Third, find that flight number in your Capital One bank portal. Last, redeem your miles for the flight. Again, bank portal redemptions aren’t always the best use of your points and miles, but free is free.
Alternatively, you can work toward earning a Southwest Companion Pass to fly to Hawaii for free, plus taxes and fees. I’ll introduce you to the Southwest Companion Pass next.
Southwest Companion Pass
The Southwest Companion Pass is a flight pass that allows you to buy one flight, get one flight free (plus taxes and fees, which usually cost $5.60 for domestic flights). This includes Southwest flights to Hawaii.
This companion pass is earned by taking 100 one-way flights or earning 135K qualifying points in one calendar year. And, the pass valid for the remainder of the year you earned the pass plus one additional full calendar year (theoretically up to two years if earned in early January).
As I could imagine, you probably won’t be taking 100 flights this year. But, you can open Southwest credit cards and get their welcome offers to then earn the companion passes. Basically, you can travel hack your way to a Southwest Companion pass.
Hopefully this guide makes your future Hawaii trip a bit less hopeful and a bit more realistic! Did you know that there are multiple ways to fly to Hawaii for free? Time to start planning your trip.
More Tips To Fly For Free
How To Get Free Flights For Life (Travel Hacking For Beginners)
17 Best Travel Credit Cards 2024
How To Choose The Best Travel Credit Card (Quiz)
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