For years, Turkish Airlines has sneakily offered the cheapest way to get to Hawaii using miles: Just 10,000 miles each way on United, whether you're flying nonstop or connecting all the way from the Midwest or East Coast on the way to paradise. But those days are over.
Turkish Airlines just quietly updated its award charts for booking Star Alliance partners like United, with brand-new pricing for flights between the mainland U.S. and Hawaii that pushes the price to 25,000 miles each way – a brutal 150% increase. Worst of all, Turkish raised those rates without a word of warning. Loyalty Lobby first caught the change on Wednesday.
These award chart changes also pushed up the cost of your typical domestic award flying United (or another Star Alliance carrier) from 10,000 miles to 15,000 miles each way. Fortunately, Turkish hasn't messed with award rates (again) to fly Turkish Airlines itself – a change they last made in early 2024.
Unfortunately, the damage to travelers hoping to visit Hawaii is severe. This change nukes what was easily the best way to get to Hawaii on points – and Turkish Miles & Smiles are surprisingly easy to earn by transferring points from programs like Capital One, Citi, and Bilt.
A week (or less!) ago, you could book this long flight from Newark (EWR) to Honolulu (HNL) on United for just 10,000 miles each way. That's a fraction of what United itself would charge you.
Now, that exact same flight will set you back 25,000 miles each way – more than double.
Finding the award space to actually book at those rates could be easier said than done. And Turkish's glitchy website routinely made that much harder, forcing travelers to pick up the phone or send an email to actually book those flights. But you put up with it because the rates were so good.
No more. Turkish also raised the cost of booking a United Polaris business class seat from the mainland to Hawaii from 15,000 miles to 40,000 miles each way … but United is so stingy with that prized award availability that it was borderline impossible to book anyway.
It's the second devaluation for these Hawaii awards in less than two years. As recently as early 2024, it cost just 7,500 miles to book a United flight to the Hawaiian islands.
Fast forward to the present day, and those same awards will now set you back triple the miles. That's brutal.
Pointsflation is here and it's out of control: Countless major carriers have increased award rates over the last year or two as Americans rack up record sums of credit card points and airline miles. Those increases have hit sweet spots to get to Hawaii particularly hard:
- British Airways has repeatedly raised rates to fly either American or Alaska out to Hawaii from the West Coast, from the previous norm of 13,000 miles each way to 20,000 miles each way
- Same goes for using Virgin Atlantic to fly Delta out to Hawaii: Nonstop flights that previously cost 15,000 points each way now set you back 22,000 miles … or 35,000 miles each way on longer routes like from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) or Detroit (DTW)
Bottom Line
Pour one out, travelers.
This redemption wasn't for the faint of heart, but using Turkish miles to fly United out to Hawaii and back for just 20,000 miles roundtrip was genuinely one of the best deals in the world of points and miles. With an overnight increase, that same trip will now set you back 50,000 miles.
Ouch.
