Hawaii is always near the top of many travelers' wish lists. Flying six-plus hours in a lie-flat seat is, too. Combining the two can be a dream come true … but it's easier said than done.
Many of the planes heading to the islands and back aren't equipped with lie-flat seats. Yet the largest U.S. airlines – American, Delta, and United – all operate planes with coveted business class beds on select routes. So does Hawaii's hometown carrier, Hawaiian Airlines.
If you pick the right route, you can book a business class seat to Hawaii for as low as 40,000 points. And considering some of these flights can clock in even longer than some trips to Europe, that can be well worth it.
Some airlines are more stingy than others when it comes to booking these seats with points and miles. But if you're earning points on top travel cards like the *chase sapphire preferred*, *venture x*, or the *amex gold*, there have been several opportunities to book lie-flat seats to Hawaii lately.
How Find a Flight With a Lie-Flat Seat
First things first, you'll want to ensure you're booking a ticket with a lie-flat seat. While most long-haul international flights have lie-flat seats in business and first class, that's not always the case when flying to Hawaii.
The best way to tell whether your flight has lie-flat seats is to search for business class flights on Google Flights, expand the flight details, and look for the “lie-flat seat” icon.
Depending on the airline, these may be sold as a “business” or a “first” class ticket. Regardless of what they are called, expect the service to be similar to domestic first class – with the added benefit of getting some rest in a lie-flat bed on your way to paradise.
Keep reading to see which routes typically have lie-flat seats to Hawaii and how you can score the best deal.
American Airlines Business Class via Dallas or Phoenix
Flying American Airlines nonstop from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) or Phoenix (PHX) to Hawaii is one of the best ways to find a deal on a lie-flat seat. You'll find these seats on American's Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
While it may not be an ultra-long-haul flight to Europe or Asia, American Airlines still treats its business class passengers right on these flights to Hawaii, in our experience. On top of the great lie-flat seat, the airline does a full drink and multi-course meal service – both with some Hawaiian flair, like pouring Mai Tais or serving entrees with kalua pork. Here's just one of the four courses from Dallas to Maui last year: pumpkin tortellini with kalua pork ragu and mushy peas.
As of publication, you'll currently find lie-flat seats on the following nonstop American Airlines routes to Hawaii and back:
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Honolulu (HNL) – year-round
- Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Maui (OGG) – year-round
- Phoenix (PHX) to Honolulu (HNL) – seasonal, through March
These lie-flat flights on American are usually marketed as “business” class, so you'll need to search for business class on Google Flights to get results for AA flights with lie-flat seats.
You may also see flights with standard, first class recliner seats when searching for “business” class from Phoenix or Dallas, so be diligent when choosing flights and look for lie-flat seats aboard American's Boeing 777 or 787 aircraft.
Thrifty Tip: Booked an economy (or even premium economy) flight to Hawaii? Keep checking your flights in your AA account after you book. American may offer you the chance to upgrade into one of these lie-flat business class seats for as little as $350 one-way. If you booked a cheap ticket initially, that's a no-brainer!
How to Book AA Business Class to Hawaii With Points & Miles
Don't want to pay $2,000 (or more) roundtrip to fly lie-flat to Hawaii? You don't have to. If you have a stash of American miles, Alaska miles, or transferable points such as Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Venture miles, or Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can book these nonstop flights for as little as 35,000 miles each way.
Earlier this year, Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers received this award alert to fly nonstop from Phoenix to Honolulu. The cheapest way to book this American flight was through Alaska for 40,000 miles each way. After Alaska's recent award chart changes, you can now book those flights for as few as 35,000 Alaska miles each way!
Travelers collecting American miles can book these flights for as low as 50,000 AAdvantage miles each way. The best part about redeeming American miles is that you can sometimes book for that same low rate from your home airport with a connection in either Dallas or Phoenix.
Last year, we uncovered availability to fly lie-flat to Hawaii from dozens of cities with one quick stop. Thrifty Traveler Premium members in Fargo, Greensboro, and Ft. Lauderdale were thrilled with one-stop flights for just 55,000 American miles each way.
These rates are long gone now! Join Thrifty Traveler Premium to get the next award alert to Hawaii!
This deal worked from over 90 cities, including nonstop flights from Dallas and Phoenix as well as one-stop trips from all other cities, such as this flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to Maui (OGG) with a quick stop in Dallas.
Don't have American or Alaska miles? You can also book these lie-flat American flights through British Airways for slightly more Avios each way. After yet another award rate hike, it's not as great of a deal as it once was.
British Airways is a transfer partner of nearly all the major banks: Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase points, and Wells Fargo. It's even possible to move Citi points to British Airways by combining BA and Qatar Avios.
American may be the easiest way to score a deal on a lie-flat seat to Hawaii – especially from your home airport – but it's not the only way…
Hawaiian Airlines Lie-Flat First Class from Several Cities
Flying Hawaiian Airlines is a great way to kick off a vacation to our 50th state – especially if you can score a lie-flat seat for the long flight to Hawaii.
While most of Hawaiian's lie-flat seats are on its older Airbus A330-200 aircraft with a less comfortable 2-2-2 seating arrangement, it still beats flying in a standard first-class recliner any day.
But Hawaiian has something even better now. The airline is now operating several Boeing 787 Dreamliners, equipped with a brand-new business class suite including fully enclosed doors and direct aisle access at every seat.
We had a chance to fly these seats and let us tell you: There's no better way to fly to Hawaii and back.
Read our review of Hawaiian Airlines' new first class suites!
Hawaiian started service with this new plane from San Francisco (SFO) to Honolulu (HNL) in April before shifting the aircraft to other routes from Los Angeles (LAX) and Phoenix (PHX). You'll find the 787 Dreamliner on the following routes and dates, as of publication.
- Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL) – year-round
- New York (JFK) to Honolulu (HNL) – April – August
At other times and other routes, Hawaiian still has lie-flat seats – they'll just be aboard one of those older A330 aircraft. In the case of the Los Angeles route, there are multiple flights per day, so you'll want to choose your flight carefully if you're looking to fly the new suites aboard the 787. Look for the “individual suite” icon in Google Flights to verify.
If you're looking for a lie-flat seat, here's the full list of nonstop routes where Hawaiian offers lie-flat seats.
Between Honolulu (HNL) and
- Austin (AUS) – A330-200 – ends in March 2025
- Boston (BOS) – A330-200 – Twice weekly, year-round
- Las Vegas (LAS) – A330-200 – 3x daily, year-round
- Los Angeles (LAX) – A330-200, 787-9 – 3x daily, year-round
- New York City (JFK) – A330-200 – Daily, year-round
- Oakland (OAK) – A330-200 – Weekly through January, daily from February to June
- Phoenix (PHX) – A330-200, 787-9 – Daily, year-round
- Portland (PDX) – A330-200 – Daily, year-round
- Sacramento (SMF) – A330-200 – Weekly in September through January
- Salt Lake City (SLC) – A330-300 – Weekly in December and January
- San Diego (SAN) – A330-200 – Daily, year-round
- San Francisco (SFO) – A330-200 – Daily, year-round
- Seattle (SEA) – A330-200 – Daily, year-round
Between Maui (OGG) and
- Las Vegas (LAS) – A330-200 – Daily in summer
- Los Angeles (LAX) – A330-200, 787-9 – Daily, year-round
- Seattle (SEA) – A330-200 – Daily in winter and spring
Depending on the route you're looking to fly, these flights typically cost over $2,000 roundtrip … but it can sometimes be closer to $4,000 or more. Not always, though: We recently sent Thrifty Traveler Premium members an alert for half-off prices on roundtrip fares to Hawaii in the airline's best suites.
Phoenix (PHX) flyers also got to snag these fares for more than half-off.
How to Book Hawaiian Lie-Flat With Points & Miles
There's an even better way to book if you have some points and miles in the bank. Hawaiian Airlines charges as low as just 40,000 miles each way to book the same flights.
Don't have Hawaiian miles? No problem. You can transfer Amex or Bilt points to Hawaiian to book these flights online. Plus, thanks to a merger between Alaska and Hawaiian, you can combine your Alaska points to snag these seats, too.
But book fast! We don't expect this 40,000-point sweet spot to last for too much longer as the merger progresses. If you love the looks of this deal, book it in the next few weeks.
Another option is to book with Virgin Atlantic points. This opens up more opportunities since Virgin is a transfer partner of all major banks, including Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, and Citi. You'll just need to call Virgin to book flights on Hawaiian Airlines – it's not possible to book on Virgin's website.
Read more: Master List of Credit Card Transfer Partners
Virgin charges the same 40,000 points each way from the West Coast, while it'll cost 65,000 points for departures from Boston and NYC – and that's only if there's any availability. You can also book these seats using JetBlue TrueBlue points, but you'll typically get a better deal booking through Virgin or Hawaiian itself.
Finding the award availability to book these lie-flat seats to Hawaii for just 40,000 points isn't always easy, but we've seen quite a few opportunities recently, including several deals to fly Hawaiian's new first class suites on its 787 Dreamliner.
Sure enough, Hawaiian opened the flood gates and several Thrifty Traveler Premium members booked these fancy suites for a trip this summer. Thanks to a transfer bonus to Hawaiian at the time, you could book these seats for as few as 34,000 Amex points each way.
These deals have become a regular sight for Thrifty Traveler Premium members in the last year. We search for this availability every single day, so when these seats become bookable for 40,000 (or less), we always send them to our members.
Flying Hawaiian's new suites might be the best (and coolest) way to fly to Hawaii. Nothing beats an individual suite to start your trip – add a little Hawaiian flair to the service and it's bound to get you in vacation mode quickly.
Last-Minute Flights on United
Like Hawaiian Airlines, United has several routes with lie-flat seats to Hawaii. Unlike Hawaiian, it's nearly impossible to find a good deal with points and miles … unless you really procrastinate.
United has updated most of its larger Boeing 767, 777, and 787 aircraft with its United Polaris business class seats in a 1-2-1 layout, giving all passengers direct aisle access.
However, you may still see some of its older 777-200s with a strange 2-4-2 configuration on certain flights. United's Boeing 757s with lie-flat seats have two seats on both sides of the single aisle. Check the seat map on United's website to find out what configuration is on any given flight.
As of publication, you'll find lie-flat seats on the following nonstop United routes.
Kona (KOA) to
- Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) – 787-8 – Limited from December through April
- Denver (DEN) – 757-200, 777 – August through June (limited in October and excluding April)
- San Francisco (SFO) – 777 – October through March (limited in March)
Honolulu (HNL) to
- Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) – 787-10 – Daily year-round
- Denver (DEN) – 757-200, 777 – Daily, year-round
- Houston-Intercontinental (IAH) – 777 – Daily, year-round
- Los Angeles (LAX) – Twice daily, year-round
- Newark (EWR) – November – March (limited in Nov.)
- San Francisco (SFO) – 777 – At least daily, year-round
- Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD) – August through June (though just once weekly from August through November and April through June 2025)
Kauai (LIH) to
- Denver (DEN) – 757-200 – Daily, year-round
Maui (OGG) to
- Chicago (ORD) – 787-10, 787-8 – Limited dates (4-5 dates) every month
- Denver (DEN) – 757-200, 777 – Daily, year-round
- Newark (EWR) – 767-300 – Dec. 21, 28, Jan. 4
- San Francisco (SFO) – 777 – August through October, March through June
While most of these routes have lie-flat seats on all flights, you'll want to choose flights carefully from Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO), since there are also flights on other aircraft that only have standard first-class recliner seats.
To get a lie-flat seat flying United to Hawaii, fares from the West Coast typically start just under $2,000 roundtrip. But it can be far more expensive if you're flying from the Midwest or East Coast – especially if you're taking a connection from a smaller city like Buffalo (BUF).
How to Book United Lie-Flat Business Class With Points & Miles
Unfortunately, United rarely releases any “saver” award availability for its lie-flat seats to Hawaii. Since this is the key ingredient to take advantage of United's partners to book cheaper award tickets, you won't have much luck trying to book these seats with partner airline miles.
Occasionally, United will open up its lie-flat seats to Hawaii for partner bookings at the very last minute – think booking in the morning and flying later that night, or maybe the next day if you're lucky. This means you'll need to be a spontaneous traveler who can fly to Hawaii on a whim or rebook your trip at the last minute.
Related Reading: Why I Booked (& Rebooked) My Europe Trip Flights 4 Times
If you do come across any award availability, the best way to book is typically through United's partner airline Air Canada Aeroplan. Rates start at just 25,000 Aeroplan points each way. You can transfer points from Amex, Capital One, Chase, and even Bilt to Air Canada to book.
Sure, you may get a better price with Turkish miles – even after the recent devaluation – but by the time you go through the steps to book with Turkish miles, the award space may disappear.
For travelers who prefer to book in advance, you'll need to have a healthy stash of United miles since you'll be subject to United's dynamic pricing as the only way to book with miles.
United doesn't have as many transfer partners as its partner airlines but you can transfer Bilt and Chase points to United to get the miles you need to book these flights.
United's partner Air Canada also flies its own lie-flat seats from Toronto (YYZ) to Honolulu (HNL) twice per week on a seasonal basis during the winter. Like United, it's practically impossible to find award availability on those flights.
Hope for a Sale on Delta One
Looking to fly in a lie-flat seat to Hawaii on Delta? Prepare to pay a pretty penny (or a boatload of SkyMiles) … or just hope for a sale on cash tickets.
Delta flies a variety of planes with lie-flat seats, but it primarily uses its older 767-300 aircraft for lie-flat seats to Hawaii. These aren't the best Delta One seats by any means … but any lie-flat seat is an improvement over a simple, first class recliner, right?
Delta also flies its Airbus A330 on a few routes out of Atlanta (ATL) and Detroit (DTW).
Here are all the nonstop routes where Delta offers lie-flat seats as of publication.
Honolulu (HNL) to
- Atlanta (ATL) – A330-300 – Daily, year-round
- Boston (BOS) – A330-300, 767-300 – November through March 2025
- Detroit (DTW) – A330-300, 767-300 – Daily, year-round
- Los Angeles (LAX) – 767-300 – At least daily, year-round
- Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) – A330-300, 767-300 – Daily, year-round
- New York City (JFK) – 767-300 – Daily, year-round
- Salt Lake City (SLC) – 767-300 – At least daily, year-round
Maui (OGG) to
- Atlanta (ATL) – 767-300 – November through March
- Los Angeles (LAX) – 767-300 – January through April
- Salt Lake City (SLC) – 767-300 – November through March
Oddly, Delta markets these flights as “first” class on some routes and “Delta One” on others – even though it's the same plane with the same lie-flat seat to Hawaii. This means it's best to search for “business” class on Google Flights to find these seats since you'll see all lie-flat options when searching this way.
Delta typically charges similar fares as others for its lie-flat seats, starting at just under $2,000 roundtrip from the West Coast and creeping up to around $4,000 or more from the Midwest or East Coast.
Don't expect to get much of a deal with your SkyMiles either. While we occasionally come across Delta SkyMiles flash sales to Hawaii in economy, you'll often see the same exorbitant 300,000+ SkyMiles rates Delta charges for its lie-flat seats to Europe on routes to Hawaii.
That's an absurd number of miles – even if you can get a 15% discount with a Delta credit card. This means you'll likely have to pony up the cash if you want to fly lie-flat to Hawaii on Delta … or hope for a Delta SkyMiles flash sale.
That's exactly unearthed recently, when we noticed Delta briefly put its fancy new A330-900neo aircraft on a popular route from Seattle (SEA) to Honolulu (HNL) for peak spring break season this year.
It's rare for Delta to fly one of these planes featuring enclosed suites with lie-flat seats on routes to Hawaii. That's why we had to let Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers know about the opportunity to fly Delta's best seats for just over $1,300 roundtrip – or around $580 one-way.
Want deals like this sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for Thrifty Traveler Premium today!
Most domestic flights can be booked one-way for half the cost of a roundtrip. So if you just want to experience these seats on your way to paradise and then fly economy on the way home (or vice-versa) to save some money, you could do it for what some people normally pay for a roundtrip economy ticket.
Read more: How to Find Cheap One-Way Flights
Bottom Line
Flying to Hawaii in a lie-flat seat can be done if you know where to look. The best deals are typically using points and miles to book lie-flat seats on American Airlines or Hawaiian.