How to Fly to Hawaii for $11.20 (or the Caribbean for Almost Free): A Honeymooner’s Points Guide

How to Fly to Hawaii for $11.20 (or the Caribbean for Almost Free): A Honeymooner’s Points Guide

Yes, you read that correctly.

$11.20.

Not $1,120.

Eleven dollars and twenty cents.

If you’re planning a honeymoon to Hawaii, it’s possible to use airline miles or credit card points to cover the airfare and pay as little as $11.20 round trip in government taxes and fees on certain domestic award tickets.

And if the Caribbean is more your style, points and miles can potentially cover most of your airfare there too, although international destinations can have additional taxes and fees.

The crazy part?

You don’t necessarily need to spend years collecting miles.

A single credit card welcome bonus can sometimes provide enough miles for one or even two honeymoon tickets, depending on your destination, dates, airline, and available award pricing.

Here’s how it works.

First: How Can a $700 Flight Cost $11.20?

This is the part that sounds too good to be true until you understand how airline miles work.

Let’s say you find a round-trip flight to Hawaii that costs:

$700 per person

Instead of paying $700, the airline might allow you to book an available award ticket using miles.

For illustration, imagine that same trip is available for:

35,000 miles + $11.20

You redeem 35,000 miles instead of paying the normal cash fare.

You still have to pay certain government taxes and fees.

For many U.S. domestic award itineraries, the minimum is:

$5.60 each way

So:

$5.60 going to Hawaii

$5.60 coming home

TOTAL CASH COST: $11.20

Your miles covered the airfare.

You paid the required government security fee.

Welcome to Hawaii. 🌴

Where Does the $11.20 Come From?

It’s not a credit card trick.

It’s a real federal fee.

The September 11th Security Fee is currently $5.60 per one-way trip originating at a U.S. airport.

And yes, the fee still applies when your ticket is booked using frequent-flyer miles.

That means a qualifying round-trip domestic award can have a minimum cash cost of:

$5.60 + $5.60 = $11.20

Additional taxes and fees can apply depending on the itinerary and airline, so always check the final price before transferring points or booking.

Hawaii Is Especially Interesting

Here’s something many first-time points users don’t realize:

Hawaii is part of the United States.

That matters.

A honeymoon in Jamaica, Aruba, St. Lucia, or another foreign country is international travel and can involve additional government taxes and fees.

Hawaii is domestic.

That means it’s possible for an award ticket from the continental United States to Hawaii to require only the domestic government taxes and fees.

So instead of thinking:

“We can’t afford to honeymoon in Hawaii.”

Start asking:

“How many points would we need to get there?”

That is an entirely different question.

So How Many Miles Do You Need?

Here’s where I want to clear up one of the biggest misconceptions about points.

There isn’t one universal price for a flight to Hawaii.

You might find one date for 25,000 miles round trip and another for 60,000.

Airlines increasingly use dynamic award pricing, which means the number of miles required can change based on things like:

• Your departure city

• Destination

• Travel dates

• Demand

• Available award seats

• Airline

• Fare class

American Airlines, for example, currently advertises flight awards starting as low as 7,500 AAdvantage miles each way, although the actual mileage requirement for Hawaii will depend on your specific flight and dates.

So don’t build your honeymoon around one magic number.

Search the actual trip.

That’s where the strategy begins.

Here’s the Honeymoon Points Recipe

Let’s make this really simple.

Suppose you’re getting married next year and want to honeymoon in Hawaii.

You look at airfare and see:

Bride: $700

Groom: $700

Total airfare: $1,400

Before spending $1,400, you search the same dates using airline miles.

Imagine you find award availability for:

35,000 miles per person round trip

Two people would need:

70,000 MILES

Now something interesting happens.

You start looking at travel credit card welcome bonuses.

You find a card offering:

75,000 BONUS MILES

Suddenly, that welcome bonus isn’t just a big number on a credit card advertisement.

It has a purpose.

Honeymoon flights.

If you meet the card’s spending requirement using expenses you already had planned, that one bonus could potentially provide enough miles for both tickets in our example.

Instead of:

$1,400 for airfare

you could potentially pay:

70,000 miles + $22.40

That’s $11.20 in minimum domestic award taxes and fees per person.

Two people. Round trip to Hawaii. $22.40 in cash plus miles.

That’s the power of understanding travel rewards.

And You’re Planning a Wedding…

This is where things get even better.

Think about what happens before a wedding.

You’re already spending money.

Photographer.

Venue.

Flowers.

Wedding dress.

Catering.

DJ.

Invitations.

Decorations.

Deposits.

Gifts.

Rehearsal dinner.

Maybe you already know that you’ll spend $3,000 or $4,000 over the next few months.

That spending could potentially satisfy the spending requirement for a large credit card welcome bonus.

You aren’t spending thousands of dollars to earn points.

You’re earning points because you’re spending thousands of dollars anyway.

That’s the difference.

And that’s exactly why engaged couples are in such an unusual position to take advantage of travel rewards.

One Welcome Bonus Could Potentially Get You There

This is why I don’t want you to look at a credit card offer and simply see:

“75,000 miles.”

Translate those miles into something real.

Instead, think:

Could this be our flights to Hawaii?

Could this pay for our honeymoon airfare?

Could this cover several nights at our hotel?

Points aren’t exciting.

What you can do with the points is exciting.

75,000 points sitting in an account?

Who cares.

75,000 points that put you and your new spouse on a plane to Hawaii?

Now we’re talking.

What About the Caribbean?

The same basic strategy works for Caribbean honeymoons.

You can use airline miles to book award flights to destinations such as:

• Puerto Rico

• U.S. Virgin Islands

• Jamaica

• Aruba

• Bahamas

• Dominican Republic

• St. Lucia

• Turks and Caicos

• Cayman Islands

But there’s an important difference.

Don’t assume every Caribbean award will cost only $11.20 in taxes and fees.

Foreign countries can impose additional departure, arrival, tourism, airport, and other taxes.

Those charges can vary substantially by destination.

For example, JetBlue currently states that taxes and fees on its domestic round-trip awards can be $11.20, while taxes and fees on international round-trip awards can be considerably higher.

So the strategy is the same:

Use points for the airfare and pay the required taxes and fees.

The final cash amount simply depends on the destination.

Puerto Rico Is Particularly Interesting

If you want a Caribbean honeymoon but like the idea of keeping award-ticket fees low, don’t overlook:

Puerto Rico 🇵🇷

Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and award tickets can sometimes have domestic-style taxes and fees.

That means you may be able to get the beaches, palm trees, warm Caribbean water, restaurants, nightlife, and honeymoon atmosphere you’re looking for without some of the additional taxes associated with international award travel.

The U.S. Virgin Islands can be worth checking for the same reason.

Don’t Automatically Use Your Points Through the Credit Card Website

Here’s where you can start getting much more value from points.

Some travel credit card programs allow you to transfer points to airline partners.

That means instead of simply using your points like cash, you may be able to transfer them into an airline loyalty program and book an award ticket.

Programs with transferable points can include:

Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Capital One Miles

American Express Membership Rewards®

The right option depends on your airline and trip.

This is why I recommend figuring out where you want to go first.

Then determine which airlines can get you there.

Then determine which points transfer to those airlines.

And only then decide which card makes sense.

Destination → Airline → Points → Credit Card

Not the other way around.

Never Transfer Points Until You’re Ready to Book

This deserves its own section.

Let’s say you have 75,000 transferable credit card points.

You find a Hawaii flight you want.

Don’t immediately transfer your points.

First:

1. Search for award availability.

2. Confirm exactly how many miles you need.

3. Confirm that the flight you want can actually be booked.

4. Confirm the transfer ratio.

5. Then transfer the points.

Why?

Because transfers to airline loyalty programs are generally difficult or impossible to reverse.

Once those flexible credit card points become airline miles, you usually can’t simply change your mind and turn them back into credit card points.

Find the flight first. Transfer second. Book immediately.

Two People Can Make This Even More Powerful

Remember:

There are two people getting married.

You don’t necessarily have to build your entire honeymoon strategy around one credit card.

One person might earn the points for your flights.

The other might earn points for your hotel.

Think about that.

Partner #1: Airline welcome bonus → Honeymoon flights

Partner #2: Hotel/flexible-points welcome bonus → Honeymoon hotel

Now you’re not just talking about saving $500 on a vacation.

You’re potentially attacking the two biggest expenses of the honeymoon:

FLIGHTS + HOTEL

That’s where travel rewards can become incredibly powerful.

Imagine This Honeymoon

Let’s put everything together.

You want to honeymoon in Hawaii.

Normal airfare for two:

$1,400

Seven hotel nights:

$2,100

Total:

$3,500

Now imagine you use wedding expenses you already had planned to earn two strategic welcome bonuses.

One gives you enough airline miles to cover your flights.

The other gives you enough hotel or flexible points to cover several nights of your stay.

Suddenly your $3,500 honeymoon might look completely different.

Maybe your airfare costs only the required government taxes and fees.

Maybe four or five hotel nights are covered by points.

Now the money you budgeted for the honeymoon can go toward:

Dinner overlooking the ocean.

A snorkeling trip.

A helicopter tour.

A luau.

A rental car.

An upgraded room.

Or here’s a crazy idea:

Keep the money.

That’s the point.

But There Is One Rule

This entire strategy falls apart if you go into credit card debt.

I cannot emphasize this enough.

Do not spend $4,000 just because a credit card tells you to spend $4,000 to earn a bonus.

Instead:

Look at expenses you already have planned.

If you’re already going to spend enough to qualify for the bonus, great.

Put those planned purchases on the card.

Earn the bonus.

Then pay the balance.

If you carry thousands of dollars in high-interest credit card debt, the interest can quickly wipe out the value of your “free” travel.

The goal isn’t debt.

The goal is redirecting spending you’re already doing.

This Is Why We Built the Find My Card Quiz

There isn’t one perfect honeymoon credit card for everyone.

A couple flying from Atlanta to Hawaii might need a completely different strategy from a couple flying from New York to Puerto Rico.

Your destination matters.

Your normal spending matters.

Your credit matters.

Your preferred airline matters.

And the number of miles you need matters.

That’s exactly why we built the Find My Card quiz at I Do! Let’s Go!

Instead of trying to understand dozens of travel cards, start with your actual trip.

Tell us what you’re trying to accomplish.

Then find cards that could help you get there.

Your Wedding Expenses Could Pay for Your Honeymoon

That’s the big idea.

If you’re going to spend thousands of dollars getting married anyway, don’t wait until after you’ve paid everything to start thinking about travel rewards.

Start before the wedding spending begins.

Your photographer deposit could help earn your flight.

Your catering bill could help earn your hotel.

Your flowers, dress, invitations, and decorations could help move you closer to Hawaii.

You’re spending the money anyway.

Make it take you somewhere.

And maybe — just maybe — the next time someone asks how much your flight to Hawaii cost, you’ll get to say:

“$11.20…and some points.”

Plan your spending. Earn your rewards. Take the honeymoon.

I Do! Let’s Go!

Award prices and availability vary by airline, route, and travel date and can change at any time. The $11.20 example represents the minimum $5.60-per-direction U.S. September 11th Security Fee on qualifying round-trip domestic award travel; additional taxes and fees may apply. International award travel can have substantially higher taxes and fees. Credit card welcome offers, transfer partners, and redemption values can change. Never spend more than you can afford or carry a balance solely to earn rewards. Always confirm award availability before transferring points.