Over the weekend, Thrifty Traveler published what is the new best way to get to Hawaii in lie-flat first class from the mainland United States: using Finnair Avios to fly on the Alaska/Hawaiian 787 for just 26,000 points each way. This deal is only available to and from Western US cities, and you’ll want to specifically seek out the 787 for the best in-flight experience. This is an amazing deal that might not last for long.
Update 7/14/26: A couple of readers have commented to say that this appears to no longer be working, with awards now pricing at 48,500 Avios each way.
Thrifty Traveler reports that it is possible to book lie-flat First Class on the Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines 787 (or the older A330), for just 26,000 Finnair Avios each way between the western US and Hawaii.
According to the Finnair Avios partner award chart for Alaska/Hawaiian, the price for first class between Hawaii and North America (not including the East Coast) should be 26,000 Avios in “Premium Class” or 48,500 Avios in “First Class”.
Based on that chart, we would have expected these awards to price at 48,500 Avios each way. However, Thrifty Traveler reports that awards are priced at 26,000 points each way and are booking into first class when you book with an agent over the phone or via chat.
To find availability, use the American Airlines website (aa.com) and search for a route served by Alaska/Hawaiian, then filter to “nonstop” and “first class”. American charges 62,500 miles one way in lie-flat first class on Alaska/Hawaiian, so if you see a flight on Alaska/Hawaiian for that price, that flight should be bookable via Finnair for 26,000 Avios each way. Note again that, to my knowledge, this does not apply to East Coast departures, as there is a separate line in the chart for the eastern US, nor does it apply to flights on American Airlines metal. This deal is for the Alaska/Hawaiian flights only. While I would use the American Airlines search tool to filter to nonstop flights to find routes with availability, I think it may theoretically be possible to book one of these even with a connection, provided that you’re not flying from the US East Coast and are only on Alaska/Hawaiian metal.
You should find a button to “chat” on this page on the Finnair site, where you should confirm pricing and availability prior to transferring points. Once you link up with an agent, you should feed them all of the pertinent information (passenger info, date, flight numbers/times, and cabin class, which will be “First” in this case). Thrifty Traveler posted screenshots of their chat, with an agent confirming the 26K pricing per passenger.
It is certainly worth the trouble to seek out availability and call or chat to book if you’re interested in flying lie-flat business class to Hawaii. There aren’t a lot of ways to get to and from Hawaii in lie-flat seats, and this 26K pricetag is really hard to beat.
Avios programs partner with all of the major transferable currencies. Most readers will have access to Avios, even if they don’t already have Avios. Keep in mind that you can move Avios between the various programs that use the currency, though any account you want to transfer to or from must be open for at least 30 days before the system will allow a transfer (and, according to Head for Points, members without elite status can not transfer more than 1 million Avios between programs per rolling 12 months). If you have British Airways Avios, Qatar Airways Avios, Iberia Avios, or Aer Lingus Avios, and both the account from which you want to transfer and your Finnair Plus account have both been open for at least 30 days, you should be able to transfer your Avios to Finnair to potentially book these awards. Remember that all account details (like name, email address, phone number, etc) much match exactly. See this post for more information on combining Avios.
We are not sure that this deal will last for very long at this price. You should definitely call or chat to confirm availability and price before transferring points to Avios. Transfers to British Airways or Finnair Plus are typically instant from most of the major transferable currencies (note: transfers to Iberia aren’t always instant, so avoid transferring to Iberia if your goal is to move to Finnair). You should be able to confirm availability and price with the agent, then transfer the points and book (they should be able to wait a minute for the points to show up). I would definitely want to have the price confirmed before transferring to book, as this could potentially change.
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Thank you for sharing such an informative knowledge.
I tried this. Found availability at 62.5k and when I reached out via chat they informed me price was 48,500k. Agent stated the prices have been “updated”.
Thanks. I’ve updated to say this is possibly dead.
I found a 62.5K flight on aa.com OGG to SMF with connection in HNL. Called Finnair and they said they dont have award that day. Might this be a ‘call back to speak to another Rep’ situation or is it only direct perhaps? Anyone else book to/from SMF or a non-direct flight?
Thanks!
Holly
I would still be open to paying the 48.5K ‘premium’ rate for first class on a route like JFK-HNL. Do we have any verification if the trick also works for east coast?
the 787 is soooooo much nicer than their current a330 lay flats
I was just quoted 48,500 for AS 122 (HNL-SEA). The agent said only “first” was available.
Update – I tried a different rep who confirmed me for 26,000 Avios in first 54.91 Euro taxes and fees.
Update again – after checking with the backoffice, the ticket was not bookable due to “a system error”
I can confirm that this does work! It is quicker to call in than to use chat. I would suggest buying a 1,000 miles so that the miles won’t expire if you cancel the booking since finnair has a 18-month exp
What was your taxes and fees cost?
109.88 euros for 2 pax. I found that it was easiest to search availability on British Air and Alaska rather than using aa
Should have opened the Finnair account earlier as you mentioned about 30-days before transfer could be done.
I did search on AA between HI and SFO, and I see some 64k awards, but not 62.5k awards — so it’d have to be 62.5k?
Rather than paying attention to the exact points price, look at the aircraft – it should be “332-Airbus A330” or “788-Boeing 787”. There’s also an icon for lie-flat in the flight details / onboard amenities labeled “Lie-flat seats in Business and First only”.
It also of course needs to be operated by Alaska or “Alaska as Hawaiian Airlines”. That’s available as a filter.
I tried on AA, I do see availability on aa.com for 62.5k, and it is Alaska, but when I called in, they said that there’s no availability. I chatted earlier and that agent told me to check online myself….
Not talking about dynamic Alaska Atmos pricing for domestic AA flights yet?
what are you talking about?
Didn’t spot any from DEN- far enough west? I tried mid October- what’s the time frame for these?
Alaska doesn’t serve Hawaii from Denver. Start by searching from the airports from which Alaska serves Hawaii. You can find those with a tool like Flight Connections. It looks like the 787 might only reliably be on the SEA-HNL route, but I think they offer lie-flats on routes from LAX and probably SFO, LAS, SAN, PDX, etc.
thanks- UA does NS to KOA and I confused them in my head…
Thanks and Thanks for all you do for us!
Not finding anything on AA site for that price range……………….anybody?
You’re looking for 62.5K on the AA site. It’s going to be from west coast citieis like SEA, LAX, etc.
Thanks….seeing 55k AA from PDX
That’s not on AS first class then.