Sipping a mai tai on a white sand beach while watching the sun set into the Pacific Ocean might be the perfect fantasy. Yet for too many travelers, a luxurious Hawaiian vacation is tough to reach financially and remains merely a fantasy. But it doesn't have to be — if you can strategically take advantage of the Hawaiian Airlines rewards program.

Use these tricks to earn HawaiianMiles in the the Hawaiian Airlines rewards program, and the beach vacation of your dreams may be closer to think.

There are many ways to earn Hawaiian miles, ranging from flying the airline to spending on the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard®, shopping with partners and more.

1. Fly on Hawaiian Airlines

Consider this the most straightforward way to earn Hawaiian miles: actually fly on Hawaiian Airlines. When you do, you'll earn 1 mile for every mile flown, making this an especially valuable strategy for passengers coming from East Coast or international locations who've managed to find a discount airfare.

In addition to the miles, you can earn 3x points by charging your airfare to the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard®.

How to earn Hawaiian miles on flights

To earn Hawaiian miles, make sure that you register for a HawaiianMiles frequent flyer account and input your Hawaiian number on all your reservations.

The earn rate on Hawaiian flights is pretty straightforward. For tickets in coach, the number of miles earned corresponds to the number of miles flown. For first and business class, the earn rate is 50% higher than in coach.

Here's how many miles you'll fly between common routes:

So, a flight between Las Vegas and Honolulu in coach would earn you about $28 worth of miles each way, or $42 worth if you fly first class. Fly the 5,060 miles in coach between Sydney and Honolulu to earn $50 worth of miles each way (or $76 if you sit in first class).

2. Do one better: Hold elite status while flying on Hawaiian Airlines

If you have Pualani elite status, you'll earn even more miles when you fly. Pualani Platinum elites receive a 100% mile bonus, and Pualani Gold elites receive a 50% mile bonus on top of the miles earned.

Although all intra-Hawaiian flights are under 300 miles, all Hawaiian elite status members (Pualani Platinum, Pualani Gold and Premier Club), earn a minimum of 500 miles.

To illustrate the earn rate, consider a round-trip flight from San Francisco to Honolulu:

As you can see, the miles earned increases considerably if you have elite status with Hawaiian airlines.

3. Spend on Hawaiian Airlines credit cards

Earn via welcome bonuses

The fastest and easiest way to earn Hawaiian miles is to sign up for one of the two Hawaiian Airlines credit cards and earn the welcome offer, which has fluctuated between 50,000 to 70,000 miles. Currently, there are two credit cards available, one personal and one business card. Barclays is the issuer on both credit cards.

Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® (annual fee: $99): Earn 70,000 bonus miles after spending $2,000 on purchases in the first 90 days.

Hawaiian Airlines® Business Mastercard® (annual fee: $99): Earn Earn 60,000 after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days, and earn an additional 10,000 miles when a purchase is made on an employee card.

Earn via credit card spending

Both Hawaiian cards offer 3 HawaiianMiles per $1 spent on eligible purchases made directly from Hawaiian Airlines. Though, Duty free purchases on flights do not count.

Outside of your travels, both cards earn 2 miles per $1 spent on gas and dining. The consumer version also earns 2x miles on grocery store purchases, while the business version instead offers 2x miles at office supply stores. Both earn 1x miles on all other purchases.

On top of that, Hawaiian Airlines® Business Mastercard® does offer one important way to earn miles that the Hawaiian Airlines® World Elite Mastercard® does not: In addition to the miles you earn from your regular spending, Hawaiian Airlines® Business Mastercard® will give you an additional 20,000 miles if you spend at least $50,000 annually. You’ll earn 40,000 miles if you spend $100,000 annually.