Airline Tickets

Passengers on the same airplane rarely pay the same fare.  Tickets are sold for what the market will bear so smart

Interisland Plane at Kona's Keahole Airport

shopping can save you a lot of money on airfares.  It takes some time and effort but you will have the satisfaction of knowing you got a bargain and can use the savings for lodging and activities in the Islands.  Note that sometimes your best buy will be a package deal that includes airfare, hotel, and car.  These are available from sources that can sometimes include two, or all three things for less than either airfare or lodging would cost individually.  

Many airlines offer service to Hawaii.   We do not consider first-class, business-class, or full coach fares here.  Economy class fares will save you a lot of money that you can spend on other "needs" during your stay in the Islands.  These guidelines will reduce the cost when you purchase airline tickets individually or as part of a package.

	Book ahead -- you will normally pay much less if you book at least 14-21 days ahead, but bargains are rarely found more than 3-4 months ahead.
	A Saturday night stay is sometimes required for the lowest fares.
	Avoid holidays -- The fares are usually more expensive around holidays and the airlines have black-out days so that you cannot use frequent flier miles or get discounts from coupons.
	Pick the right days of the week-- generally the best fares are offered on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday.  Sunday, Monday, and Friday travel generally costs more.
	Season of the year-- tickets to Hawaii will generally be less expensive from mid-April through May and from September through mid-December.
	Pick less popular flights that depart mid-morning or late evening.
	Choose the same airline for all legs of your itinerary.
	Keep your eye open for sales which are held periodically by the airlines.
	Use the internet -- virtually all the airlines have web sites and at times fares are offered lower than those shown to their reservations agents.  Some airlines charge a fee for ticket purchase made by phone or at the airport. Many airlines offer e-mail notice of specials.
	Check with the airline on baggage weight, size, and the number of bags allowed.  These are normally available on their web site and too many bags or those over the weight limit can cost you $25 to $80 depending on the airline.

Generally the cheaper your ticket, the tighter the restrictions.  You will almost always be charged a fee to change your flight schedule with the advance purchase discount tickets.  Make sure you know exactly what restrictions apply before you commit to buying.

Web Based " Travel Agents"
These are great because they are open 24-hours a day and don't get impatient with you if you want to make yet another change or check the price or availability for the 100th time.  Enter the dates you want to fly and the departure and arrival cities to receive fare and availability information.  Or, if you can be flexible in your schedule you will save considerably because some sites will list least expensive fares without regard to schedule so you can see how prices vary by date and time.  The least expensive fares are often less than 20% of the cost of full coach fares for the same airline and flight.  Realize, however, that some sites are biased toward specific airlines they have marketing agreements with and some do not display fares of cut-rate airlines.

We never rely on only one source to find the best fare.  Cheap Tickets, Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz are examples of internet travel sites.  We also use Sidestep to research fares and purchase tickets.  SideStep searches the airline's web sites and displays

Fees charged by Internet travel sites Since airlines stopped paying commissions to Internet travel sites, Expedia, etc. now charges fees of $5 to $18 per ticket to make a profit. Many airlines advertise "you won't find a lower fare anywhere else" realizing other sources have to charge a fee.

their fares.  The advantage is that if an airline lists internet specials only on their own site, SideStep will show you those fares while other internet travel sites we have used do not.  You can do the same thing by checking 10-15 airline web sites, but using SideStep is much faster.  If you click the "Reserve" button for a flight, you are automatically connected to the airline's own web site to purchase the ticket.  We recently purchased tickets from Los Angeles to Honolulu for $150 less than fares any of the other internet travel sites showed.  However, continue to do your research because we still occasionally find lower fares on other sites.

Priceline can sometimes provide lower fares if you want to bid for your tickets.  We have not used the site

Save money with Split-ticketing: Unless we want to stop over in a city along the way, most of us would rather take non-stop flights. It may take a little time, but checking the cost of two round trip tickets instead of one non-stop flight can sometimes save you money. Here's an example: If you're flying from Chicago to Honolulu, compare the cost of a round trip ticket from Chicago to Los Angeles or San Francisco, plus a second round trip ticket from there to Honolulu. The total of the two tickets compared to the cost of a non-stop ticket is sometimes hundreds of dollars less. Even flying from the West Coast, we've seen numerous times when flying from Los Angeles, or an outlying airport, to San Francisco and from there to Honolulu is more than $100 less expensive than flying directly from Los Angeles to Honolulu. If the whole family is traveling, the $100 per ticket adds up quickly.

because of their "blind" booking method where you are told the airline and schedule only after picking dates and paying for the tickets, which are nonrefundable.  If your schedule is totally flexible, it might work for you. 

Interisland Airlines  
Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines dominate interisland travel and both have frequent schedules between the major islands.  Since September 11, 2001 the number of flights has been reduced and the cost increased to the point that round-trip airfares start at about $150.  Flights to Molokai and Lanai are less frequent and cost somewhat more.  When you are traveling between several islands on one trip you can sometimes purchase coupon books for multiple flights at a discount. 
Hawaiian Airlines  (www.hawaiianair.com) Hawaii's first interisland airline offers jet service between the islands as well as service from several mainland cities.
Aloha Airlines  (www.alohaair.com)   Offers jet service between the major islands as well as to several mainland cities.  Aloha has a sister company, Island Air which serves Hawaii's smaller interisland airports on West Maui, Molokai, and Lanai.  It operates deHavilland turboprop planes.

We can't really tell a difference in service between the two airline's jet service.  We don't often see a difference in ticket prices between the two so we usually base our selection on which of the two the trans-pacific airline we are flying works with.  Any airline will do baggage transfer for you in either direction.  Just tell the ticket agent when you check-in you want to check your baggage through to your final destination.  However, on departing from a neighbor island and connecting to a mainland flight on another island be sure your luggage goes through the agriculture screening or you will have to retrieve your bags, have them screened, and recheck them.  Be sure to check because at Molokai, Lanai, and the West Maui airports, agricultural screening may not be available. 

Check out the fares at go! Airlines web site. go! airlines advertises themselves as Hawaii's low cost airline.  And, even though you might not think so if you compare prices between them, Aloha, or Hawaiian Airlines today, it really is true.  We've seen a number of low-fare airlines come and go in Hawaii over the past 25 years.  When it's only Hawaiian and Aloha, the inter-island fares are high and not competitive. 

go! began inter-island service June 9, 2006.  Prior to them announcing they were beginning service, inter-island airline tickets were priced $135 to $175 roundtrip.  As soon as go! began selling tickets, Hawaiian and Aloha dropped their fares to match and, in fact, sometimes reduced them by another couple of dollars so they would come up with the lowest fares on searches.  I just did a search for roundtrip airfare in February, 2008 between Honolulu and Kona and it was priced at $93 on all three airlines. My experience in the past was that if go! were not around, the fares would be much higher, perhaps twice as expensive.  So we wish them good luck and will patronize them so that competition keeps fares low.