PSA: Cheap flights to Hawaii!

bmo88 · September 2016

Figured I would share since we likely cannot make it work...and it's a bummer. But maybe others can save some money!

This is especially for @brij2006 since you mentioned going to Hawaii. However, I am not sure where you live, so it might not work for you. I think you live in Illinois, so if South Bend, IN or St. Louis is near you, Allegiant flys out of there (and a bunch of other small towns).

If you have a flexible schedule and can get to Las Vegas, Allegiant Air is running some great prices for trips to Hawaii until the end of 2016. We almost booked round trip (Las Vegas - Honolulu) for $385! We would then have booked tickets from Colorado to Las Vegas round trip for $95. The best part is if you book at the airline ticket counter, you save $13 per segment (so $104 for two people). That would have been $480 for tickets to Hawaii!

We are not 100% not going, but it's unlikely because of my grad classes and DH coaches basketball, but we will see. Figured I would share for others to potentially pick up a good deal though. Most flights are $160-$210 one way.

labro · September 2016

Oh man, I wish we had the budget for something like this. DH's parents live in South Bend and I think it would be amazing to send them on a trip to Hawaii!

brij2006 · September 2016

Thank you!

I played around with it a bit and was able to find it from the small airport near us to Vegas, then Vegas to Honolulu. We would then need an island flight from Honolulu to Maui. In the end in order to fly on a date they offer, we would cut 2 days off our trip and it was $1,646 total. Not as cheap.

So far we're looking at $1800 round trip from Chicago to Maui with 1 stop in San Francisco. I wish we could find a good flight deal. I keep holding out hope that I'll find a direct flight again like we did last time, but I'm not having any luck.

vlagrl35 · September 2016

brij2006 said:

Thank you!

I played around with it a bit and was able to find it from the small airport near us to Vegas, then Vegas to Honolulu. We would then need an island flight from Honolulu to Maui. In the end in order to fly on a date they offer, we would cut 2 days off our trip and it was $1,646 total. Not as cheap.
So far we're looking at $1800 round trip from Chicago to Maui with 1 stop in San Francisco. I wish we could find a good flight deal. I keep holding out hope that I'll find a direct flight again like we did last time, but I'm not having any luck.

Is it just the 2 of you going? we went in 2009 and I don't remember airline tickets being that expensive. KC - Honolulu with 1 stop in Denver.

hoffse · September 2016

@Brij I think it's worth paying a little more for fewer stops. I've become more curmudgeonly about that kind of the thing the more I fly. I just hate to waste vacation time on layovers if they are avoidable (of course sometimes they are not).

I missed out on $700 flight to Budapest yesterday with only 1 stop, and I'm kicking myself. We could have made it work over Christmas. At that price I would have upgraded to economy comfort both directions and the final ticket price would have still been less than $1,000 each. Unfortunately I saw the PSA about it today, and the sale ended yesterday. Boo.

short+sassy · September 2016

My friend recently told me about Hopper. It's only an app, not a website, which I find irritating. But I downloaded it and really like it.

She lives in Orange Country, CA and her b/f lives in NOLA. He recently booked a r/t flight from NOLA to LAX for only $126 using Hopper!!! I cannot even tell you how insanely good that is. Usually fares from here to CA are triple that.

In the app, you enter your travel info. It pops up with the flights/prices that are available. It also gives advice on whether you should book now or wait. Including exact info like "If you book after Oct. 10th, prices will likely go up by $18. If you book after Nov. 1st, prices will likely go up by $87."

If you want, you can also opt to have Hopper "watch" that flight for you. I'm planning to go out to CA sometime later this year or early next. Right now I have Hopper watching two options and they send me a text message about once a week for them. So the app is not obnoxious about the trip updates.

Although I've never booked with them, yet, my friend tells me that you are given the exact flight info...ie departure/arrival times...before you actually book it. Unlike the "Name Your Price" model at Priceline. According to the Apple Store, this app has a 4.4 out of 5 stars rating.

I'm looking at flying into Orange County, which is currently at $270 through Hopper. Everywhere else, those same dates start at $350.

(Sigh) LAX is substantially cheaper through Hopper at $171 for those dates, but would involve hours of gridlock each way...even though it is only 60 miles away from where I'm going. NOT worth the $200 savings for two tickets, at least for me.

julieanne912 · September 2016

@short+sassy What about flying into San Diego or Ontario? Both not as close as Orange County but way easier to get in and out of than LAX at least. My cousin got married in Temecula and we ended up flying in and out of Ontario as it had the cheapest rates. I've also done SD many times to travel up into OC when John Wayne was too expensive.

brij2006 · September 2016

@short+sassy I will most definitely be downloading that app. Thank you
@hoffse I'm right there with you. I'd rather pay a little more and have less stops. We can find RT tickets for $1400 vs $1800 but it means 2 stops instead of 1, and longer layovers. That's a lot of airport time and not worth it to us.
@vlagrl35 I think our issue is that we're traveling during the winter months out of a very cold area. So flights are always more expensive to a warmer climate Nov-April.

short+sassy · September 2016

julieanne912 said:

@short+sassy What about flying into San Diego or Ontario? Both not as close as Orange County but way easier to get in and out of than LAX at least. My cousin got married in Temecula and we ended up flying in and out of Ontario as it had the cheapest rates. I've also done SD many times to travel up into OC when John Wayne was too expensive.

The other option I'm looking at is flying into San Diego though, right now, it is a little more expensive than OC. I hear what you're saying, OC used to consistently be more expensive than SD; however, for my last few trips, the prices between those two airports have been pretty similar.

I've never flown in or out of Ontario. I've always assumed it was a more expensive airport because it was smaller, but I'll have to check it out.

PSA: Cheap flights to Hawaii!

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