# airfare to Oahu Hawaii



## leylandpark (Jan 6, 2009)

My Interval exchange went through and my family of four are heading
to Marriott Ko Olina Beachclub in Oahu Hawaii for 7 days in June 21-28. 

We live in San Jose, CA would be willing leaving to leave out of Oakland or San Francisco for the cheapest airfare to Honolulu. I checked Kayak.com and Hawaiian Airlines has the cheapest fare at $712 round trip per person out of San Jose non-stop. 

Perhaps this isn't the time to start buying airfare for summer travel. 

1. Is there a better time to start shopping for cheaper airfare for summer travel?

2. Do you know of a better internet source for buying airfare? www.kayak.com was highly recommended.

Thanks in advance.


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## Timeshare Von (Jan 6, 2009)

leylandpark said:


> My Interval exchange went through and my family of four are heading
> to Marriott Ko Olina Beachclub in Oahu Hawaii for 7 days in June 21-28.
> 
> We live in San Jose, CA would be willing leaving to leave out of Oakland or San Francisco for the cheapest airfare to Honolulu. I checked Kayak.com and Hawaiian Airlines has the cheapest fare at $712 round trip per person out of San Jose non-stop.
> ...



I like Kayak.com myself and have found them to be about the best in tracking down good airfares.  I would enter a search with them and let you keep them posted on the rates on a daily basis.

We bought our tickets Milw to Honolulu for Aug/Sept 09 about a month ago and paid $650pp on NWA.  Seems you should be able to do better since you're already starting on the West Coast.

Good luck in finding something better.

Von


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## Ann in CA (Jan 6, 2009)

Alaska Airlines Visa has a $50 companion fare (one per year)  We used ours out of Santa Rosa, but they also fly out of SF & Oak.  The only drawback is that you go by way of Seattle.  The latest you can leave the Bay area is a little after noon to catch the 4PM flight to Lihue arriving about 7:30PM, but there may be more options for Oahu.

If you both had the visa, you'd save enough on the two companion fares for your children to pay the annual visa fee for years.  We love our Alaska visa anyway, as we travel every year to Alaska and they have a pretty good frequent flyer program. 

When we were checking for last October, we found NWA had the lowest fare, but with the second fare on Alaska only $50, they couldn't come close to that.


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## Toughbeat (Jan 6, 2009)

As mentioned before, kayak is a very good site, but you may also want to check www.farecast.com  Farecast tracks fares and pricing patterns and offers recommendations to BUY NOW because fares are expected to rise, or WAIT as fares should drop, and they also give you a % as to how accurate they feel that prediction is.


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## Bee (Jan 6, 2009)

I also live in San Jose and judging by your screen name were neighbors.  I have been watching fares to Kauai for mid July.  The last couple of weeks Hawaiian Airlines have dropped their prices with their best prices departing SFO.  This weeks fares are higher, but not as high as they were the past several months.  I hope to purchse tickets around $600.  This is a fairly typical price for summer in Kauai.  If not I'll bite the bullet.  We had to cancel last year after Aloha Airlines went into bankruptcy.  Fares to Honolulu are cheaper than the other Hawaiian islands.

Bee


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## davidvel (Jan 7, 2009)

*Details on Hawaiian Air Fare Sale*

From their website:

Book: Now – 1/16/2009

Travel: Now – 6/4/2009
(Excluding 3/14 - 4/19/2009)

  Oakland - Honolulu  $299* 
  Phoenix - Honolulu  $299* 
  Portland - Honolulu  $278* 
  San Francisco - Honolulu  $299* 
  San Jose - Honolulu  $299* 
  Seattle - Honolulu  $278* 
  Portland - Maui  $318* 
  Seattle - Maui  $306* 
(Roundtrip fares) 


Travel: 3/14 – 4/19/2009

  Oakland - Honolulu  $360* 
  Phoenix - Honolulu  $399* 
  Portland - Honolulu  $378* 
  San Francisco - Honolulu  $360* 
  San Jose - Honolulu  $360* 
  Seattle - Honolulu  $369* 
  Portland - Maui  $418* 
  Seattle - Maui  $409* 
(Roundtrip fares)


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## winger (Jan 7, 2009)

davidvel said:


> From their website:
> 
> Book: Now – 1/16/2009
> 
> ...



i dont have net access, but are these good for spring break (April 12th week) ?


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## davidvel (Jan 7, 2009)

winger said:


> i dont have net access, but are these good for spring break (April 12th week) ?



No: (Excluding 3/14 - 4/19/2009)

How do you get to TUG with no internet access?


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## Hoc (Jan 7, 2009)

I just generally look at $300 as a good guideline.  When the fares to Hawaii from the West Coast drop below $300, then I seriously consider buying.


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## winger (Jan 7, 2009)

davidvel said:


> How do you get to TUG with no internet access?


email only this afternoon


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## leylandpark (Jan 8, 2009)

For my travel period of June 21-June 28 from San Jose, round trip airfare is $661. A little better than $712 from my original post a couple of days ago. I guess I am still waiting for a the real "$600 rt" fare that everyone is talking about.


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## leylandpark (Jan 9, 2009)

For you Marriott timeshare owners, I just found out that I can an additional 5% off fare from Hawaiin. The link is available on your Marriott owners web page, see special deals/discounts link. So far I get airfare down to $636 RT from San Jose.


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## Bee (Jan 9, 2009)

*Hawaiian Air Price Drop*

I just booked air for our mid July trip to Kauai.  I also used the Marriott discount.  Price roundtrip from San Jose, CA including tax was $573.03.


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## tmartin1 (Jan 12, 2009)

Airfare is starting to drop. I'm looking for a flight from San Diego to Kauai for mid June. Last month, it was $1100. Today it's $900. Still too high to book at this point, but it's looking better. It drives me crazy that it's always so much more expensive to fly from San Diego. I guess it's the 'living in paradise' surcharge.


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## leylandpark (Jan 13, 2009)

Bee, how did you get $573? The best I got was over $600.


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## Bee (Jan 13, 2009)

I have been watching the Hawaiian Airlines site for a few months.  About six weeks ago I started seeing lower prices that were for OAK and SFO with dates close to mine, but not my exact dates.  I started checking everyday and noticed the airports and dates changed every so often.  I just kept thinking our dates out of SJC would go lower and they finally did.  I paid $270.00 +tax each way with the Marriott discount.  

I think you should be able to find a fare lower than ours, since you are going to Oahu.  

Bee


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## leylandpark (Jan 29, 2009)

Bea,

I just checked. Oakland to HNL for $549 rt. Is that a good price?


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## kelela92 (Jan 29, 2009)

leylandpark said:


> Bea,
> 
> I just checked. Oakland to HNL for $549 rt. Is that a good price?



You should be able to find something cheaper.
My folks got air for Easter week to Kauai for $1080 (two ppl incl taxes/fees), and I got air to Maui in May for the same. Granted, your dates are more peak season, but still.

I would say use Kayak.com and farecast.com to keep you posted. I also used Yapta.com. Once I saw something low, I'd check it out. HNL rates have gone down as low as $288. But not sure if you're willing to wait. With your dates being peak season, I'd grab something in the $400 range. Good luck


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## Hoc (Jan 29, 2009)

kelela92 said:


> HNL rates have gone down as low as $288.



That's generally the best way to get to the outer islands.  Often there are low fares from HNL to Maui, Kauai or the Big Island.  Recently, Mokulele offered fares as low as $18 each way, and I have seen Hawaiian flights, or Pacific Wings or Island Air, in the $35 each way range.  Also, by connection through HNL, you can sometimes fly into some of the smaller, more convenient airports on the outer islands, and with a minimum connect time, they will check your baggage straight through to your final destination.

In addition, don't overlook the possibility for a stopover on Oahu.  It's one of the most diverse islands in the chain and can provide any kind of vacation you want.


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## winger (Jan 30, 2009)

Hoc said:


> That's generally the best way to get to the outer islands.  Often there are low fares from HNL to Maui, Kauai or the Big Island.  Recently, Mokulele offered fares as low as $18 each way, and I have seen Hawaiian flights, or Pacific Wings or Island Air, in the $35 each way range.  Also, by connection through HNL, you can sometimes fly into some of the smaller, more convenient airports on the outer islands, and with a minimum connect time, they will check your baggage straight through to your final destination.
> 
> In addition, don't overlook the possibility for a stopover on Oahu.  It's one of the most diverse islands in the chain and can provide any kind of vacation you want.


Hi Hoc.

How does a person plan say 6-10 months out to an outer island? Just book the lowest HNL flight and hope there is a DIRT CHEAP flight from HNL to the the final destination later?

For example, I purchased our SFO-HNL-OGG ticket some time ago on AA. We ended up buying hawaiian on the return OGG-HNL leg. costed about 90 each person.  At the time that was lowest cost on Hawaiian, the only inter island airlines we know.


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## Hoc (Jan 30, 2009)

winger said:


> How does a person plan say 6-10 months out to an outer island? Just book the lowest HNL flight and hope there is a DIRT CHEAP flight from HNL to the the final destination later?



You book the HNL flight when it drops below $300 and figure that, even if there is only a full price outer island hop at around $130 or so r/t, the two fares combined are still probably cheaper than a direct flight to an outer island.  Moreover, the chances of a fare sale within the next 6-10 months on outer island hops is quite good, so the odds are you will save money and have your Oahu stopover, to boot.  That's what I've done for years, and I've never had to pay full fare on an outer island hop.

Moreover, the interisland ferry seems to be making interisland runs even cheaper.  There, you know that your maximum round trip rate by ferry is going to be $88 per person.


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## winger (Jan 30, 2009)

Hoc said:


> You book the HNL flight when it drops below $300 and figure that, even if there is only a full price outer island hop at around $130 or so r/t, the two fares combined are still probably cheaper than a direct flight to an outer island.  Moreover, the chances of a fare sale within the next 6-10 months on outer island hops is quite good, so the odds are you will save money and have your Oahu stopover, to boot.  That's what I've done for years, and I've never had to pay full fare on an outer island hop.
> 
> Moreover, the interisland ferry seems to be making interisland runs even cheaper.  There, you know that your maximum round trip rate by ferry is going to be $88 per person.


thanks for the advice. First, there are four of us, so that needs to be considered. also we are using miles to book so it is hard to 'wait' for low fairs versus booking when the miles seats become available.  I guess when I run out of miles, I have to try different strategies.

although it may not work on our current trip even if we paid for flights to HNL,  since it is spring/easter break,  if I travelled low season, better change of your strategy working. any for hawaii, once kids are out of school, we can travel there anytime since weather is awesome there year round - at that time we likely can take advantage of booking cheap air tix first, then book TS. thanks for the tips!


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## mayson12 (Jan 30, 2009)

Not sure what the date parameters are, but Pleasant Holidays has really inexpensive fly/drive packages to HI departing from either San Francisco or LA.  I checked for dates in March, and it came out to a little less than $700 for 2 ppl including car rental.  You might check it out.


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## winger (Jan 30, 2009)

mayson12 said:


> Not sure what the date parameters are, but Pleasant Holidays has really inexpensive fly/drive packages to HI departing from either San Francisco or LA.  I checked for dates in March, and it came out to a little less than $700 for 2 ppl including car rental.  You might check it out.


 Easter is April 12-April 19 (some schools stretch it to April 26) and we have our stay scheduled 4/12-4/26 in Maui !!!

I just checked, for four of us and a full size car from SFO-OGG

Price for 4 person(s)	$2,570.52
Protection Plan:	$178.00
Sub Total:	$2,748.52
Taxes:	$225.48 * 
TOTAL	$2,974.00

For same air/car package from SFO-HNL
Price for 4 person(s)	$1,434.20
Protection Plan:	$178.00
Sub Total:	$1,612.20
Taxes:	$221.80 * 
TOTAL	$1,834.00

I can conceivably take package #2 (SFO-HNL) , then:
a) buy HNL-OGG inter-island flight 
and 
b) book another car rental in Maui (which we already have for $310 TOTAL COST for the two weeks).   We basically will be giving up the included oahu car rental.


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## Bee (Jan 31, 2009)

*Time To Buy!*

Leyland, 

I just saw your dates to HNL at $160 each way.  I think it was $340 total.  This is a good price!

Bee


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## winger (Feb 1, 2009)

Bee said:


> Leyland,
> 
> I just saw your dates to HNL at $160 each way.  I think it was $340 total.  This is a good price!
> 
> Bee


close to the $358 r/t in option two I just posted above, AND that offer comes with get a week (or two, I forget) full size car rental


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## leylandpark (Feb 1, 2009)

Bee,

This morning I saw the Hawaiian fare drop for February. I justed booked a party of four to Oahau for $1320.40 include taxe&fees  for June. I am very pleased.


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## Hoc (Feb 2, 2009)

winger said:


> For same air/car package from SFO-HNL
> Price for 4 person(s)	$1,434.20
> Protection Plan:	$178.00
> Sub Total:	$1,612.20
> ...



Also, don't forget to consider the economics of dumping the Maui rental and having one of you take the Oahu rental car over on the ferry.


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## Bee (Feb 3, 2009)

Leyland,

I'm glad to see you saw the sale and got your tickets.  

Have a great trip!

Bee


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## Hoc (Feb 5, 2009)

Don't know how long it will last, but Mokulele Air is now offering round trip fare from Honolulu to Kauai for $12, including all taxes.  Better jump on it if you want a good fare to Kauai.


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## Ken555 (Feb 6, 2009)

FWIW, I just canceled my award AA ticket to HNL ($150 reinstatement fee), got a full refund from Hawaiian for the intra-island to OGG ($150; no argument since the flight times had changed since purchase), and bought a non-stop LAX-OGG for $425 after taxes for later this month. Good fares can definitely be found, even this close to departure.


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## HudsHut (Mar 13, 2009)

I'm looking for a flight from SF Bay Area or Sacramento to Kauai for 
July  4 - July 11 (give or take a day or two on either end).

The fares I'm seeing are $800+ right now. I've been watching on Kayak. Have not yet tried farecast.

Should I focus on flights to Honolulu to reduce the cost?


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## winger (Mar 13, 2009)

hudshut said:


> I'm looking for a flight from SF Bay Area or Sacramento to Kauai for
> July  4 - July 11 (give or take a day or two on either end).
> 
> The fares I'm seeing are $800+ right now. I've been watching on Kayak. Have not yet tried farecast.
> ...



Why don't you do a few price checks... Sfo to hnl, hnl to kauai ?  Report back what u find.


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## HudsHut (May 7, 2009)

hudshut said:


> I'm looking for a flight from SF Bay Area or Sacramento to Kauai for
> July  4 - July 11 (give or take a day or two on either end).
> 
> The fares I'm seeing are $800+ right now.



The non-stop from SFO - LIH fell to $655 today. We're booked! 
Westin Princeville for 4th of July!


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## sinjin (May 8, 2009)

Just got AA flights 5/30-7/9 for only $410 all in from STL-OGG last week. Lowest fares I've seen in years.


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