# Flight Pricing Request for Hawaii Experts



## Dori (Apr 27, 2013)

We are thinking of taking a trip to Hawaii (Bali Hai in Princeville) in September. Right now, Alaska has flights for about $700 r/t from San Diego to Lihue. Is this a goof price? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

Dori


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## DeniseM (Apr 27, 2013)

Fall is off-season, and we should see a fall sale sometime in the next few months.  I think that $5XX is a good fall price.  October will be even lower.


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## eal (Apr 27, 2013)

Alaska has a low price guarantee that I have actually used a couple of times. I book a flight, check the prices regularly, and when they drop I get a refund of the difference. 

The trick is you have to have another Alaska flight in the planning stages because you can only use the refund to book a new flight.  Living on Vancouver Island we typically fly to Seattle then use SEA as a jumping off point, so Alaska works well for us.


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## DeniseM (Apr 27, 2013)

How long do you have to use the refund?


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## hgjames (Apr 27, 2013)

$700 is on the high end. I also think the five hundred range is more average.

Actually right now I'm seeing much better prices on Alaska's direct flights (like $485 - $545, Sept 2 and Sept 9 departures). You may want to check again.. And it looks like Alaska is the only airline with direct flights?


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## buzglyd (Apr 27, 2013)

I would wait. You can always get a $700 fare. 

Check San Diego, Carlsbad, Orange County and LAX. 

They are all close. All have non stops except Carlsbad which flies to LA.


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## DeniseM (Apr 27, 2013)

buzglyd said:


> I would wait. You can always get a $700 fare.
> 
> Check San Diego, Carlsbad, Orange County and LAX.
> 
> They are all close. All have non stops except Carlsbad which flies to LA.



Non-stops to Kauai?


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## linsj (Apr 27, 2013)

DeniseM said:


> Non-stops to Kauai?



United flies LAX to LIH. I always have a connection there from Chicago.


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## jeepie (Apr 27, 2013)

Dori said:


> We are thinking of taking a trip to Hawaii (Bali Hai in Princeville) in September. Right now, Alaska has flights for about $700 r/t from San Diego to Lihue. Is this a goof price? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!
> 
> Dori


I couldn't tell if you were leaving from San Diego. It looks like you might live near Toronto? Anyway, Alaska has nonstops into Lihue from San Jose, Oakland, Portland, and Seattle as well (although I didn't know your exact dates, or if Alaska's nonstops may be seasonal). Agreed September pricing from the left coast should run $5xx.
Another idea if you think you may travel to the Hawaiian Islands or other routes Alaska flies, in the future. They have a Visa Credit Card from Bank of America that gives you a $99 companion ticket each year, a signup bonus of maybe 25,000 miles, plus 3x points for Alaska flights. Other than that, the card is pretty plain vanilla. You could sign up for the Credit Card, wait a couple of weeks for the 2 for 1 certificate, then go that way. Good luck!


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## Dori (Apr 27, 2013)

Thanks for the advice. I'm almost certain that Alaska would not accept my cc application, as we are Canadian citizens. i have tried in the past to obtain a southwest cc, but one of the requirements is a SSN, which we don't have. They won't accept our SIN (social insurance number).

We are from Toronto, but we have free flights on Southwest that we thought we would use to fly from Buffalo to the west coast. We'll stay there for a few days and then fly to Hawaii. What a chore trying to coordinate award flight availability, TS availability and a paid flight availability. It would be so much easier if Southwest flew to Hawaii!

Dori


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## eal (Apr 27, 2013)

Hi Dori,
Alaska has LOTS of Canadian customers and offers a credit card to them as well as the US ones.

https://www.applyonlinenow.com/CACCapp/Ctl/entry?sc=CJWQ&lc=en_CA

PS the companion flight isn't really a super deal because the card costs $75 per year - $75 + $99 + some taxes/fees makes that ticket cost about $!90.


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## buzglyd (Apr 28, 2013)

DeniseM said:


> Non-stops to Kauai?



Yes we have non stops to all islands out here. 

We don't like to wait! 

United has non stops to Kona and Hilo too.


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## tompalm (Apr 28, 2013)

Dori said:


> We are thinking of taking a trip to Hawaii (Bali Hai in Princeville) in September. Right now, Alaska has flights for about $700 r/t from San Diego to Lihue. Is this a goof price? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!
> 
> Dori



That is high.  The off season price is about $400.  Right now Delta has $377 to the west coast.


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## Dori (Apr 28, 2013)

Are there any restrictions on the Alaska companion passes? I am going to look into applying for their cc, thanks to the wonderful info.

Dori


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## BocaBoy (Apr 28, 2013)

Hawaiian Airlines also generally has good prices from the West Coast to Hawaii.


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## oneohana (Apr 28, 2013)

Dori said:


> Are there any restrictions on the Alaska companion passes? I am going to look into applying for their cc, thanks to the wonderful info.
> 
> Dori



Every time I looked to use the companion pass, we would be routed through Seattle. Coming home would involve a overnight layover. So we never used the passes.


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## Dori (Apr 29, 2013)

I just booked Bali Hai for the second week in September! It will be our first trip to Hawaii and we are so excited! Now we just have to wait for a decent fare!

Dori


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## hypnotiq (Apr 29, 2013)

Flights have been and continue to be terrible for September right now to Maui from Seattle. ~$700

Wayyyy higher than last year. I have 14 tickets I need to book and starting to get a bit nervous. 

Hoping there is a fare sale sometime soon...


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## PassionForTravel (Apr 29, 2013)

I didn't have any problems using the cc companion code to book my next Hawaii air, it even worked for an open jaw(SAN->LIH HNL->SAN). Even factoring in the $75 cc fee and the $112 companion ticket (taxes) I figure it saved us at least $200.

Just wish they would fly non-stop SAN-KOA then we would have the four main islands covered.

BUZGLYD - I don't believe anyone has non stop flights from San Diego to the big island. United's go through LAX or SFO.

Ian


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## eal (Apr 29, 2013)

You could sign on with airfarewatchdog - they will notify you of fare changes for routes you designate.


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## buzglyd (Apr 30, 2013)

PassionForTravel said:


> I didn't have any problems using the cc companion code to book my next Hawaii air, it even worked for an open jaw(SAN->LIH HNL->SAN). Even factoring in the $75 cc fee and the $112 companion ticket (taxes) I figure it saved us at least $200.
> 
> Just wish they would fly non-stop SAN-KOA then we would have the four main islands covered.
> 
> ...



You are correct Ian. 

I claim all our airports as "out here."

I don't mind driving to LA for the right deal. Sometimes you can fly into Hilo for half the Kona price.


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## PassionForTravel (Apr 30, 2013)

That's interesting I never checked flying into Hilo. I'll keep an eye on that. Would make sense, Hilo is going to be people who live there returning home, Kona is going to be tourists going on vacation. Different markets, possible different fares.

Ian


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## MaryH (Apr 30, 2013)

Dori,

I had the Alaskan card a few years ago as Canadian with Canadian address.  It was issues by MBNA who used to be owned by Bank of America.  It was not sold off by BOA to TD so still belongs to BOA Canada.  

The companion certificate works better for someone from the West coast than Eastern Canada since the nearest US city is a bit further than vancouver - seattle.


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## lprstn (Apr 30, 2013)

I check rates every week.

Mostly it's cheapest from Sept-Oct. Then it rises steadily. Use www.kayak.com and farecompare.com


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## klpca (Apr 30, 2013)

I'm surprised at those prices. We usually fly in and out of Kahului. Last September I booked tickets for November. Round trip to OGG from San Diego was $350 which later dropped to $306. This was the lowest we have ever paid. I think we paid about $500 - $600 for our trip in June. That was kind of high but I expected it because it was during the summer.

I know that Alaska has direct flights into Lihue from San Diego, but not every day, so you may want to take a look at that as well. I recall that the direct flights end sometime in the fall, another thing to keep in mind for other readers of this thread. 

Between the credits for price drops and the companion fare, Alaska is the best thing going to Hawaii from San Diego. I was a pretty loyal Hawaiian fan for years, but you can't argue with the prices on Alaska. The only downside is the 737 with three across seating. Ugh. I usually wind up in the dreaded middle seat.


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## Dori (Apr 30, 2013)

We have booked free flights on Southwest, our favourite airline, from Buffalo to San Diego on the 13th of September. I'll be checking every day for flights to Lihue on the 14th.. I'm going to check out the Alaska cc. You guys are terrific!  

Dori


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## Dori (May 4, 2013)

As an update, I just found reasonable flight times on Hawaiian for $625 each. Is this an acceptable price? On Alaska, the return flights are all 17 to 20 some-odd hours! Plus, they are no cheaper. I'm afraid if I wait for their seat sale, we'll be stuck in transit for an interminable length of time.

What to do! What to do!  

Dori


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## klpca (May 4, 2013)

$625 still seems high, but maybe only by a $100 or so. Fwiw, my daughter just received an offer from HA for a free companion fare from Hawaiian if she signed up for their Visa card. I'm sure it's a targeted offer, but perhaps you could call in and get the same offer.

And on Alaska, the Lihue-San Diego direct flight isn't offered every day, as I recall. Perhaps try looking a day before/after to find the direct flight.


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