# High Hawaii Airfares at Xmas 2013 - will they drop?



## Jwerking (Feb 3, 2013)

Holy Moly - Xmas airfares are almost $1600 for Milwaukee to Lihue with USAir.  So was it such a good idea to book Xmas week and offer to pay for airfares for my daughter and son-in-law?  Not really any cheaper out of Chicago - which is an option. 

I have tried to find better fares from LAX and LAS - since Hawaiian flies these routes.  But no cheap or easy way to get them to these cities from the tiny airport in Milwaukee. 

Flights are only newly loaded.  I have NO experience purchasing tickets during this timeframe.  So based on experience from other Tuggers - will these fares likely drop?  If so, any guess as to when?  Given it is prime Xmas week - would $1200 be considered a good fare? 

Thanks

Joyce


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## akp (Feb 3, 2013)

*wow *

I'd say you are a pretty nice mother / mother-in-law 

What are your dates, and do you (or they) have any frequent flyer miles available?

Anita


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## jacknsara (Feb 3, 2013)

Jwerking said:


> . . .   Not really any cheaper out of Chicago - which is an option.  . . .


Aloha Joyce,
We go to Lihue every year for weeks 51, 52, 1 and sometime 2. 
In past years, I would capture screen prints of prices from Seattle to Lihue every couple of weeks.  Prior to 2012, they would fluctuate up and down a bit.  In 2012, they kept steady or went up.  I don't recall ever seeing them go down.
Alaska Airline website claims to have a low price guarantee (perhaps just one time) to refund much or all of a future price cut.  We bought 2012 tickets earlier than prior years and notice that the flight to LIH was almost sold out.  
Alaska flies to Chicago.
Alaska - Visa card has a great companion fare - with no black out dates.
Jack


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## akp (Feb 3, 2013)

*Alaska card*

Joyce,

I was thinking along the same lines as Jack.  Alaska has pretty good routings out of ORD.  On the return, they may have to overnight in Seattle.

The cardholder needs to be traveling to use the companion fare, so your son or your daughter in law would need to apply for the card.  The annual fee is $75, not waived the first year, and the best current offer is 25,000 bonus miles on approval.  The companion fare is $99 plus some minor taxes so about $110 all in.  Both the full fare and the companion fare earn miles on the trip.

I think if you're going for a paid fare, Alaska is your best bet.

If you have miles to work with, there might be other options such as using the US Airways companion fare into LAX and then using British Airways Avios for LAX-LIH (non-stop, 25,000 PP round trip, several flights per day).

Anita


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 3, 2013)

Hawaii set a record for tourist visits in 2012 - all of the surplus capacity that developed during the recession is apparently gone.  And since providers actually shed capacity during the recession the situation is tighter than it has ever been.

IOW - there's an extremely good chance that prices are not going to drop significantly.  

The recommendation for an Alaska Airlines VISA is a good one, except that you get the first voucher on the first anniversary of holding the card.  So getting a card now won't help you with travel in 2013.


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## akp (Feb 3, 2013)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> Hawaii set a record for tourist visits in 2012 - all of the surplus capacity that developed during the recession is apparently gone.  And since providers actually shed capacity during the recession the situation is tighter than it has ever been.
> 
> IOW - there's an extremely good chance that prices are not going to drop significantly.
> 
> The recommendation for an Alaska Airlines VISA is a good one, except that you get the first voucher on the first anniversary of holding the card.  So getting a card now won't help you with travel in 2013.



It depends on the terms and conditions on the version of the credit card for which you apply.  The current best offer (no fee waiver, 25,000 miles) grants the companion fare upon approval. 

from the t & c:
"Cardholders that qualify for the Visa Signature card will receive an annual coach Companion Fare from $110 (USD) ($99 base fare plus taxes and fees, from $11 depending on your Alaska Airlines flight itinerary).  The Companion Fare e-certificate is issued upon approval of a new account and on each anniversary thereafter."

I got the card in Mar 2012 and got the certificate in my account within weeks.  


Anita


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 3, 2013)

akp said:


> Not exactly.  I got the card in Mar 2012 and got the certificate in my account within weeks, but my annual fee for the first year was not waived.
> 
> The current best offer for the card does NOT waive the first annual fee and thus you'd get the companion voucher soon after signup.
> 
> Anita


I stand corrected - thank you.  From the terms and conditions:
_"Cardholders that qualify for the Visa Signature card will receive an annual coach Companion Fare from $110 (USD) ($99 base fare plus taxes and fees, from $11 depending on your Alaska Airlines flight itinerary).  The Companion Fare e-certificate is issued upon approval of a new account and on each anniversary thereafter."_​


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## Jwerking (Feb 3, 2013)

akp said:


> Joyce,
> 
> I was thinking along the same lines as Jack.  Alaska has pretty good routings out of ORD.  On the return, they may have to overnight in Seattle.
> 
> ...



Hi Anita and All:

Thank you so much for the comments.  The dates are Dec 21-30.  It is disappointing that fares will likely not go down - what a bummer!

I do have BA Avios points and just booked for hubby and I to go from Wash Dulles to HNL.  Our first timeshare exchange is at the Marriott Ko Olina from Dec 15-21, but AA has only loaded flights thru Dec 10 on AA metal.  After watching for about a week and TUG advice about the lack of AA award seats around the Xmas period last year, I went ahead and booked the Dec 10 tickets.  We will stay in a hotel in Waikiki for the 5 extra nights - we just retired so have no problems with the extra days. 

Also, we do have lots of AA miles and just checked award availability online from ORD-LIH .  Only saver awards thru Dec 15 and then return seats on Dec 26 and 27.  There are only Anytime Award seats available for Dec 21-30 at 90K roundtrip - way too many miles. 

Checked Alaska from ORD-LIH and only Full Flex seats are shown - *where are the lower costs refundable economy seats? * The Full Flex were $1637 each RT. 

With regard to the free companion tickets,  will Alaska really allow a free companion ticket for the small fee of about $110 from ORD-HNL??  So for about $1750, I can get both tickets.  This would definitely be the way to go if possible - but it is too good to be true.  Has anyone actually done this?

Anita, how long did you take you to get the free companion ticket after you opened the card?  Bummer, the first year is not free. 

Joyce


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## akp (Feb 3, 2013)

*4-5 weeks*

I applied for my card on 4/17/2012, and the certificate has an expiration date of 5/24/2013.  So it took about 5 weeks after applying for the card before I got the certificate.

And yes, the Alaska companion fare really does work for Hawaii fares, so $110 will get you the second ticket!  (Until the middle of last year, it worked on First Class tickets, too, which REALLy was too good to be true because now it is coach only.)

Where are you planning to stay in Waikiki?  There are lots of credit card options that could get you some / all of those nights free 

Anita


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 3, 2013)

Jwerking said:


> Checked Alaska from ORD-LIH and only Full Flex seats are shown - *where are the lower costs refundable economy seats? * The Full Flex were $1637 each RT.


Those are probably long gone.  You're traveling during peak period, so there is less inventory in those fare classes to start with.  And people who already regularly plan their Christmas in Hawaii know to grab those tickets as soon as the booking window opens.  It is possible that some could appear later if the plane doesn't fill up on the Full Flex fares.



Jwerking said:


> With regard to the free companion tickets,  will Alaska really allow a free companion ticket for the small fee of about $110 from ORD-HNL??  So for about $1750, I can get both tickets.  This would definitely be the way to go if possible - but it is too good to be true.  Has anyone actually done this?


Yes - it absolutely works this way.  The more expensive the ticket, the more value you get from the Companion Fare ticket.  You can even use it on multi-city and open jaw itineraries.

The biggest limitation is that all portions of the itinerary must be on Alaska flights operated by Alaska Air.  It can't be used on codeshare flights.


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## jlr10 (Feb 3, 2013)

I would not anticipate much, if any, of a drop.  I was just in a class with a man from Hawaii.  He said although the economny is not improving much ghere, tourism there is rebounding quite nicely.  So the law of supply and demand will most likely come into play in ticket prices.

We have been watching air fare go up each week. We usually fly Hawaiian or Alaskan but there rates are much higher this year.  We finally booked on United, going through San Francisco on the way out and a red eye through LA on the way back. We wanted to stay for our timeshare owners meeting and this worked out really good for us in timing and save us over $200 per ticket.

Alaskan is supposed to start San Diego to Lihue direct later this year.  I hope it helps with the costs next year.  Just in case I am going to start saving.


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 4, 2013)

jlr10 said:


> Alaskan is supposed to start San Diego to Lihue direct later this year.  I hope it helps with the costs next year.  Just in case I am going to start saving.


We've been looking at that.  Right now it's cheaper for us to fly multi-city SEA -> SAN mid-week, then SAN - LIH on Saturday than it is for us to fly direct SEA to LIH on Saturday.  As DD and DIL live in San Diego, we'll probably do the San Diego routing.


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## MichaelColey (Feb 4, 2013)

We've taken several trips to Hawaii between Thanksgiving and Christmas (awesome time to go! but when isn't?), and from my experience, the cheaper fares and saver awards pretty much dry up from mid-December through early January.  If you want to fly cheap, you have to straddle that time (and stay about a month) or do your trip before mid-December or sometime in January.


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## MaryH (Feb 4, 2013)

last dec the cheap fares only went to mid dec then went up to 1000-1100+ from the East coast.


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## cmh (Feb 4, 2013)

To get a feel for the fares and to track them, you can set up a DAILY fare alert on Kayak, so that if and when there is a short dip in fares, you'll see it.


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## Jwerking (Feb 4, 2013)

jacknsara said:


> Aloha Joyce,
> We bought 2012 tickets earlier than prior years and notice that the flight to LIH was almost sold out.
> Alaska flies to Chicago.
> Alaska - Visa card has a great companion fare - with no black out dates.
> Jack



Hi Jack:

I am going to have my daughter get the Alaska Visa card so we can use the companion ticket for Lihue - big savings.  According to Anita, it took her about 5 weeks to get the companion cert after applying for the AS credit card - so let's say two months - so beginning of April.  This should be plenty early - 9 months in advance. 

Do you recall  about when you purchased your Lihue tickets last year - when availability was limited?

Thanks

Joyce


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## Jwerking (Feb 4, 2013)

akp said:


> I applied for my card on 4/17/2012, and the certificate has an expiration date of 5/24/2013.  So it took about 5 weeks after applying for the card before I got the certificate.
> 
> And yes, the Alaska companion fare really does work for Hawaii fares, so $110 will get you the second ticket!  (Until the middle of last year, it worked on First Class tickets, too, which REALLy was too good to be true because now it is coach only.)
> 
> ...



Hi Anita:

Thank you for your reply.

We are booked into a studio at the Ilima Hotel - nothing fancy but has good Tripadvisor reviews.  It had a special where one night was free - so about $500 for the 5 nights. 

I am always opening new credit cards and doing whatever to get AA miles - so may give that another go.  Is there any good card out there for Marriott?

BTW, I saw your posts on AA saver award avail for Feb and March to Hawaii - truly surprising so close to travel.  They are weekdays - but that would be okay for us retirees.  

Thanks

Joyce


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## jacknsara (Feb 5, 2013)

Jwerking said:


> Hi Jack:
> . . . so beginning of April.  This should be plenty early - 9 months in advance.
> Do you recall  about when you purchased your Lihue tickets last year - when availability was limited? . .


Aloha Joyce,
I just looked at my email and powerpoint records.  I misstated the year we waited too long.  It was 2011.  We waited until July 29 to purchase for travel on 12/24/11.  We could not sit together.
For our Dec 2012 trip, we bought our tickets on 2/20/12 for travel 12/21/12.  A big majority of seats were still available. Some time in late summer or early fall 2012, I was going to monitor availability in case our daughter could join us on the same flight.  The 12/21 leg was sold out. The mistake I made was not daily monitoring the email account that Alaska messages go to.  They changed the flight and sent a message to re-reserve seats.  By the time I picked up the message and took action, there were only 4 unassigned seats left. Those seats didn't tilt.  What a pain in the back (literally) for me.
Jack


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## myip (Feb 5, 2013)

From San Jose to LIH, you can get tickets for $750.00 return for Dec 23 - Dec  30.  You may be able to get cheaper ticket from another airline to San Jose.  They even have FF# available.


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## Jwerking (Feb 5, 2013)

jacknsara said:


> Aloha Joyce,
> I just looked at my email and powerpoint records.  I misstated the year we waited too long.  It was 2011.  We waited until July 29 to purchase for travel on 12/24/11.  We could not sit together.
> For our Dec 2012 trip, we bought our tickets on 2/20/12 for travel 12/21/12.  A big majority of seats were still available. Some time in late summer or early fall 2012, I was going to monitor availability in case our daughter could join us on the same flight.  The 12/21 leg was sold out. The mistake I made was not daily monitoring the email account that Alaska messages go to.  They changed the flight and sent a message to re-reserve seats.  By the time I picked up the message and took action, there were only 4 unassigned seats left. Those seats didn't tilt.  What a pain in the back (literally) for me.
> Jack



Jack - Thank you so much for checking your records.  I am very impressed that you keep records of your searches, etc. - very organized - kudos to you.  I was an auditor in my working life - so documentation is always the name of the game.  Maybe if I went back to Hawaii every year during the Xmas holidays, I would do the same.  BTW, I never thought of Power Point to maintain screenshots of online searches.  I always used Word, probably because I have limited experience using Power Point.

Wow, I am surprised that in 2011, that by the end of July, there were few seats left for Dec 24.  As Xmas Eve is usually not a heavy travel date as most folks go a few days earlier. 

We consistently took a timeshare vacation during Xmas when my two daughters were in school - we could then move it back into the first 2 weeks in January when they were in college.  After they started to work, we stopped going over Xmas for a few yrs.  However, my oldest daughter works for an online news publication that gives them the week off between Xmas and New Years - so we have been Timeshare vacationing again at Xmas.  I seldom get to see them, so it is nice to be with them a week over the holidays.  I knew Hawaii airfares would be high - but didn't bargain for $1650 per ticket.  I also need to pay for my other daughter to come - who is working in Korea for a few years.  Luckily, Hawaiian Air flies from Korea - flying her will be cheaper than from the US - go figure!  

Joyce


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## Amy (Feb 5, 2013)

We were on OAHU over Xmas week 2012.  I started watching the Alaska fares in the spring, and booked in the summer when I noticed the fares weren't dropping and in fact were creeping up.  (I only monitored one way only as we used AA miles for the other one way).  The one way fare (for Sat. before New Years) was *~$530* pp when I booked.  I set up fare watches for price drops because Alaska is one of those good airlines that will give you a credit for fare drops with no fee/penalty.  In October the fare dropped twice over a period of weeks.  I rebooked online (Alaska has a dedicated rate reduction option) as soon as I learned of the fare drops because only limited seats had the lower fares.  The final one way fare was *$288* pp.  So yes, the fares can drop, but those drops may last only minutes/hours, depending on how many seats are available and how many people buy/rebook at those rates.  Use online services like Yapta to monitor fare drops, and act quickly when you get an alert!


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## Jwerking (Feb 5, 2013)

Amy said:


> We were on OAHU over Xmas week 2012.  I started watching the Alaska fares in the spring, and booked in the summer when I noticed the fares weren't dropping and in fact were creeping up.  (I only monitored one way only as we used AA miles for the other one way).  The one way fare (for Sat. before New Years) was *~$530* pp when I booked.  I set up fare watches for price drops because Alaska is one of those good airlines that will give you a credit for fare drops with no fee/penalty.  In October the fare dropped twice over a period of weeks.  I rebooked online (Alaska has a dedicated rate reduction option) as soon as I learned of the fare drops because only limited seats had the lower fares.  The final one way fare was *$288* pp.  So yes, the fares can drop, but those drops may last only minutes/hours, depending on how many seats are available and how many people buy/rebook at those rates.  Use online services like Yapta to monitor fare drops, and act quickly when you get an alert!



Hi Amy:

Thank you for the heads up about the price drop in return tickets in Oct.  Wow, good for you girl, that was almost a 50% drop.  Cannot believe that AS actually dropped it that much.  I assume that you must call to rebook or did you do it online and called within 24 hrs?

I am using Yapta - go a notice today that the USAir tickets from Milwaukee went up 6% in price. 

Joyce


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## Amy (Feb 5, 2013)

You can seek the credit online.  See the Price Guarantees page (the "claim" button on lower right):  http://www.alaskaair.com/content/deals/special-offers/price-guarantee.aspx.  Read the terms/conditions.

I was jumping up and down with joy when I realized how much the price dropped (and that I captured the difference)!


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## Jwerking (Feb 7, 2013)

*Using Companion Certificates for Other Travelers*

Okay all, I am going to open the Alaska card and use the Companion Cert for my daughter and hubby to get to Lihue next Xmas.  She did not want to open the card herself and honestly, I like having the control myself as don't know when she would get around to it. 

I did check FAQs on the AS website and I can use the Companion Certificate as purchaser for other travelers.  See below.  

Has anyone actually redeemed the certificate for other travelers - just want to make sure I am interpreting the FAQs correctly.  

Thanks for your thoughts , Joyce 

" Who can use my Companion Fare Discount Code?

The Mileage Plan™ member who owns the Companion Fare Discount Code must either be one of the travelers or the purchaser of the reservation. If the member is allowing two travelers to use his or her Companion Fare Discount Code, then the member's name must match the name on the credit card used to purchase the reservation."


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Feb 7, 2013)

Jwerking said:


> Has anyone actually redeemed the certificate for other travelers - just want to make sure I am interpreting the FAQs correctly.


Yes - last summer I bought Hawaii tickets for DD and SIL to go to Hawaii.

The restriction is that if the certificate holder is not on the itinerary, then the certificate holder must be the person buying the tickets.  So you buy, she reimburses you.  And if you don't trust her, then price the tickets and collect the money before actually buying the tickets.


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## Jwerking (Feb 7, 2013)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> Yes - last summer I bought Hawaii tickets for DD and SIL to go to Hawaii.
> 
> The restriction is that if the certificate holder is not on the itinerary, then the certificate holder must be the person buying the tickets.  So you buy, she reimburses you.  And if you don't trust her, then price the tickets and collect the money before actually buying the tickets.



Thanks for the reply, Steve.  It is so important to read all the fine print and delighted that you have actually done this.  I got approved online for the CC and states that I will receive in 7-10 days.  Will use it right away in hopes that will speed up the Companion Cert to post to my account. 

LOL - I am paying for the tickets, it is their Xmas present - so LOTS less $$ out of my pocket. 

Joyce


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## akp (Feb 8, 2013)

*awesome!*

Joyce,

Thanks for posting the T & C; it is great that you can get the card and let them use the certificate!

When you call to activate the card, ask if they will allow you to choose your own closing date.  (some issuers do, and some don't.)  If you can move the closing date up, you might speed up posting of the companion certificate into your account.

When it posts, you'll see it under "My Account / Discount Codes / Valid".  The coupon code will automatically be entered and you'll be able to shop with it.  It's super easy 

Anita


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