SOUTHWEST BOOKING TO HAWAII IS OPEN!!!!

[PamMo]

Fares are online now!

Intro fares are as low as $98/RT from now through May!

 

[DaveNV]

Yay! Are fares lower than other carriers?

Dave

 

[PamMo]

Playing around with fares, $380/RT for the dates I want this summer. Direct flights to Oahu, Maui, and Kona only right now.

Flights aren't just from CA either. I see Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas...

 

[DaveNV]

We aren’t scheduled to go to Hawaii till next year, so I won’t be shopping for tickets until this Fall. Will be interesting to see how this plays out, and if fares drop accordingly. Good luck!

Dave

 

[PamMo]

Wow. Some of the lowest fares are almost sold out!

 

[StevenTing]

These fares are awesome. I'd like to see how things turn our long term.

 

[BDMX2]

Looks like they don't have any connections loaded yet, I'm only able to look up flights from the CA airports to the Hawaii locations.

 

[b2bailey]

Yay! Are fares lower than other carriers?

Dave

You are kidding, right?Y
$100 RT is unheard of.

 

[PamMo]

BDMX2, all the connections go through CA, but I'm able to book flights from cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, even Reno. There's nothing from the Midwest or East Coast to Hawaii that I can see so far. Seats are selling out fast. The Wanna Get Away fares have almost vanished. There has definitely been a pent up demand for Southwest to take on these routes.

b2bailey, I edited to add the $98/RT fares right when Dave was posting, so he didn't see that!

 

[BDMX2]

BDMX2, all the connections go through CA, but I'm able to book flights from cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, even Reno. There's nothing from the Midwest or East Coast to Hawaii that I can see so far. Seats are selling out fast. The Wanna Get Away fares have almost vanished. There has definitely been a pent up demand for Southwest to take on these routes.

Thanks PamMo. I wonder if I should cobble together something myself. I'm on hold with SWA right now, 36 minute estimated hold time.

 

[BDMX2]

And hmmm...I don't see availability for LAS, PHX, SEA, etc for my dates (either 6/28 or 6/29) but I do see flights from OAK and SJC on those dates.

 

[b2bailey]

I couldn't help mysef -- SJC to OGG one way for $79 on June 18 was too good to resist. That's my favorite thing about Southwest, knowing I can cancel without penalty if I can can't put something together. All cheap returns after mid June were already booked. So I will just wait and see what happens.

 

[dsmrp]

I looked about 30 min after PamMo posted, but fares from Seattle to HNL weren't any deal by then, about $600 for the wanna getaway fares. But this was for late June or July dates. And very few, 2-3, at wanna prices.

Good going for those who got LT $400 RT.

Like DaveNW I'll be looking for fares later on in the year.

 

[PamMo]

That's weird, BDMX2. I'm logged into my Southwest account and can see RT flights (not the cheap ones, though) from those cities.

Unfortunately, I need twelve tickets to Lihue from Nevada and Virginia.

 

[BDMX2]

So weird PamMo! Any chance you see flights with connections from BDL, BOS, or PVD? (if you feel like looking...)

 

[Mr. Vker]

There are connection issues returning to the east. SWA has system limitations. Can't do overnight connections and no redeyes. I can price BWI-HNL but not back. Have to buy two sep tickets back HNL-west coast then west coast home. So its three tickets altogether.

 

[BDMX2]

OK, got my hold callback from SWA - they're saying it doesn't work like normal connections and that I need to get myself out to one of the CA airports. Doesn't make sense to me at all, but she didn't give me a lot of warm and fuzzy confidence.

 

[b2bailey]

Just received a phone call from my granddaughter who is planning a trip to Maui in September. She saw the bargain prices for Southwest for her dates -- a total of $399 for two roundtrip tickets -- San Jose to Maui. She was calling to ask me: "Grandma, is this legit?" I told her yes, book it now.

 

[DaveNV]

You are kidding, right?Y
$100 RT is unheard of.

When I asked the question I hadn’t seen any fares posted yet. Now that I’ve seen some numbers, the question answered itself.

Dave

 

[Mr. Vker]

OK, got my hold callback from SWA - they're saying it doesn't work like normal connections and that I need to get myself out to one of the CA airports. Doesn't make sense to me at all, but she didn't give me a lot of warm and fuzzy confidence.

You should be able to buy a ticket east coast to Hawaii as one record. Coming back, you have to buy a ticket hawaii to CA then CA home. A bit of a pain-and loses some of the savings.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Wow! Just booked two companion fares for $49 Interisland in summer. That's $25 per person. Saving $300+ vs. Hawaiian at $100 pp or scraping around for points.

Also booked two companion fares Oak to HI. Still much cheaper than UAL and AK. Went ahead and booked SWA and will cancel if I can find comparable AK companion and UAL for DH in which we are trying to fly him on UAL metal to get to lifetime gold.

If competitor fares come down will also look at using Chase points which are tied to fare price.

I love SWA because can cancel or change if we find a better deal.

 

[BDMX2]

You should be able to buy a ticket east coast to Hawaii as one record. Coming back, you have to buy a ticket hawaii to CA then CA home. A bit of a pain-and loses some of the savings.

Yeah, you would think, but I wasn't able to. That's OK, I got it all cobbled together. PHEW, quite the chore figuring it all out! I ended up booking a bunch of one ways since we're doing both the Big Island and Kauai. I already had our inter-island flight for our switch day booked on Hawaiian. And since SWA isn't servicing LIH yet, I booked LIH back to the main land on Hawaiian as well.

 

[b2bailey]

How many actual seats flying across Pacific? I was looking at flight schedule from Maui, returning to mainland. There is only one flight per day from OGG to SJC nonstop. Reservations to other destinations, such as San Diego build from that flight.

 

[triangulum33]

Lets hope that one of the airlines doesn't implode like Aloha Air did during that price war...

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Inter-island fares by Hawaiian Airlines have been the highest cost per mile of any U.S. route for a long time. Fares to Hawaii have been too high compared to other routes of similar miles.

Competition is good. United will survive with international destinations. Alaska or Hawaiian may be at risk but they have been profiting on this for too long. AK used to have flexibility to book up to 60 days without cancellation fee and did not have basic economy, but now they have followed the herd - potentially to their demise.