Flight to Hawaii

[webdizzy]

Anybody have any tips on when to book flights for a September trip to Hawaii? I've been watching airfares through farecast.com, and they have gone down in the last several weeks. I'm just not sure how long I should hold off.

 

[DeniseM]

I would definitely hold off. September is off-season and travel to Hawaii is depressed. There should be some real bargains for the fall, but I don't think there have been any fall sales announced yet. The airlines want to sell people full-price summer airfare right now. Best advice is to check the price daily and be ready to pounce when you see a big drop.

 

[webdizzy]

Denise, do you think hotel prices are going to drop, too? I'm looking at staying at the Waikiki Beachcomber in Oahu, which right now I'm finding for $103/night. How about car rentals?

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I think it also depends on what price you are seeing right now. There are fares through the end of May for LAX to Maui for $342, which is a great fare, but obviously not applicable for your time frame.

I would grab anything under $300 for LAX to HNL. When we travel to HI in the Fall, we usually don't see the good fares for that period until early August, which makes it something of a nail-biter.

Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[DeniseM]

Denise, do you think hotel prices are going to drop, too? I'm looking at staying at the Waikiki Beachcomber in Oahu, which right now I'm finding for $103/night. How about car rentals?

$103 a night is a great rate. If it's a cancelable reservation, I'd make it and keep looking for a better deal. You can probably get something really nice on Priceline (4 Star or Resort) for Sept. for even less than $103 a night.

Car rental reservations are almost always cancelable. I'd find the best rate and book it now, and cancel if a better deal comes up. There is a couple of discount codes posted on the TUG Hawaii board right now, but I don't know if they are still good in Sept. I used the one for $199 a week for an SUV or convertible.

Suzanne - Webdizzy apparently lives in Ohio, and I'm not sure what a great fare would be from there.

 

[webdizzy]

We're flying from Cleveland to HNL (staying 3 nights) and then to Maui (7 nights) and back to Cleveland from Maui. Lowest total I'm seeing for all that right now is $787.

 

[webdizzy]

There is a couple of discount codes posted on the TUG Hawaii board right now, but I don't know if they are still good in Sept.

I think I did look at that and they weren't good for September.

 

[Hoc]

If you see an LAX-HNL fare for less than $250, all in, that's a great fare and you should grab it. Anything under $300, you take if you're running out of time and have to go within a certain time period. Above $300, pass.

 

[LisaRex]

We're flying from Cleveland to HNL (staying 3 nights) and then to Maui (7 nights) and back to Cleveland from Maui. Lowest total I'm seeing for all that right now is $787.

That's an average rate, but as Denise said, with tourism down signficantly, you should find something better than this.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

The last time I stayed in Wa'ikiki we used Hotwire. I knew from checking that one of the hotels being offered was almost certainly the Radisson (I believe it was the 3* option.) The Hotwire price offered was less than half the lowest price for the Radisson I could find anywhere else. Plus we only needed a place for one night (before we caught a connecting flight to Moloka'i) and the Hotwire offer was for a single night, whereas all of the other rates were three-night minimum.

 

[webdizzy]

We're flying from Cleveland to HNL (staying 3 nights) and then to Maui (7 nights) and back to Cleveland from Maui. Lowest total I'm seeing for all that right now is $787.

I just checked the same flight search and it's now up to $902! Should I expect it to go back down? Sure hope so. . .

 

[DeniseM]

I just checked the same flight search and it's now up to $902! Should I expect it to go back down? Sure hope so. . .

Yes - the fall sales haven't been announced yet. I would keep checking every day, to get a sense of where prices are going. Set up a link on your desktop so it's easy to check.

 

[webdizzy]

Yes - the fall sales haven't been announced yet. I would keep checking every day, to get a sense of where prices are going. Set up a link on your desktop so it's easy to check.

Thanks, I do have a link already and have been checking it at least every other day.

 

[webdizzy]

Yes - the fall sales haven't been announced yet. I would keep checking every day, to get a sense of where prices are going. Set up a link on your desktop so it's easy to check.

Denise, I've seen you mention "fall sales" several times in the forums. Where exactly do you see/find/get/hear about these sale announcements?

 

[DeniseM]

Denise, I've seen you mention "fall sales" several times in the forums. Where exactly do you see/find/get/hear about these sale announcements?

The airlines that fly to Hawaii will have announcements on their websites and the travel websites will announce them too. You can sign up for emails alerts from the travel websites, like www.travelzoo.com. You just join the website and they will send you "news flashes." www.yapata.com and www.hotwire.com also sends out newsletters, and some airlines do, if you sign up for emails on their website. I'm sure others will have their favorites. I like Travel Zoo.

 

[webdizzy]

The airlines that fly to Hawaii will have announcements on their websites and the travel websites will announce them too. You can sign up for emails alerts from the travel websites, like www.travelzoo.com. You just join the website and they will send you "news flashes." www.yapata.com and www.hotwire.com also sends out newsletters, and some airlines do, if you sign up for emails on their website. I'm sure others will have their favorites. I like Travel Zoo.

Thanks. I do subscribe to travelzoo's newsletter. I thought the specials and sales they showed were more for near future flights, but I've not had a need to play close attention to it yet.