Flying between the islands

[thetimeshareguy]

Quick question on getting between the islands.

I'm thinking of renting or exchanging into two different islands during a two-week holiday -- a week on the big island and a week on Kauai.

I'm going to have to arrange my airfare separately. If I fly in and out of one airport, how expensive is it to get between the islands (two adults plus two kids)?

Also, would it be smart to fly to the first island and back from the second? Is that common? Or is it the case that most flights on major airlines are direct to Honolulu and you take a puddle jumper from there?

 

[jacknsara]

at risk of stating the obvious, why wouldn't you just book a three leg ticket?
What airline or website do you prefer to use?
for instance, I just checked the orbitz site. Instead of using the quick search feature which is the first page to come up for me, I select the flight tab. Then, I change the button from "round trip" to multi-city.
I don't how to do the same if you are using miles.

 

[DeniseM]

From a different point of view, changing islands is a big waste of precious vacation time. Even though the flights are short, it will take you most of a day to change islands, so if you change islands you have used up 3 days of vacation traveling: 1 to get there, 1 to move, and one to go home. That means that a 14 day vacation becomes a 11 day vacation. Why? To change islands you have to:

pack
check out
drive to the airport
drop off your car
take the shuttle to the airport
wait 1-2 hours for your flight
fly 30 - 45 min.
wait for your luggage
take the shuttle to the rental car
pick up the rental car
pick up new supplies/groceries
drive to the new accommodations
check in
unpack

We've found that we enjoy it the most when we spend 2 weeks in one place!

If you decide to do it - Jack's advice is good. Of course if you fly Hawaiian, you do have to fly back to Oahu for most mainland flights.

 

[Henry M.]

I typically book frequent flyer awards and fly into one island, return from another. No problem doing this. I then book my interisland flight separately. The fare varies some between various islands. Honolulu - Maui is $70-$80. Honolulu Lihue is cheaper.

I've even flwon into Honolulu because I couldn't get a frequent flyer ticket to Kauai and then I bought a separate HNL-LIH ticket. On American Airlines you have to use extra miles for interisland flights.

 

[thetimeshareguy]

I'm with the Canadian-based VISA Aerogold plan and it's hard to get flights at all for four people on the same flight or even similar times of departure and arrival, so I may end up going to just one destination and perhaps make an excursion of some sort.

 

[DeniseM]

On American Airlines you have to use extra miles for interisland flights.

On Hawaiian, if you book through to your final destination, it's the same number of miles to an outer island with a plane change on Oahu, as it is to just fly to Oahu. I still hate the waste of time on Oahu, but I love the free flights...

 

[Cathyb]

Also, we have found some flights go direct from say Maui to Big Island without stopping in Oahu. You save 2-3 hrs of flight time doing it that way.

 

[Kauai Kid]

I tried to book a three leg flight: Texas, Lihue, Molokai, Lihue, Texas. Out obscenely expensive to fly to and from Molokai on the three leg flight. Cheaper to book separately Lihue Molokai round trip.

Our former travel agent said it was "too hard". She's history.

Sterling

 

[Hoc]

I tried to book a three leg flight: Texas, Lihue, Molokai, Lihue, Texas. Out obscenely expensive to fly to and from Molokai on the three leg flight.

What was your impression of Molokai? I wrote a 3-part series on the island for Readers' Digest about 25 years ago, and enjoyed it. But there really wasn't much to do there at that time. There were two nightclubs/bars on the island. When the Pau Hana Inn closed down, everyone went to the small bar in Kaunakakai. When it was closed early, I saw some guy doing donuts with his car in the middle of the main street of town.

A few years earlier, I had been offered a job playing keyboards in the house band at the Sheraton Molokai. Benefits included one round trip a week to Oahu. Still, I figured I'd go stir crazy there and passed on the offer.

 

[DeniseM]

What was your impression of Molokai? I wrote a 3-part series on the island for Readers' Digest about 25 years ago, and enjoyed it. But there really wasn't much to do there at that time. There were two nightclubs/bars on the island. When the Pau Hana Inn closed down, everyone went to the small bar in Kaunakakai. When it was closed early, I saw some guy doing donuts with his car in the middle of the main street of town.

A few years earlier, I had been offered a job playing keyboards in the house band at the Sheraton Molokai. Benefits included one round trip a week to Oahu. Still, I figured I'd go stir crazy there and passed on the offer.

We were there for a week a couple of years ago, and things haven't changed much - but we really enjoyed it. The Hotel Molokai in Kaunakakai is still the only real nightlife. Molokai has resisted development more than any other island. Even succeeded in preventing the cruise lines from coming there. Sheraton bailed out, and now the Molokai Ranch is running their own hotel. We had dinner there a couple of times and really enjoyed it - but it's definitely not a locals place. The Hotel Kaunakakai is a hoot on Friday night! First the local aunties play and then the Mo' Betta Band - it was fun!

 

[Kauai Kid]

What was your impression of Molokai? I wrote a 3-part series on the island for Readers' Digest about 25 years ago, and enjoyed it. But there really wasn't much to do there at that time. There were two nightclubs/bars on the island. When the Pau Hana Inn closed down, everyone went to the small bar in Kaunakakai. When it was closed early, I saw some guy doing donuts with his car in the middle of the main street of town.

A few years earlier, I had been offered a job playing keyboards in the house band at the Sheraton Molokai. Benefits included one round trip a week to Oahu. Still, I figured I'd go stir crazy there and passed on the offer.

I didn't go because of the high priced fare. Took a one day trip with tour of Molokai. I'm sure I'd like it cause I like peace and quiet.

There are nice reviews on this web site of Molokai.

Sterling

 

[DeniseM]

I didn't go because of the high priced fare. Took a one day trip with tour of Molokai. I'm sure I'd like it cause I like peace and quiet.

There are nice reviews on this web site of Molokai.

Sterling

Sterling - did you consider taking the ferry? It's about $85 round trip from Maui. The ride over is quite pleasant, but people who get motion sick should take precautions for the ride back, which is usually rougher.

 

[short]

One way between Islands

I purchased my airfare to the Big Island and home from Maui on AA.

Yesterday we flew one way FC direct from BI to Maui on Hawaiian Air on a seperately booked ticket. We got tagged with the dreaded SSSS screening. Good thing it was only a type 2 screening and I am not ticklish.

Short