Hawaii interisland flight deals

[SteveH]

I managed to pick up a $25 (tax in) fare from HNL to LIH and have been watching fares from LIH to KOA and KOA to OGG for January but havn't seen anything nearly as inexpensive. Based on past experience should I go ahead and book the $50- $90 fares or continue to wait for better fares?
Thanks
Steve

 

[philemer]

I managed to pick up a $25 (tax in) fare from HNL to LIH and have been watching fares from LIH to KOA and KOA to OGG for January but havn't seen anything nearly as inexpensive. Based on past experience should I go ahead and book the $50- $90 fares or continue to wait for better fares?
Thanks
Steve

Where did you get the $25 o/w fare? I'd buy the other leg now. They (all carriers) only have a few cheap seats on each flight.

Remember all, a r/t ticket can be 'purchased' for a couple bucks by using 10,000 FF miles on most airlines.

Phil

 

[SteveH]

Where did you get the $25 o/w fare? I'd buy the other leg now. They (all carriers) only have a few cheap seats on each flight.

Remember all, a r/t ticket can be 'purchased' for a couple bucks by using 10,000 FF miles on most airlines.

Phil

Hi Phil:
The $25 fares were triggered by Mesa's Go entry into this market. The fares were only for HNL to other islands; so I land in HNL and travel to LIH, then on to KOA and finally to OGG (Maui). I leave out of Maui for the mainland.
The lion's share of my ff points are with Aeroplan which means flying Air Canada or a Star Alliance partner (in this case United via SFO).
Steve

 

[dive-in]

A few weeks ago, I bought four $39 + $6 taxes tickets from LIH to HNL for March 2. There was lots of availabilty at that price.

 

[SteveH]

A few weeks ago, I bought four $39 + $6 taxes tickets from LIH to HNL for March 2. There was lots of availabilty at that price.

These low prices only seems to work if one end of your trip is Honolulu.

 

[Zib]

Hi! I'm new at this. We have a flight into Lihue
for a week in April but then we have booked the
next two weeks in Kona. I was able to get my
FF flights into Lihue and out of Kona but have
not booked the interisland flight from Lihue to
Kona. Where shall I start looking? What airline?
I have only used Travelocity but I know there
are some other low cost airlines out there who
don't deal with Travelocity. Who flies interisland
besides Aloha? Thanks.

 

[tompalm]

I fly for Aloha and live in Honolulu. However, I don't check the prices very often. I can tell you that Go Airlines started the price war and will sell tickets at $29 + tax quite often from HNL - Maui, Kauai or the big island. Aloha and Hawaiian will match that fare, but only for a limited number of seats. There was one week that Go advertised seats at $19 + tax, or @ $25 and that is how you got that fare. I have only seen it once. The deal on cheap fares is from HNL to the outer islands and back. If you have to travel from Kauai to Kona, that is twice the distance of HNL - Kauai and it will cost more. If you can get that for $50, jump on it. Also, getting from Kona to Maui might not be as cheap because there are only a few flights that go direct each day and seats are limited, or you will need to travel all the way back to HNL to get to Maui. There are two times to get good deals: the first is to buy tickets 2 - 6 months in advance; the other is to wait until the day prior and the airlines might be selling seats for cheap if they have a lot of seats left. Sounds like you have already made your travel arrangements, I do not recommend waiting to the last minute. The prices can also go up if the flgihts are full. The best way to buy tickets is to go direct to each company's web sight.

 

[tompalm]

I forgot to say in my last post that Go Airlines fly RJ50s and they only have four aircraft. If one aircraft has a maintenance problem, or is delayed, you could be waiting hours on the next flight, or you might not even get out that day. Also the aircraft are small and the pilots are just starting out trying to build hours so that they can get hired by Aloha, Hawaiian, or a major somewhere. If you get a $39 fare on Go, you get what you pay for. If you get a $39 fare on Hawaiian or Aloha, you are gettng a great deal.

Aloha and Hawaiian have @ 10 aircraft and can easily make up lost time if one aircraft goes down. Aloha has 737s and Hawaiian has aircraft that are about the same size. Their pilots have a lot more experience and are better paid.

Bottom line: If you buy tickets on Go, you are taking a chance and it might mess up your vacation. I highly recommend getting tickets on Aloha, or Hawaiian.

 

[Zib]

Thanks for the advice. I think I will go
ahead and book soon on Aloha or Hawaiian.
Best to be safe than sorry. My kids went
to school with a guy who fiies for either
Aloha or Hawaiian there in the islands.
We haven't seen him for years and maybe
he isn't even there anymore. Name is
Randy Orr. You wouldn't happen to know
him would you?