What is the least expensive way to get to Hawaii. We are thinking about WKORV but I am not sure what the best route is from Boston. Do you flly into California and then take another plane over? We have never been to the West Coast. How much should we plan on for flights?
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How to you fly to Maui from Boston
- Thread starter jojo777
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We went through Las Vegas on US Airways 3 years ago. We went through Denver and Chicago on United last year. Do a search on one of the airfare search sites (like Expedia). I understand airfares are way down this year over last year.
Some people like to overnight on the West coast, but we only have one week to vacation so we do the flights in 1 day. For the trip home we take the red eye the night before we have to checkout. Both times we did this, we left on late evening flights on Friday nights. We don't lose much island time, but we get home in the late afternoon or evening on Sat. so we can putter, check the mail, etc. Then we have one full day to try to get on East Coast time before we go back to work on Monday.
Sue
Some people like to overnight on the West coast, but we only have one week to vacation so we do the flights in 1 day. For the trip home we take the red eye the night before we have to checkout. Both times we did this, we left on late evening flights on Friday nights. We don't lose much island time, but we get home in the late afternoon or evening on Sat. so we can putter, check the mail, etc. Then we have one full day to try to get on East Coast time before we go back to work on Monday.
Sue
DeniseM
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The price of airfare can vary 50% and more, depending on when you go. If you go during a holiday week or the summer, you will pay top dollar. If you go off-season (Sept. up until Thanksgiving) you will pay far less. The weather in Sept. and Oct. is nearly the same as the summer weather, so if I could travel off season, that's when I'd go. Sometime during the summer, we will see the fall airfare sales announced. I would start watching prices daily, and be ready to commit when they reach a certain point. From CA, that would be around $300-$350, and possibly even less, but I have no idea from the east coast. Maybe twice that much?
You might want to use the search function on the TUG Hawaii Board and search for "airfare."
You might want to use the search function on the TUG Hawaii Board and search for "airfare."
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I would imagine that Boston to LAX to HNL/OGG would generally be the cheapest/easist due to volume of flights. For an O/N stay - SFO would be better because... LA sux! (Go Giants! - watching SF v Dodgers right now... Giants Win 2 of 3!)
SF is more accessable from SFO, than LA is from LAX (and a much better city... unless you are life-style intolerant...)
btw - the KABOOM! show last night (music - fireworks - coffee) was the best - perfect weather - not crowded - thank you KFOG (104.5 FM)
added: Chicago would probably be a good stopover also (esp if you like Blues
, but O'Hare is further away from Chi-town.
SF is more accessable from SFO, than LA is from LAX (and a much better city... unless you are life-style intolerant...)
btw - the KABOOM! show last night (music - fireworks - coffee) was the best - perfect weather - not crowded - thank you KFOG (104.5 FM)
added: Chicago would probably be a good stopover also (esp if you like Blues
, but O'Hare is further away from Chi-town.
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Kamehameha
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We go every year from the east coast. Honolulu is the cheapest, and the other islands usually run about $100 more. Usually $600-$800 is good from the east coast (to Honolulu). Recently it's been freaky weird though, with flights to Honolulu for $350!
As for routing, on the way out, we just take whatever is cheapest that gets us in before dark. On the return flight, I highly recommend flying as far as you can on the first leg, overnight. We nearly always get flights through Chicago.
As for routing, on the way out, we just take whatever is cheapest that gets us in before dark. On the return flight, I highly recommend flying as far as you can on the first leg, overnight. We nearly always get flights through Chicago.
My thoughts...
Having travelled to Hawaii (specifically, to Maui) from Boston several times over the years, and having tried several different strategies (not all of them successful), I would recommend:
1. Find your best flight arrangements from Boston to San Francisco.
2. Make arrangements to stay an overnight in or around San Francisco. Take a shuttle and go see the SF waterfront. Get a good night's sleep.
3. Find your best flight arrangements (for the following day) from San Fran to Maui. Arrive in HI in some semblance of rest and sanity in which to begin your "vacation".
Those of us who reside on the East Coast somehow seem remarkably able and / or willing to simply either ignore or forget that the distance from the West Coast to Hawaii is only very slightly less than the distance from East Coast to West Coast. Personally, I have learned that 5 hours at a time in an airplane is just about all that I can stand.
The above approach has worked for me. If you want to combine assorted red eye or back to back flights, you might be able to save a few dollars, but please weigh that "savings" against the cost of arriving exhausted and burned out for the very start of your vacation. Not me, thanks --- but "your mileage may vary". Just my opinion, based on my own experience and tolerance level for the joys of airline travel.
Having travelled to Hawaii (specifically, to Maui) from Boston several times over the years, and having tried several different strategies (not all of them successful), I would recommend:
1. Find your best flight arrangements from Boston to San Francisco.
2. Make arrangements to stay an overnight in or around San Francisco. Take a shuttle and go see the SF waterfront. Get a good night's sleep.
3. Find your best flight arrangements (for the following day) from San Fran to Maui. Arrive in HI in some semblance of rest and sanity in which to begin your "vacation".
Those of us who reside on the East Coast somehow seem remarkably able and / or willing to simply either ignore or forget that the distance from the West Coast to Hawaii is only very slightly less than the distance from East Coast to West Coast. Personally, I have learned that 5 hours at a time in an airplane is just about all that I can stand.
The above approach has worked for me. If you want to combine assorted red eye or back to back flights, you might be able to save a few dollars, but please weigh that "savings" against the cost of arriving exhausted and burned out for the very start of your vacation. Not me, thanks --- but "your mileage may vary". Just my opinion, based on my own experience and tolerance level for the joys of airline travel.
dss
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While I couldn't agree more than SFO is a better stopover city and share the elitist NoCal view of SoCal, it's unfortunately a poor choice to get to OGG these days. Since losing service from ATA, Aloha, and AA, we're down to United (and now Alaska) to get direct to OGG from the Bay Area and the fares reflect that lack of competition. The Bay Area to Hawaii in general has become far more expensive in the past couple of years as capacity has dwindled. I used to be able to get flights for $300-$400 regularly and now they are more like $500-600 if you're lucky and always 100% full. It's not much more to but a ticket from the east coast, which kills me.
LAX offers much more choice for a stopover and I beet will be cheaper. It might even be worth looking into a cheap Jetblue BOS->Long Beach segment and a separate LAX->OGG flight but that might be a pain. Another alternative if you don't mind a three city connection is EWR->HNL as that is the only nonstop from the Northeast to Hawaii.
Finally, easily the best use of miles to Hawaii is from the east coast naturally so you might want to consider that as a final option. Good luck!
LAX offers much more choice for a stopover and I beet will be cheaper. It might even be worth looking into a cheap Jetblue BOS->Long Beach segment and a separate LAX->OGG flight but that might be a pain. Another alternative if you don't mind a three city connection is EWR->HNL as that is the only nonstop from the Northeast to Hawaii.
Finally, easily the best use of miles to Hawaii is from the east coast naturally so you might want to consider that as a final option. Good luck!
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Logan to Maui & Westin
JoJo from another JoJo who flew to Maui from Boston last May and stayed at Westin TS. We flew United and did Economy Plus part of the trip. Booked a multi leg flight. We waffled between spending a few days in Chicago or San Francisco on the return trip and finally settled on SFO. So here is the low down on much research.
I cannot tell you how much research I put into this trip far more than anything else we have done and it took months. I tried every which way.
You can fly direct from Logan to ORD/Chicago and then add 9 more hours straight to Maui. I could not stand a 9 hr leg. So we opted for 2 stops BOS to ORD to SFO to OGG/Maui about 14 hrs in all. Yes we could have stayed in SFO 1 night then fly to Maui but I wanted to wake up in Maui so we bit the bullet.
With Delta you can fly to Salt Lake to Maui.
Or you can fly to Phoenix then to Maui. The flights this way were always $100-$200 cheaper than any other way.
Or Bos to San Diego to Maui.
I did not want to fly out of LAX as I wanted to stay in San Francisco to see the city, eat dungeouness crab and recover from any jetlag I may experience.
United owns more market share than anyone else ,better than half ,so the flight choices were far better from the east coast than Hawaiian Air.
Having never seen San Franciso on the return flight from Maui we took a redeye at 11 pm from Maui and landed in San Francisco at 7AM and off on a tour at 11am. We stayed there for 3 days at Westin Marketplace then took a morning flight to ORD onto Boston. I was so tired from the rMaui to SFO redeye flight (my first)that I could not enjoy the sightseeing on day 1 in SFO. However we did like landing in the morning so we could have the whole day there. Too early though to check into a hotel.
We had a fabulous trip. Westin in Maui and Maui is just gorgeous.
My advice as a MA native is to fly United and rent a jeep. Just so much fun.
JoJo from another JoJo who flew to Maui from Boston last May and stayed at Westin TS. We flew United and did Economy Plus part of the trip. Booked a multi leg flight. We waffled between spending a few days in Chicago or San Francisco on the return trip and finally settled on SFO. So here is the low down on much research.
I cannot tell you how much research I put into this trip far more than anything else we have done and it took months. I tried every which way.
You can fly direct from Logan to ORD/Chicago and then add 9 more hours straight to Maui. I could not stand a 9 hr leg. So we opted for 2 stops BOS to ORD to SFO to OGG/Maui about 14 hrs in all. Yes we could have stayed in SFO 1 night then fly to Maui but I wanted to wake up in Maui so we bit the bullet.
With Delta you can fly to Salt Lake to Maui.
Or you can fly to Phoenix then to Maui. The flights this way were always $100-$200 cheaper than any other way.
Or Bos to San Diego to Maui.
I did not want to fly out of LAX as I wanted to stay in San Francisco to see the city, eat dungeouness crab and recover from any jetlag I may experience.
United owns more market share than anyone else ,better than half ,so the flight choices were far better from the east coast than Hawaiian Air.
Having never seen San Franciso on the return flight from Maui we took a redeye at 11 pm from Maui and landed in San Francisco at 7AM and off on a tour at 11am. We stayed there for 3 days at Westin Marketplace then took a morning flight to ORD onto Boston. I was so tired from the rMaui to SFO redeye flight (my first)that I could not enjoy the sightseeing on day 1 in SFO. However we did like landing in the morning so we could have the whole day there. Too early though to check into a hotel.
We had a fabulous trip. Westin in Maui and Maui is just gorgeous.
My advice as a MA native is to fly United and rent a jeep. Just so much fun.
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It's a bit amusing for me to read this thread, as this is the type of research us left-coasters go through when going to Europe.
In any case, I'd suspect UAL will be your best bet, with a stop in Chicago or Denver. Check out Kayak for exact times and costs; you might end up on multiple airlines for the best fare and times. A quick search shows the fastest route (at least on the random day I used for the test) is Bos-SFO-OGG all on UAL, taking almost 13 hours. And you probably can get a free stopover in SFO either going or returning (but not both).
FWIW, I second the recommendation on United's Economy Plus. United sells it for an entire year or per flight. And if you don't select it when you initially purchase your tickets and the seats are available on day of your flight, you'll see it as an option when you check in. I've done this a couple times, and it's convenient.
And as a LA native... I agree with all the comments about going thru SFO. 'nuf said.
In any case, I'd suspect UAL will be your best bet, with a stop in Chicago or Denver. Check out Kayak for exact times and costs; you might end up on multiple airlines for the best fare and times. A quick search shows the fastest route (at least on the random day I used for the test) is Bos-SFO-OGG all on UAL, taking almost 13 hours. And you probably can get a free stopover in SFO either going or returning (but not both).
FWIW, I second the recommendation on United's Economy Plus. United sells it for an entire year or per flight. And if you don't select it when you initially purchase your tickets and the seats are available on day of your flight, you'll see it as an option when you check in. I've done this a couple times, and it's convenient.
And as a LA native... I agree with all the comments about going thru SFO. 'nuf said.
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Ken555
I do consider that planning to go to Maui from the east coast is going to prepare me for whenever we decide to fly across the pond. I have never been so stressed planning a multileg trip in all my years traveling. Next Hawaii trip I know what I am doing.
In fact I think our first trip to Europe will be an escorted one but not too rigid. DH has been to parts of Europe on business but for our sanity sake with language barriers, money exchanges and transit issues I think I will leave the major planning to a trained professional.
I do consider that planning to go to Maui from the east coast is going to prepare me for whenever we decide to fly across the pond. I have never been so stressed planning a multileg trip in all my years traveling. Next Hawaii trip I know what I am doing.
In fact I think our first trip to Europe will be an escorted one but not too rigid. DH has been to parts of Europe on business but for our sanity sake with language barriers, money exchanges and transit issues I think I will leave the major planning to a trained professional.