Least expensive way to get from Oahu to Kona?

[presley]

I just booked flights from my home town to Honolulu, but my destination is Kona. In looking at interisland flights, it looks like it will cost me $500-$600 (for 3 of us RT) to fly from Honolulu to Kona. Are there any other ways to get there?

I am adventurous and honestly, flying is one of the biggest forms of boredom punishment that I can give myself. Are there any charters that I could use to either boat or take a copter to the Big Island? I don't care where I land when I get there. If I can rent a car, I am happy to drive around the island.

 

[DeniseM]

The interisland ferry went out of business a number of years ago, and there aren't small boat charters between Oahu and the Big Island because of the distance and roughness of the waters - it's 173 miles.

I'm sure you could charter a helicopter, but I suspect it would be thousands of dollars.

It is a very short flight - and since you are low, you can do some sightseeing as you leave one island and approach the next. Note that there are two airports and you want to fly into the Kona Airport.

 

[LisaRex]

It's too late now, but in the future, look into booking from the mainland directly to your destination island. It's usually cheaper (and, of course, much more convenient) than having to pay for RT air back and forth between the islands.

Also note, that many airlines allow you to arrive on one island and depart from another on the same itinerary. For instance, you could fly into HNL and depart from Kona.

For future reference....

 

[Art]

I just booked flights from my home town to Honolulu, but my destination is Kona. In looking at interisland flights, it looks like it will cost me $500-$600 (for 3 of us RT) to fly from Honolulu to Kona. Are there any other ways to get there?

I am adventurous and honestly, flying is one of the biggest forms of boredom punishment that I can give myself. Are there any charters that I could use to either boat or take a copter to the Big Island? I don't care where I land when I get there. If I can rent a car, I am happy to drive around the island.

I take it that there was a good reason for not taking a flight directly to Kona? It usually doesn't cost a lot more than a flight to Honolulu and most of the airlines do have a flight or two each day from the mainland to Kona.

Art

 

[presley]

There weren't any direct flights to Kona. It looks like even if I pay $600 for interisland flights, I will still come out saving about $200. by booking my first flight (the really long flight) via Alaskaair.

 

[icul8rg8r]

We flew Go! Mokulele (www.iflygo.com) for our one-way interisland-air from HNL to Kona. It was less expensive than Hawaiian Airlines.

Our Alaska Airlines flights were non-stop - SEA to HNL (where we spent 5 nights) and then KONA to SEA (we spent a week on the Big Island). It was the same price SEA-HNL and KOA-SEA as going roundtrip to HNL, and it didn't require round-trip inter-island air.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

There weren't any direct flights to Kona. It looks like even if I pay $600 for interisland flights, I will still come out saving about $200. by booking my first flight (the really long flight) via Alaskaair.

Alaska does fly into Kona from the mainland. Are you saying it was cheaper to fly into and out of HNL on Alaska, then pay interiisland fares from HNL to KOA and back than it was to fly in and out of KOA from the mainland on Alaska??

 

[presley]

Alaska does fly into Kona from the mainland. Are you saying it was cheaper to fly into and out of HNL on Alaska, then pay interiisland fares from HNL to KOA and back than it was to fly in and out of KOA from the mainland on Alaska??

Yes and my home airport only goes direct to Honolulu.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Yes and my home airport only goes direct to Honolulu.

Well - either way you have to make a connection. Your either connect from HNL to KOA or you make a connection on the mainland to fly into KOA. So you have no direct routing no matter which option you choose.

******

One item to keep in mind though is that if you fly into your final destination on one itinerary, the airline is obligated to get you to your final destination. So if you miss a connection because of a flight delay or cancellation, they make alternate arrangements to get you to your destination and you will have top priority for the rebooking.

But if your connection is on a second itinerary they don't have that obligation. So if your flight from the mainland is delayed, causing you to miss your connection to KOA, then you are at the mercy of whatever the connecting airline's policy is on missed flights.

That's one reason why I try to always fly into my destination airport instead of making an inter-island transfer.

 

[presley]

Well - either way you have to make a connection. Your either connect from HNL to KOA or you make a connection on the mainland to fly into KOA. So you have no direct routing no matter which option you choose.

******

One item to keep in mind though is that if you fly into your final destination on one itinerary, the airline is obligated to get you to your final destination. So if you miss a connection because of a flight delay or cancellation, they make alternate arrangements to get you to your destination and you will have top priority for the rebooking.

But if your connection is on a second itinerary they don't have that obligation. So if your flight from the mainland is delayed, causing you to miss your connection to KOA, then you are at the mercy of whatever the connecting airline's policy is on missed flights.

That's one reason why I try to always fly into my destination airport instead of making an inter-island transfer.

That's all true. In my case, the flight time, waiting time would add a minimum of 7 hours to my travel and the if I didn't do that choice, the next choice is 23 hours.

I probably should have gone with Hawaiin, so i could fly direct. I guess I can keep a lookout and hopefully the fares will go down.

 

[JeffW]

Make sure whatever interisland airline you pick has a baggage agreement with your mainline carrier. Go! Mokulele can tend to be cheaper, but I'm not sure if they have agreements. You really don't want to get to HNL, have to pick up all your luggage, and then have to recheck it all in.

Edited to add - you didn't state when your trip is. Hopefully it's a while away, so you have some time to hjave fares come down. You might to subscribe to a fare watching site (travelocity has it), so you'll get notification when fares between your city pairs go down.

Jeff

 

[presley]

Edited to add - you didn't state when your trip is. Hopefully it's a while away, so you have some time to hjave fares come down. You might to subscribe to a fare watching site (travelocity has it), so you'll get notification when fares between your city pairs go down.

Jeff

Still 11 months away, so I will set up alerts for deals.

I did go back and look at everything again, to make sure I wasn't missing something. Alas, the way I am going is running about $600. less than if I flew direct via Hawaiin. I've already officially decided that I won't fly that far again unless I have already accrued the miles.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Still 11 months away, so I will set up alerts for deals.

I did go back and look at everything again, to make sure I wasn't missing something. Alas, the way I am going is running about $600. less than if I flew direct via Hawaiin. I've already officially decided that I won't fly that far again unless I have already accrued the miles.

From where are you flying to Hawai'i? If we know that perhaps some of us can provide some more specific ideas.

 

[JeffW]

Still 11 months away, so I will set up alerts for deals....

No wonder! My guess is at this point, no reason to offer any discounted fares that far in advance.

Jeff

 

[thinze3]

If any of your inter-island flights are being used as direct connections to and/or from the mainland, ask about pushing your bags over to the connecting flight as well, even though the flights are not booked together.

You can usually eliminate some bag fees - not to mention the baggage handling at HNL.

 

[Art]

If any of your inter-island flights are being used as direct connections to and/or from the mainland, ask about pushing your bags over to the connecting flight as well, even though the flights are not booked together.

That is especially true since the inter-island flights operate from a different terminal than do flights to/from the mainland.

Art