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Avoid flying June, July, August - holiday weekends any time of the year - and Spring Break. Usually September (after Labor Day) and October tend to have the lowest airfare. You can also set alerts on many of the travel sites like Orbitz to email you when it finds airfare at a target price you set. Coming from the East Coast - see if you can get a cheap transcontinental flight to the West Coast - then a cheap West Coast/Hawaii ticket. Flying into Honolulu versus an outer island with an inter-island flight can sometimes be cheaper.
That, and just take the time to spend an hour looking at all different variations. I just bought a ticket for my mother and father from Miami to Hilo for $867. This flight just has one stop in LA for an hour. It took me a little to find it, but then again, I grew up with computers
Orbitz allows you to search +/- 3 days, which can really help out, and on some apps, you can see the cheapest flight for two city pairs for months out (skyscanner is one that I love). Again, you just gotta spend some time and effort looking, but you can find some great deals.
For the BI, I often find flying into KOA and flying out of ITO is quite cheap - this works great for two reasons: people love getting leied when they land in KOA and you can also show them the other half of the island as well. This doesn't work for everyone, but just something I've noticed.
Also, something a little more risky is to by separate tickets. What I mean to say is, I have a friend coming out to visit me from Salt Lake City. She bought a round trip ticket from Salt Lake City to LAX, and then purchase a second ticket from LAX to ITO. This saved her some money, and since she is only flying with carryon, it's no problem.
Again, just some tips I've found along the way in life!
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Great tips so far. I would only add that fares are cheaper on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, so it's best to be flexible. Hawaiian Air and Alaska Air are both good and competitive (in a price war) from the west coast, especially San Jose and Oakland. But heed RugbyDave's warning about separate tickets. I've often found United to have the best prices to the Midwest via Los Angeles--but sometimes Orbitz has put me on Frontier as well.
But heed RugbyDave's warning about separate tickets. I've often found United to have the best prices to the Midwest via Los Angeles--but sometimes Orbitz has put me on Frontier as well.
Definitely - it all depends on the time and effort someone puts into searching. I got my friend from Salt Lake City (really, Pocatello, ID) to ITO for a song. Yeah, she's flying on separate tickets (which, again, you take risk with), but for her it was worth it.
Skyscanner is a pretty cool app if you have a tablet/iphone. Unsure if it's on android or not, but there's one option that allows you to see prices throughout the year for a two-city pair. It's like Orbitz's +/- 3 day matrix, except for the entire year. I just downloaded it and am playing with it now () but am seeing some serious use for your question, OP.
Alaska Air Visa card gets you some great deals and a yearly voucher for a 2nd ticket for @ $100. I use to do pkg deals until I got my AA visa. Now I use that for air, vrbo for condo rental and hunt for rental car deal last. Usually always find a good car rate through Hawaii discount rentals or Costco.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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September/October/early November is the least expensive time of year to fly and for hotels. Sometimes you'll find very low airfares from bay area airports like Oakland and San Jose in the $400-$500 range on Alaska Air.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 06-20-2013 at 06:27 PM..
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) but am seeing some serious use for your question, OP.
