Greetings. We are planning to visit friends in Hawaii some time in October. it'll be our first trip. Is there a best time to buy airline tickets for that time of year? I'm not sure if I should grab them now, wait a month or two, or wait until even later, pehaps July. Any suggestions? THANKS.

August or September. I've priced tickets for the last few years for travel in Sep/Oct. Last October some folks on the Asia board had a get-together in Hawaii (it was held on/about Oct. 17). I checked ticket prices from LAX to Honolulu about a week or 10 days in advance of the GTG and found prices under $250, tax included, IIRC. A couple of years ago in September I saw fares from US east coast for $600 in coach and $1150 in first class (from BWI on American). Those fares were good well into September. The fare sales start in August.

I just poked in Oct 12/19 at travelocity and got tax inclusive fares of $362 from LAX, $576 from BWI, and $552 from JFK (pretty good price for a 10,000 mile trip. I think all the fares were on American.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that we'd be flying from Michigan.

There is no rule set in stone.Every market is different.Last week there was a fare $275 or so from LA to HNL.Lasted one day.The only "rule": when you see a "good" fare, what to YOU seems good, pull the trigger.

I've heard that November is the best month to use Frequent Flyer miles to Hawaii. Most other times of the year, airlines Double the miles.

We are using FF to Hawaii on Delta in April. You must call 333 days out at midnight to get holiday weeks. I would put it on Travelocity's webfare alert. You get an email every time it drops or goes into the price range you set. I would buy them as soon as they seemed reasonable enough for you!