We are planning on meeting friends on the island of Kauai at the beginning of August (optimal dates are the 4th through the 10th). Thus far, fares from ORD (O'Hare, Chicago) are outrageous. Any ideas for obtaining more affordable tickets would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Hi,

I would try priceline.com. I tried it once for planning a trip to Orlando and saved 150.00 dollars on my ticket.

It is not hard to do. Just follow directions when you get on the website.

Hope this helps you. And have a great trip.

Check out this website before bidding on priceline. It's worth it, because it will save you lots of money! It saved me a lot of money. (Hotel in Baltimore for $21/night, and a hotel in D.C. for $25/night. Both nice hotels!)http://pub4.ezboard.com/bpricelinean...iabidding.html

Be careful when booking airline tickets via Priceline. You have no control other than the price which can mean numerous stops and very unusual flight times. A fellow worker recently booked tickets from KC to LA and was routed through MN and his return flight was a red-eye out of LA leaving around midnight. However, I do recommend Priceline for Hotels!

Hate to be a dark cloud but I don't think you'll find a "good deal" at this late date. Flights to the islands have not been cheap overall for quite some time and as we all know, empty seats are becoming increasingly rare on flights to popular destinations. Most people flying from the midwest will plan a Hawaiian trip well in advance.
Your best bet is priceline or a consolidator. You might try economytravel.com, smarterliving.com or bestfares.com. Check the Chicago Tribune Sunday paper travel section for deals and the yello pages for travel consolidators there.
Good luck.

Another idea would be to try to get to LA or SF, then find a connection to Kaui.
I agree with prior posts, it wont be easy to find a good deal this late.
I went to Maui in June, flights full in both directions.

Flights to Hawaii frequently go through LAX or SFO. Try searching for fares/availability through those cities. Then use good old Southwest Airlines and their cheap fares to get you to takeoff point.
Good luck.

Probably too late to get a truly competitive price for airfare. On the offchance that you haven't finalized your hotel reservation (if you're staying at a hotel), consider a hotel/air package, which are usually the best buys.

Don't know if you need hotel, but you might check out ATA's vacation packages. Pretty decent prices for air/hotel combos. www.ata.com