I just booked my trip to the Big Island on Hawaiian for $338 round trip before taxes. The flight originates from Sacramento. My departure date is April 30. The price is the best I've seen for a while and I can't predict if it will go lower, so I went for it. The prices are for mid-week and low volume flights if you want to go on a higher volume day, the price will be higher. I should also mention I am part of their HawaiiMile program but I not sure that that makes a difference in this price.

Bill

This morning I saw an ad for Alaska, one way $169 from San JOse to KOA. Let the fare wars begin.

That's about as low as I've ever seen it. I wonder what impact flu concerns are having on air travel & prices.

Let me guess, Bill...it must be Kona Village time??!! With prices like that, I can probably convince hubby to move to the west coast!

Hey TG, where you been. You haven't given a KVR report anywhere have you? Or did I miss it? Love to hear how it was.

And yes it is KVR time, but we will also backpack to Halape.

bill

The fares are at least double for me when I check those airlines. What dates are you using?

Sorry, I see you have already mentioned the dates.

Kailani, I've been following closely the pricing for Hawaiian for the last three day and it is very weird. The $169 constantly changes from time and date. The lowest price seems to occur at around 9:00pm pacific time. In the morning it changes and sometimes almost doubles. The date of the discount also changes. When I first started watching, the discount was for the majority of days for the month, today it down to about five days. I think they are trying to scare people into buying in the morning. It's a very interesting strategy.

Bill

Bill

I just checked tonight and April now is down to 9 - $169 dates and May has only 2. This is a substanial loss of sale dates since Tuesday night.

just checked again, april now has 10 "sales" and May has 11.

thanks for alerting us about this! I may consider a trip there after all....

We have the same lucky situation between Portland and Maui now that Alaska and Hawaiian both offer non-stop service.
Fares often $359 RT. All things being equal, Hawaiian is my carrier of choice since they still offer free meals and excellent in-flight entertainment. Alaska's is a no-frills flight, however they do have much better prices for 1st class upgrades, if able to snag one on flight day.

I did another search this morning and the fare sale has been substanially reduced in dates again(no surprise). I found that the sale involves (apparently) only Sacramento and San Jose airports. Usually Sacramento is one of the highest fare city on Hawaiian's map.

Barbara,
Can you tell me what 1st class upgrades usually run for Alaskan vs. Hawaiian?

I noticed this morning for HA there are no more cheap ($169 for one way) days in March April or May from SMF to KOA or KOA to SMF. I'll check again tonight, but the bargain pricing may be over.

Coming from Springfield MO and flying to Hawaii next March what is the recommended West Coast jumping off place...I thought San Francisco or LA but Sacramento? Should I just search all possible cities? Might fly Delta or AA.

Ozarksbill

Sacramento is usually the most expensive. LA is usually the cheapest. However Oakland has had some sales over the months. And since Alaska is going to fly out of San Jose as of March, there might be some competition.

If you check San Jose in March right now there are some $169 prices for one way tickets.

I checked Alaska, and as you say, there is a new non-stop flight from San José to Kona.

My wish has come true! (Well, my wish was for Southwest to fly to Hawaii.)

It doesn't depart every day, but I'm going to do some serious planning. There have been some great deals in the past several years, but since Aloha went out of business and Hawaiian no longer offers a non-stop to Kona, the United flights have been expensive.

Well I am glad that my research has helped a few. I have not noticed any real competition since Aloha went BK. Nor will I fly United, hate their attitude. Their flight to the BI from SF feels like a cattle car, the redeye is worse. It will be interesting to see if Alaskan will start a flight out of Sacramento late next year. I know Aloha had a daily flight. Time will tell.

wbp

Yes, thank-you so much! I usually take United because it is in Kona by noon.