Does anyone know when you can purchase interisland flight coupons for travel in January 2003 (yeah, I plan waaay ahead). The web sites I've found all offer only coupons that expire on 12/31/02.

The coupons seem to have a shelf life of a few months. You can, however, reserve your flights and seats without the coupons. Just call the airline and tell them that you'll be using interisland coupons for the flights. Then, closer to your trip, just call a travel agent in Hawaii (or online) and buy the interisland tickets. Since you like to plan ahead, this will let you get all the flight details taken care of now.

You can also just pick up the coupons in the airport just before your flight. If your plans change cancel your reservation and don't buy tickets, an easy out. No need for a travel agent at all. Not cost to reserv your space.

Thanks for the info you guys. I will reserve the flights and get coupons later. What a deal!

I just returned from Hawaii where my family of 5 and I spent 2.5 weeks and visited 4 islands. I DO NOT reccomend the coupon books! You may save $12 a person but you will be searched and your luggage will be thoroughly checked everytime you use your coupon. We found out that using coupons - even though you have a prior reservation - is just like buying a ticket the same day of travel. The computer system identifies the same day fliers and flags them to be searched. It is a real hassle and was not worth the $12 pp savings. Also, because we needed a total of 15 segments I purchased my ticket in advanced so that I could use the coupon book for the other 12 segments. I kept checking for the best rate for my tickets and it ended up to be only $12 cheaper than by using coupon books. I also went to a travel agent and he charged me tax on the coupon book which made my supposed savings of $25 a person to only be $12. Coupon books were the worst experience of 2.5 weeks in paradise.

I agree with Sharon that using the coupons will subject you to more random searches. THis happened on evry one of our legs for both my wife and I. But It was a real savings if you add all the legs up and didn't seem overly intrusive. They were actually very nice when they were searching through the bags (nicer than on mainland. Lastly at Kona, by being subject to random search, we were given our own private "staging area" after the search and were the first to board after first class.