Help with getting good price on airline tickets
 

There are numerous questions regarding the best rates on airline tickets to Hawaii. Periodically someone answers by saying that if the person provides more specific details, someone out there may be able to help. I know that I have seen great rates posted that other people have gotten, but I can't seem to find them. I realize that it is early, but by researching now, we are trying to watch rates and be ready to book when we see a good one.
So here is my info...and I appreciate your help.

My husband and I plan on flying to Hawaii in September 2004 for 2-3 weeks, and will be flying from Canada. We can leave from Toronto, Canada, or Buffalo, N.Y. or Detroit, Michigan. Any airline is fine.

It's definitely way too early to find a good deal on airfares. The computers will only come up with full fares at this time. The sale fares come up about 30-45 days out usually. What about flying to LA on either Air Canada from Toronto or on Northwest from Detroit and then trying to find a package through Pleasant Holidays. Here is their website.

http://www.2hawaii.com/webapp/wcs/st...ervlet/Welcome

Good luck. You will find a decent fare as it gets closer to your departure.

Yeah, it's way too early.

The best thing you can do is go to Travelocity and set up Fare Alerts... it will send you an email everytime the price drops a certain amount. I would set that up for each airport that is convenient to you.

You can also get a feel for airfares by going to Expedia, clicking Flights tab, and choosing Fare Calendar... it will give you the lowest current fare for the next fews months. It displays in a monthly calendar so you see the lowest price each day.

Finally, you may want to call Pleasant Holidays as Deborah suggested (I would rather call than use the website). When I was first looking for airfare to hawaii and prices at the time were no lower than $800, they gave me a price of $620 (I ended up using miles).

Hope this helps.

Puddy gives some good advice. You might also want to check Aloha Airlines fares out of LAX and Burbank. They fly from both. The fare from LA can go as low as $320-$340 rt. I do get e-mails from Travelocity because Honolulu is one of my destinations. Continental is a partner with Northwest, so you could probably combine the two airlines to get to Honolulu if you don't want to do a stopover (Detroit/LA/Honolulu). There is a flight on Continental to Honolulu from LA.

Again, good luck.

I think the furthest out you can book is 366 days.

Since you have over a year to plan, I would look at rates for Sept. 2003 to get a ballpark of what you might expect to pay same time next year. Obviously many factors can influence the price but it's a good place to start.

For example I found these fares:
Sept. 3 - 24, 2003 from Toronto to Maui on American with 1 stop either in Dallas/Ft. Worth or Chicago for $531 (including tax).
The same dates except Toronto to Honolulu is $578 (including tax).

I like the AOL/Travelocity search (check the "Very Flexible" Option)

http://aolsvc.travel.aol.com/travel/air/air0.jsp

In my experience I've always found my best fares around 2-3 months before. Even if they go up after I've purchased, it's never more than $10.

If it were me, around next April I would start hitting the internet everyday and if you find something around the $500 mark, I would jump all over it.

By they way, I checked Buffalo and Detroit but those prices weren't much of an improvement.

Hi Pin; I fly out of the same area as you and I agree with most of this but don't wait til 45-30 days prior for Hawaii. Its too close. Also I wouldn't try to break the fare in LAX either it would be much cheaper to get the fare right out of Toronto. Most travel websites seem to be set up for fares out of the US. You might want to consider a travel agent as they will have specials on packages and air, cars etc and can put it all together for you. Dani

You guys are amazing. Thanks so much. I will try all of your suggestions.

I didn't say that you couldn't try to find a fare before 30-45 days out. I said that is when the computers for the airlines generally lower their fares. That gives you plenty of time to find a decent fare to HI in that time period. I booked a rt to Hawaii in October from LA to Honolulu in September and got a great fare. Obviously if Pinnacle can book straight through, they would want to do that, but I also gave other options (including using Pleasant Holidays which offers great deals to HI from LA) Pinnacle if they couldn't find a decent fare that way. If you notice, Alexis823 put in dates for September 3 and got a fare of 531. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's August 12th today, so that's only about 3 weeks away (within the 30 day period of which I spoke).

I have signed up with all the major airlines that have e-newsletters and they e-mail me when a sale begins. I also like Orbitz (U.S. based so use Buffalo or Detroit as you home airport location)for it's sale updates. They email on a regular basis with prices, similar to Travelocity and Expedia. Just two weeks ago, I used Cheap Tickets for a very last minute family weekend in Arizona from Toronto and they got me the best price. I would just keep your self informed and use your best judgement. I myself have never paid less than $600.00 Canadian from Toronto for a seat to Hawaii and have been going for the last 10 years. If you find anything less in Canadian dollars, book it!!!

I've found that sale fares to Hawaii can start to appear as early as 6 months prior to travel. But these early sales are generally offered for a very short period (sometimes available for only a few days), and then the fares go back up. The key is to keep an eye out for these sales. I've gotten good sale fares by booking both 5 months out and within a week of travel. The problem with booking very close in is that you may not have the best flight choices, but September is also low season in Hawaii.

I am surprised at the fares listed here. To alohamom: How did you get these fares at such low prices? We have been to Hawaii three times and all 3 times, have paid what would amount to about $800 U.S. out of Toronto. We must be doing something wrong. To alexis823: how did you locate these low fares? When we have searched expedia and travelocity, we end up with much higher fares.

Check right now e.g. Travelocity, some good Oct/Nov rates for mid week travellers available, had email alert last night. Good luck :)