May airfare $$ /hawaii
 

I know that no one has a crystal ball but I am curious as to your educated guesses regarding the price of airfare to Hawaii this May (2008). About a month ago, I almost booked seats for my family of 4 from Buffalo to Honolulu for approx. 500 each person return. I had to firm up details at work regarding days off etc but once that actually happened Aloha had gone under and the fallout of substantially higher prices had occured. (approx750/pp/rtn). What do you think is going to happen regarding prices for mid to late May? I am hoping that they will come down a bit but with Aloha and then all the general cancellations from American plus the price of oil etc I am worring a bit. It is hard to decide what to do, either bite the bullet and purchase the higher airfar now and know we am going for sure or wait to see if anyone does a seat sale. I am just kicking myself for not buying last month!!!I have even been looking at buying airfar to lax or san diego and then seperate seats from there to hnl/kona or whatever but again with people shifting their flights from Aloha there really is nothing avaliable. What does everyone think will happen? My family is telling me that we should just go to Florida instead and do Hawaii next year but we love Hawaii and try to go as much as we can. Thanks for any and all feedback...

I can't predict the future but I don't think prices will go down much if any by then due to the lack of seats and the price of oil. I just bought tickets from Hilo-San Francisco for September and paid over $500- the most I've ever paid to fly to the mainland.

I too do not have a crystal ball but I do not see prices going down anytime soon. I'd bet that $700-$800 will be the going rate from the East Coast.

There's an article in the San Jose Mercury News today predicting a rise in airfares due to the recent shutdowns of ATA and Aloha. From the mainland, those airlines primarily served the west coast, but the writer says he thinks the airlines flying from the midwest and east coast will use this as an opportunity to raise prices too. The shutdowns took out 1,000,000 seats to Hawaii, which will be partially, but nowhere near completely, replaced by other airlines.

IMHO we have seen the days of really cheap fares to Hawaii in the past...

You might see if flights from LA Vegas are cheaper..when I lived in Hawaii alot of HAwaiians would travel to LAs Vegas as that was the cheapest fare to get off the Island...there are/were consolidators out of LAs VEgas..but I am not endorsing any of them

?use FF miles altho I think this is grime as well..
?ck who has code shares with other airline.. also if you have American Express miles you can check into using these as well...proably grime too since seats are at a premium
ck ITA for ALL the airlines that go to HAwaii..IE Air Canada goes to Kona and Maui?

? as you suggested could also try Southwest to West Coast advertised 49.00 ticket sales (not always available) and then book another airline from there

Since there are so many fewer seats, all flights will be full - there is simply no incentive for the airlines to lower prices. Yes, if you can get to the west coast very cheaply, you might be able to save $100-$150.

Actually I think $750 from Buffalo sounds pretty good! (I realize the $500 was better).

I flew from NYC to Hawaii in Feb. We flew into Honolulu and out of Kona (a little more expensive than RT Honolulu). We got the TWO week advance fare of $690 on US Air which was pretty reasonable - the other airlines were all more expensive ($800+). Some of them had preferable routes though so I reconsidered my purchase and did something I have never done before - kept checking fares AFTER I had booked and paid (never a good idea).

Of course, the ONE week advance purchase was over $100 less than what we had paid on ALL airlines! A ton of options if the $550 range! And, of course, I was unable to change. Anyway, it was still a decent fare and the flights went well. But, since then, out of curiosity, I continued to check rates and found that in Feb/March, you could get the best rates for 1 week in advance (if you were willing to chance that). The one week fare was always under $600 and it was never that low with any other amount of advance. So...Hawaii seemed like the perfect place for a last minute trip!

However, towards the end of March (even before Aloha and ATA filed) I noticed that this discrepency disappeared and prices were often over $1000 for any advance.

Given that you are flying from Buffalo (which I'm assuming is more expensive than NYC) and what has happened to those 2 airlines, I think $750 looks good.

Another thing you may want to consider is not doing RT to Honolulu if you are planning to go to the other islands. You can fly directly to/from the mainland and many of the other islands. That saves you the price of at least one interisland flight (which has also probably increased) plus may open up some other fare combinations for you which might be cheaper.

No, the difference in May fares that you are seeing is NOT due to Aloha or ATA.

It is due to the fact that this is now April. The sales that were around in March are over. The cheaper fares sold out and/or expired.

To the extent that there are Aloha, ATA former pax vying for the same seats you want, that would contribute to the lower fares selling out. That is, if the fare you found wasn't a purchase by March 31 kind of fare. But I think it is likely that the fare would have sold out by now even without the other airlines issues.

I'd expect fares to go up from here for May travel - as the advance purchase windows close.

Concur with other posters: unlikely to see softening of our market in your time-frame. You could keep eye on airfarewatchdog.com. I see a $198/rt from Buffalo to Oakland, and HA has an intro. fare from Oakland to Honolulu for I believe $420.

My crystal ball calls for more changes in the Hawaii market: Mesa/Go! bankruptcy is a 50/50. New player(s) in our inter-island market also a strong likelihood. It has never been this liquid.

This doesn't have a lot to do with the OP query, but I am going to Maui next March early in the month and was a little surprised to see United's morning nonstop from SFO to Maui and early afternoon return priced at $487! I've never seen United that low. It has since gone up to $513, which is still good. Even though it is 11 months away, I bought the tickets as these seats, if history means anything, will be $700 + in a few months if not weeks.

My Denver--Kona fares for May have gone from 550 pp to 1500. 750 seems pretty good.

I wanted to add this fare that I saw today. I know it wouldn't be the most convenient, but...:

Honolulu, HI (HNL) to Pittsburgh, PA (PIT) $550 RT

Plus: Travel thru Mar 7, 2009
Airline(s): Northwest Airlines
Seats are: limited availability
Advance Purchase: 21 days
Min. stay: 3 nights
Max. stay: 60 days
Day of week: Mon-Thu
Comments: Blackouts: Jun 6 to Aug 2

Aloha,
http://beatofhawaii.com

$750 RT is an average price from Boston. Decent price.

Sure I have planned travel for lower and higher depending on my needs and dates. Trust me, that $500 was an exceptional rate and not the average fare. I wouldn't expect the airfare market between boston and buffalo to be that different.

Good luck.

Looking for airfare to HNL in late October...anyone think there is a chance for prices to go down in Sept? I know its
only an educated guess. RIC to HNL

<<<I know its only an educated guess.>>>

Actually, it would probably be a most uneducated guess LOL!

prices are crazy right now.....they go up and down..Im hoping in Sept they might go down east coast to HNL

looking for decent fares from RIC to HNL in late October...I need 9 tickets.....any ideas folks? Thanks

United has a two stop RIC to HNL for $641.00. That's not bad. I used 10/24 - 10/31 as dates.