not interested in 16+ hours flying from California's bay area to Hawaii - looking for travel tips
that will allow our family to fly (spring break) with the least amount of time spent on the ground
for connecting flights - also, specific airlines with good track records (on time, luggage etc) would be appreciated - finally, recommended hotels/resorts in the medium range and close to the beaches....thanks

check kayak.com for flights. You can specify how many connections you want, how long the layovers are, which airlines, departure/arrival times by checking or unchecking the boxes at the left of the screen. Kayak is a search engine that searches all available flights that fit your criteria.

I hope you didn't mean this year. Flights prices are going up .

They say the best time to buy flights is about 6 weeks from your travel. You are looking for flights into Kona (KOA) or Hilo (ITO).

You are asking alot of questions in this post, mislabeled as a flight post. You can price out the entire trip on www.kayak.com as mentioned above. You can also try Expedia.com Make sure you get a rental car included. Don't arrive without a rental car reservation.

Costco has some good travel packages.

Hawaiian Airlines has the best overall track record.

To get the best advice, give a nightly accomodation budget in $$$, what kind of accomodation (hotel or condo) and how many bedrooms you need (keeping in mind that hotels usually allow only 4 people to sleep in one room). Medium range can mean $300 in peak times and spring break is going to be peak time.

As a guess, LAX-KOA Rt on Sat March 31 return Sun April 8 is running about $1050 a person.

You can reduce it by about $200 by connecting in Honolulu.

You can reduce it by about $400 by flying into, out of, or both using ITO rather than KOA. You'll really need to adjust your accomodations and rental car to match.

Alaska Airlines was having some really deals but Spring Break might be hard to come by.

Utahtea

You don't mention where in California. Try airports other than LAX or SFO. Hawaiian flies from Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, and San Diego.

Alaska flies direct Oakland-KOA and SJC-KOA but it looks as if those peak-day flights are almost sold out.

Placename...cough...cough...boskorama said Bay Area.

BTW, we're also doing a direct non-stop flight from the Bay Area in California to the Big Island on Alaska Airlines.

Utahtea

Ok. All the better to chose SFO alternatives

That peak day (Saturday to/ Sunday from ) SJC-KOA is about $1068 on Kayak.

If you can fly on Wednesdays you can save a lot. Alaska Air, Oakland to Kona, is our choice. Nonstop both ways! That means no worries about connections. United also flies SFO to Kona and back nonstop, and their Economy Plus seating is quite good. We like both but because of the OAK-KOA route, we like Alaska Airlines a lot.

Spring break tix may already be sold out, unless you are talking about 2013.

As for hotels, if you are looking for not-too-expensive accommodations, look at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort in Kona right next to the most popular snorkeling beach. Also in Kona is King Kamehameha, now owned by Marriot, that is right in town and has a small beach. Resorts north of kona, such as in Waikoloa, also have good beaches. I don't know if there are any good deals to be had at this late date, but you can check.

We are in Kona right now. We flew non-stop from San Jose to Kona on Alaska Air and got a great deal at $298 round trip, non-stop to KOA. Booked it early January. The flight was very good, great service. Not sure what prices are like for your time frame, but I highly suggest checking out Alaska. Air

We are staying at Courtyard King Kam and it is very nice and in a good location. We spend 3 nights in Hilo at a lovely condo. We are very pleased with both accommodation choices.

Book a rental car as soon as you have your flights. Rates are crazy; I booked right away and got decent prices. I kept checking, hoping the rates would drop closer to departure but no way. I paid $135 a week, the last time I checked, it was $1200!! When we were picking up the car, a man without reservation was going to have to pay $149 a DAY!!

http://www.hawaiicarrentals.net/

anything else you want? Did you do any checking before posting here?

princeresortshawaii.com car air package for us last $1k all in priceline.com at the Hapuna Prince we flew direct LAX to Kona(KOA) 4 hours was nice. stayhawaii.com konaweb.com