Travel between Islands
 

My wife and I are going to Hawaii in September. We arrive in Honolulu and hope to travel to Maui and Kauai and perhaps the BI. What is the best way to do this. I know there are several airlines between the islands but do you book in advance or wait until you wish to go from one island to another.

I find that Hawaiian travel agents get the best rates if you happen to be booking any of your hotels through them. Also many major airlines partner with Hawaiian air, for example, and you can redeem ~5000 miles for an interisland flight. :S-

You can book with Aloha Airlines, their partner Island Air or Hawaiian Airlines for inter-island flights. Aloha offers a 10% AAA discount on economy fares (range from 72 - 90 1 way) and you may get better rates with both airlines if you book online. Enjoy your trip.

Make sure you book in advance. Just showing up at the airport these days is a bad idea, as interisland flights have been cut dramatically.

I got tickets on Aloha for $66 OW this past May using AAA discount. Booked about two months in advance.

Oh, and I should say Aloha seemed a little more convenient. Wanted to fly Hawaiian to get some OnePass miles but only Aloha had non-stop flights between Kauai and Maui. Hawaiian had to stop in HNL.

This week it has been hard to get flights and getting through security is at least 90 minutes.

I would also say book ahead. Not because of fares (there isn't a big difference between booking early or late) but rather for availability as you may find the flights you want are full if trying to book last minute.

The lines at the Hawaiian terminal in HNL are so bad sometimes, there's just no way you can make it thru both check-in and security even if you get there 90 minutes ahead. Luckily they start pulling passengers out of line if your flight is departing soon. I would imagine Aloha is similar. So when you arrive at HNL for your interisland flight and see that HUGE line wrapping around the building, don't sweat it too much.

Have you flown lately? They don't pull you out of line. You miss your flight and hope for the next. And they are starting to raise fares with little notice. We have waited 2 hours in line recently and only a few minutes. It's the luck of the draw.

Really? When did HA start doing that? Last I flew out of HNL was late April. What about mainland bound passengers? If they miss their flight, sometimes there isn't a 'next one'. We were all in the same security line. It was funny to watch the expression on everyone's face when they arrived at the terminal. When they called you out of line, you felt like you just won the lottery!

Maybe mainland flights still pull you out. I'll find out when I travel this week. Although they didn't last year on the way back here. I think the problem was that too many people were cutting it close and it caused chaos. Or the security is just cranky - LOL!

Wow, I'm surprised with the report on the lines for check-in and security. I guess it's getting busier now, but when I was there in May, I never encountered any lines checking in. AT HNL, I think I was checked in and through security in about 20 minutes. Leaving Maui, we showed up about 50 minutes before our flight because of traffic and had no problems... lucky I guess.I was a little worried about that one.

I would book the interisland flights in advance. I have had expereince with both Hawaiian and Aloha. Both were very good.

I just flew Aloha from Honolulu to the Big Island yesterday. We were in line (Check-in and security both)for about 50 minutes total. They were NOT pulling people out of line. In fact, when people came up and said "I'm on the 9:45 flight, can I jump ahead? they were told no. There was no difference in the Hawaiian vs Aloha lines. LONG!
Coming back today we were scheduled on the 3pm flight, but they offerred us the 2:30 flight. Line time was less than 5 minutes total.
Last week my husband spent 75 minutes in line for a Hawaiian Air flight to the mainland, and nearly as long in San Diego.
It used to be so easy to jump between islands!

Is there curbside check-in on the interisland fligts for Aloha? If so, does that decrease the "wait it line" time? We have golf clubs to haul w/ us from island to island, whew!