augustlily

Hi,
Wondering what a good fare is from Boston to Hawaii. I would love to do Hawaii for our honeymoon, but much depends on budget as it is so far from Boston! What is a good, "cheap" fare from Boston to Hawaii? Still haven't decided if we would do 1 island or 2, but if we did just 1, it would be Maui. Right now flights are between 700-750, RT, from Boston. Is this reasonable? Thanks!

augustlily

Sorry -- I should have mentioned it's for August '04.

gyppielou

I've paid ground bottom for Jan after 9/11 of 550, other than that 700, 800, really depends if you're making interisland stops. For Christmas this year, planning late, I am happy to pay 948 from bos to kauai to maui to boston...you can do better. There is so much to take in that I would suggest Maui, 5th time visitor. Take a couple of nights to understand Hana, there is just so many places that this island offers that I feel it is a waste to see it for a few days and rush of to see another island and never really have time to get "it" Go for Maui, and spend the time you would be checking in and out of airport and hotels, at the pool, and then spend the rest of the time exploring outside of the box!!!

Janny

I'm in Michigan and the lowest I paid was $450.00 RT in October but it was unfortunately after 9/11. Rates super dropped. We went to Maui. Our favorite island. Only place I stay. $700 isn't a bad price either. Check MLT vacations. Not sure it they leave from Boston. Another good one is Orbitz. They have lower prices too.

puddy

I answered your other post but thing to add is that August is a pretty busy time since schools are still out so a lot of families will be going there. Not sure how that would affect fares but I would think they would remain a little higher.

Just do a Fare Tracker on Travelocity and watch the prices for awhile. Also call a TA to get their sense of prices since they are the ones that really know.

fivestar

I am from Boston and the lowest I have ever paid was 450.00 to Maui. That was pre-9/11. Since then I believe the lowest was 550.00. They have a lot of sales in January, but I don't know if they go out as far as August. It really is a matter of being diligent and watching the fares daily. We have the pop-up watcher on travelocity and American Airlines. They help a great deal. August is a very busy time over on the Islands. Lots of children so choose your accomodations wisely. Usually Kapalua is very quiet and peaceful and the weather is good at that time of year. 700-750 from Boston is not a bad fare. I have paid that much a couple of times. I go over often so I am always watching the fares and when a good one pops up we usually grab it. We usually go BOS-LAX-OGG. We used to go through Dallas, but the 8 hours from Dallas is really a killer.

If you have any further questions I will be happy to answer.

jimbar

I will be flying Boston to Kuaiu via SF Nov 3 2003 via United for 675.00. All taxes etc inc.Flying at different times of the day can make a difference.

augustlily

Thanks for your advice and help. OK, so it seems to be the general consensus that 700-750 is not bad for August, BOS to OGG. What about if we island-hop? I've checked BOS-Maui-BI-BOS AND BOS-Maui-Kauai-BOS, and that seems to be in the 850-900 range. (by the way, for flights, I usually check Yahoo, Orbitz, and Travelocity). IF we did 2 islands, is it better to book all flights together as a package, or book inter-island seperately? When can I expect the best fares, and when should I book -- at the latest? Thanks!

fivestar

What we usually do is book inter-island seperately and go to Maui last and fly home from there. We usually start off in Honolulu, take inter-island to maui and fly home from there. It's called an open jaw flight. (booking flight so that you fly into one airport and home from another) It doesn't cost that much extra to do it this way. The inter-island flights are all about the same cost. We usually fly out of Honolulu around 10:00 am to 11:00 am so that we get to our hotel around lunch time and then try to check in early. We are going again in March and won't book our inter-island until about January. We were lucky enough to get award tickets for the flight to Honolulu and home out of Maui so we are all set on our tickets for that part of our trip.

We don't rent a car because we have been there so much and have seen everything. We hop a shuttle or rent a car for a day if we want to explore. One of the best things we have ever done on Maui was to take a Blue Hawaiian helicopter tour. You cannot imagine how beautiful Maui is from the air.

augustlily

Fivestar: Thanks! How do you book your tickets (open jaw)? Online or through a specific airline?

fivestar

We always fly American Airlines. You can book online or you can call the airlines directly. They have more room throughout coach and if you book early enough you can get great seats. Check out seatguru.com to look at the location of all the seats for the particular plane you will be flying on. We always try to get as close to the front as possible. American now flies the 763 out to Hawaii. No more 757, thank goodness. If you found reasonably priced tickets at this time you can book them now and then if later on you see something lower, you can call the airline and they will give you the difference, less 100.00 change fee in the form of a voucher for future travel within 1 year.

Feel free to ask any other questions. I have booked these Hawaii trips so many times for us that I could do it in my sleep. I think I know just about every nook and cranny on the island of Maui. We have also been to Kauai and we also love Honolulu.

chrisd

Try www.hotwire.com. I see that there are $680 flights to Maui and $580 flights to Oahu out of Boston. Likely these will go lower if you keep checking. I have used hotwire many times to Hawaii and other locations.

fivestar

I would be careful about booking through any third party only because if you have 12 hours of flying ahead of you, you want to get the earliest flight in the am possible. The third party places such as travelocity, etc will put you on the worst flight for exceptionally cheap prices. I know I don't want two or three connections with a brutal 12 hour flight and that's what they sometimes give you. If your ok with several connections and don't mind getting in at 9:00 PM, then go for it. We like just one stop at LAX. We tried DFW and it was awful. What a horrendous airport that is.