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The cheapest time to fly to Hawaii

The shoulder seasons of April to May and September to October tend to be the cheapest times to visit Hawaii – the weather is mild, there are fewer tourists, and hotels and airlines may offer lower prices. For surfers, even early November can be a great time for a Hawaii trip, as the islands are still not crowded and it’s a good time to go surfing (especially north of Oahu island). When the high season starts in the first weeks of December, be ready for tourist crowds and sky-high prices for flights and hotels.

If you don’t mind the rainy season, late spring Mid-April to early June represents the off-peak season in Hawaii, and during these months many airlines run promotions and sales to fill the empty seats on their planes. Additionally, midweek travel is usually cheaper than weekend travel.

Summertime and the week of Christmas are peak seasons for Hawaii. Also, avoid the last week of April, which is the “Golden Week” in Japan – the Hawaiian islands will be flooded with Japanese tourists.

Exploring the Hawaii and Pacific Islands

The Pacific Islands can be divided into three main groups based on physical geography and cultural significance:

• Micronesia (“small islands”). Located north of Papua New Guinea. It includes the Federated States of Micronesia (the Caroline Islands), Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau.
• Melanesia (“black islands”). Anchored north of Australia and bordering Indonesia to the east, this region includes Fiji, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.
• Polynesia (“many islands”): This large triangular area of the east-central Pacific Ocean includes American Samoa, Cook Islands, Easter Island, French Polynesia, Hawaiian Islands, Line Islands, New Zealand, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna.

Hawaii, Fiji, French Polynesia, and Easter Island are the most well-connected Pacific Islands and act as hubs when flying from Asia (especially Korea, Taiwan, and Japan), Australasia and the USA. The poorly connected island countries like Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, or Tuvalu are best visited via these main hubs.

Please note that the whole region is expensive to get around, and Hawaii is one of the most expensive states in the US. Once you get there, costs can quickly add up to well above that in your home country, especially if you require comforts and imported products. The large tourist numbers and inflated costs of shipping goods the the Hawaiian Islands mean that the prices are almost uniformly high.

Fly to Hawaii half-price with Companion Fare

It’s one of the best ways to save money on your trip if you travel from the Midwestern US to Hawaii.

Alaska Airlines offers a Companion Fare program that allows eligible customers to purchase one full-priced ticket and bring a companion for a flat rate of just $120 ($99 basic airfare plus taxes and fees).

To take advantage of this program, you must have an Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card. Each year, on your account anniversary, you will receive a Companion Fare code which can be used to book a discounted companion fare when purchasing a qualifying fare.

The Companion Fare works for any destination that Alaska Airlines flies to, including Hawaii. Fortunately, Alaska Airlines offers a plethora of nonstop flights to airports on all four main Hawaiian islands: Oahu – Honolulu Airport HNL, Hawaii – Kona Airport KOA, Maui – Kahului Airport OGG, and Kauai – Lihue Airport LIH. Being primarily a West Coast carrier, it operates nonstop flights to Hawaii from cities close to the Pacific coast, such as Anchorage, Los Angeles, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle.

Interisland flights: island hopping in Hawaii

Thanks to the close distances between the major Hawaiian islands (Lanai and Maui are just 12 km or 8 miles apart), this archipelago is a tempting destination for island hopping. As the ferry options in Hawaii are very limited, the best way to explore Hawaii state is by interisland flights.

Oahu serves as the primary point of interisland travel, and you can catch a flight from Honolulu to nearly all of the major neighboring islands. Prices vary greatly depending on the time of day. It can cost $50-$150 to go island hopping in Hawaii with flights being relatively short – under one hour in most cases.

Hawaiian Airlines has always been the leading carrier for inter-island travel – they have a comprehensive route network that covers all the major islands (Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Big Island) and the smaller islands of Lanai, Molokai, and Kapalua. However, similar routes are also operated by Southwest Airlines – it’s worth keeping an eye on this carrier, as they tend to run frequent sales for inter-island flights. Another great option is provided by a less-known airline – Mokulele Airlines – the Hawaii-based small carrier which focuses solely on connecting the islands with its fleet of Cessna 208 Caravan aircraft (a capacity of a maximum of 9 passengers). It has more than 800 flights a week (!) to 10 destinations across the Aloha State. Finally, for those looking to travel directly from Honolulu to the small island of Lanai and stay at a luxurious resort like the Four Seasons, Lanai Air offers a turbo-prop option.

Flying to Hawaii with Hawaiian Airlines

While most major US airlines fly to Hawaii, choosing Hawaiian Airlines as your carrier will help you to immerse yourself into Hawaiian culture before you even set foot on the islands. There is Hawaiian music during boarding and an island color scheme onboard and on crew uniforms. Mai tais (a rum-based tropical cocktail) are available for passengers. Hawaiian Airlines flight crews a known to be friendly and more accommodating than your average domestic flight crew.

All this is coupled with relatively low fees.

Flights from the US mainland to Hawaii are at least 5-6 hours long, and even much longer from the East Coast. To help pass the time over the Pacific complimentary hot meals are served (while with other airlines you’re just going to get a snack box). You can get a free glass of wine with your meal, too.

Hawaiian Airlines often come in first in operations – it has impressively high rates of on-time performance and low cancellations, passenger rebookings and baggage mishandling. The airline’s fleet of aircraft is relatively new and well-maintained, and the airline has a good safety record – running since 1929 it has never suffered a single fatal crash.

Hawaiian Airlines operate its flights to the Hawaiian Islands out of almost all major US airports: Austin, Boston, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, Ontario, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle.

Know your time zone

When checking flights and airport transfer times, ensure you know the local time zones. The departure/arrival times on your plane ticket and boarding pass are based on the time zone of the departure/arrival airport – this also applies to the connecting (layover) airports.

Hawaii has only one time zone – it observes Hawaii Standard Time (HST) all year, which is UTC -10 time zone. As a result, clocks in Hawaii are 21 hours behind Sydney, 10 hours behind London and 5 hours behind New York. HST does not have an associated daylight saving time.

When you board the plane, adjust your watch to the local time of the destination – subconsciously orienting yourself to the new time will help you to reduce the jetlag a bit.