The goal of most would be travelers is to find cheap traveloptions, such as cheapairplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages, priorto making reservations. This isparticularly true when planning a trip to Hawaii - a destination on almosteveryones bucket list, but one that is not particularly cheap to visit.
Ironically flights from L.A. to LaGuardia are a little longerthan from LA to Hawaii, but cost half of the price, in part because coast tocoast flights carry far more higher paying business travelers who subsidizeleisure passengers.
The following are tips that can make visiting paradise alittle cheaper, according to Rick Seaney:
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Make apoint of knowing when to fly and when not to fly. The three most expensive travel periods whenairline ticket prices go up by an average of $200 round trip are: Thanksgiving,Christmas and New Years, and from mid-July to late August.
Prices fall significantly in the last weekof August. Better airfares can also behad in March and April as well as in September and October. Prices tend to be higher out of Northern U.S.cities in January and February.
The following are examples of one airlinesround-trip airline prices from Los Angeles to Honolulu:
May: $595
July: $724
End of August: $600
Christmas: $869
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Lookinto flying on discount airlines. VirginAmerica is introducing flights to Honolulu starting in November. Allegiant Airlines offers some verycompetitive prices to Hawaii including LA to Honolulu prices in late Augustfrom $365. Alaska and Hawaiian Airlinesoften offer very good deals. Dont passover major airlines offers since often they match the cheapest fares of their competitors.
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Purchaseairline tickets that originate from West Coast destinations. The cheapest prices to Hawaii are typicallyfrom cities such as Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Ore., San Diego, and SanFrancisco. Smaller West Coast citiessuch as San Jose, CA and Bellingham, WA, sometimes have the least expensivetickets of all.
For people living in other parts of thecountry, the least expensive way to fly may be a trip in two stages: First, fly to the West Coast, then fly onwhatever Hawaii bound airline offering the cheapest prices.
A recent round trip ticket from Chicago toMaui in late August/early September priced out at about $880. However by purchasing separate round triptickets to the West Coast and then to Hawaii prices were as follows:
Chicago to Oakland (on a discountairline): $297
Oakland to Maui (on a major airline): $403
Total savings: About $180 per person. For a family of four this can amount to significant savings.
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Rememberto always compare airline ticket prices. No one airline always offers the cheapest fares. You could miss out on a terrific deal if youdo not take the time to compare prices. Thebest way to compare ticket prices from multiple airlines at the same time is bygoing to an Internet Travel company such as Cheapfares or Orbitz.
www.cheapfares.com