Best Cheap Flights to Hawaii Strategy; How to Get a Cheap Hawaiian Flight

You are going to Hawaii and you want to find the cheapest airline flight possible – so let me share with you my no-fail strategy for being sure that you are getting the absolute best price available.

Regardless, of when you are leaving (tomorrow, or a year from now), you want to find out a baseline normal price in the month you want to fly to Hawaii and current sale prices so you have an IDEA of what flight ticket prices will be from your city or state.

Here’s the steps to take in order to follow my cheap flight strategy:

In order to get a cheap flight to Hawaii, you need to know 1) when the best time to buy is and 2) where the best site to buy from is.

My advice is always that *as soon* as you know you are going to be taking a trip to Hawaii, you want to start comparing prices. You need to get a baseline price in your mind – a general price from where you want to fly so you have an idea of what prices are. this way, you will KNOW a good deal if you see one. You aren’t guessing or flying blind … pardon the pun.

So Step 1 is to head over to some flight comparison engines and see what current prices at several different airlines are from where you are to where you want to go.

I like expedia and kayak.com. Write down at least the two best prices you find.

Step 2 is to go to Hawaiian Airlines and see what their specials are.

They only fly from the west coast, so if you are flying from the east coast, this may not seem to help you.

BUT, Hawaiian airlines has some really crazy-low deals sometimes and who knows, it might be worth it for you to find your way to the west coast and then fly with Hawaiian.

This is a tid-bit of information that is going to help you build your case and KNOW that you are getting the best price available and the best price possible.

Step 3 is to watch these prices. check every day, as many times a day as you can.

Are prices changing at all? What you will probably notice, is that prices do fluctuate hour to hour, sometimes by as little as $10 and sometimes by as much as several hundred.

Step 4 is to head over to an airline price predictor and see what they say. Does the predictor say that prices are going to down, stay the same, or go up?

These predictors are not always right and you should not trust them with your life, but they are another piece in your price puzzle – another tidbit of information about your specific price and another tool in your ‘get-the-best-price toolbox.

Step 5 is to check out a few online travel agents and booking sites. Do they have any good deals that you could take advantage of. I’ve
seen ‘companion flys free’ or ‘companion flys for $50′ deals at Pleasant Holidays before.

Could you imagine? If you could find something like that it could instantly knock $300 to $500 or more off your vacation price (if you are going with someone else).

I’m not saying you’ll be able to find something like this when you want to fly, but they do exist, so you might as well look for them.

Now, one thing you should be able to say at this point is that you know what the going rate to Hawaii is for the time period that you want to go.

Good, now you know what a good deal is and what a crappy price is.

Now, if you are brave, you may want to look into bidding on priceline or checking out Hotwire’s deals.

There are always some catches, like if you bid at priceline you could leave anytime during the day, or you may not know what carrier you are flying on or your ticket may not be refundable, but if these risks or catches are acceptable to you, you may be able to find the deal of the century.

Timothy Ferriss, in the book The Four Hour Workweek recommends starting bidding at 50% of the lowest fare you can find and then bid up in $50 increments.

The people over at bidding for travel can probably help you with a good priceline strategy too.

All that’s left to do is jump on the best deal you can find and enjoy Hawaii! Leave me a note – I’d love to hear how you did! Lisa

Was this article useful? I would love if you left a comment or if you signed up for my email list (free guides on that page). You can also read my previous and next post here: Last Minute Flying – Hawaii budget travel, Airlines that Fly Direct to Hawaii from the U.S. Mainland. And I always recommend my page on Best Hawaii Hotels; Most Popular Hotels and My Recommendations.

24 December 2011 | More like this: Everything Hawaii Vacations, Flights to Hawaii, Hawaii Deals, Coupons, and Budget Planning, Packing and Planning and Which Island?, Vacation Costs and Prices

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