Hawaii Travel Tips

The airlines have been gouging to Hawaii as of summer of '00. Hawaii is hot and seats are a very finite supply, so up go prices. This section is intended to help you get to Kaua'i ACAP (As Cheap As Possible).

BASICS - The airline code for Kauai's airport at Lihue is LIH. Whether you come direct or via Honolulu on Hawaiian or Aloha, you will travel by jet all the way. Hawaiian is not as frequent as Aloha, but has bigger planes. We go back and forth depending on the frequent flyer perks available on the interisland airlines. They both match each other’s price. If you get in early, get over to the interisland terminal from which Hawaiian and Aloha depart to the neighbor islands, and go to the check in desk and try to go stand by. We do this every time. You might get there before your luggage, but that will give you time to rent your car.

Direct flights to Lihue are available from United and American out of LA and San Francisco. They charge a premium, but many people like getting to Kauai 2 hours sooner by missing Honolulu. Get their price (if flying through LAX or SFO) and use it as a high dollar benchmark price.

The cheapest way to Kaua'i, of course, is frequent flyer miles if you've got them. Be aware that FF seats on the scheduled airlines go very, very fast for the holidays and summer months. You can book FF seats 11 months in advance of your departure date home from Kaua’i, and we heartily suggest you do so for those periods. FF seats are more readily available other times of the year, but when flying to Hawaii, planning ahead is always the best.

Fares sink like a rock about September 21st. So if you are coming in the Fall, try to hold off until then to buy your tickets. They stay cheap for flights until December 15th and then up they go. Non-holiday / non-summer fares are reasonably cheap on your scheduled airlines if you are trying to get those miles banked up for the free trip back to Kauai next year!

For benchmark pricing on the bottom end we suggest you go to www.Cheaptickets.com. They offer wholesale pricing to the public with very competetive flights from the West Coast on Hawaiian Air, and major airlines from all over the US. They have recently been bought out though and we suggest you double check all airline pricing through Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz. Interisland flights are always the cheapest through Cheap Tickets though.

We also suggest you use your travel agent to get wholesaler quotes for you. They like you to request this as they get 10% commission from the wholesalers and only 5% from the airlines. You need to rent a car through the wholesaler to get at their cheap airfares, but their car rentals deals are pretty good too! They will all try to sell you a hotel room, but tell them you just want a “fly/drive”. You should request rates from "All About Hawaii" and "Classic Hawaii". The scheduled airlines also have wholesale travel desks like "Northwest Vacations" and "Continental Vacations". We have used Northwest vacation for family travel two times in the last two years and they have regularly beaten any other prices we have dug up. This is when we forgot to book the 11 months in advance on the frequent flyer program! All the major airlines offer discounted pricing through these vacation desks.

We are so excited with the new "direct to Kaua’i" flights on American, and the continuation of United’s (post bankruptcy) service direct to the island. Starting in April of 2003, ATA will launch seasonal (Probably summer and winter) direct to Kaua'i flights from LAX. This is a big plus for those not interested in frequent flyer perks or first class seating. Living in Orange County, California, the advent of the Aloha Airlines flights from Orange County to Honolulu have been a wonderful blessing. Accessing LAX post 9-11 has been a nightmare. Connecting through there is much easier. We encourage transfers through LAX over SFO because of the continued year-round delay of flights there due to weather...no way to start or end a holiday! Aloha is also offering flights to Honolulu from Burbank and Oakland, CA. They offer connecting service from Las Vegas and Phoenix. Hawaiian Airlines is now direct to Honolulu from San Diego, Sacramento, and Ontario, CA, as well as recently announced flights starting Fall 2002 from Phoenix.

If you still have trouble getting a cheaper fare, please call or email us and we will tell you of any new secrets we have come across. Good luck!