Honolulu is the main airport hub in Hawaii and serves as a fuel stop for international flights from America to Asia, Australia and the South Pacific. Some airlines will offer a free stopover, so consider a trip to Hawaii as an add-on to a longer vacation. There are 14 airports located on its six populated islands, but as the main hub, flights to Honolulu are often the cheapest option even if your ultimate destination is one of the other islands. Connections between the islands can then be made for a fraction of the cost of a direct flight.
Fares from major airports, such as LAX in Los Angeles, JFK in New York or O'Hare in Chicago can be half the price of fares from smaller airports like South Bend, Michigan or Santa Barbara, so consider your departure airport carefully. Flights to Hawaii from the east coast and the west coast of America can differ by several hundred dollars so you might even consider traveling some distance to make your ultimate connection.
Price comparison websites like skyscanner.com and cheapflights.com compare the best available flights on many airlines in a matter of seconds, saving you valuable search time. Hawaiian Air allows you to check fares for the entire month allowing you to easily check if there are cheaper fares available on alternative dates within that month. They also have flight and hotel, and flight/hotel/rental car packages, that can save you money.
With its year-round warm weather, Hawaii has a fairly short low season when air fares are at their cheapest. This runs from September until mid-December and again from mid-April until the end of June. High season is July until mid-September and again at Christmas and New Year. Avoid holidays as fares will be hiked considerably and travel early to mid-week for the best offers. If you can't travel low season try for a shoulder season fare in October and November.
An unwritten rule of air fares is that the earlier you book the cheaper the fare. However a check on price comparison website flightnetworks.com in June 2010 revealed that there was no difference in fares to Hawaii from Los Angeles between flights in 3 weeks time and flights departing in February 2011. Both flights were low season and departing on a Monday for 7 days. However, booking on or within a few days of your departure is ill-advised as these fares will almost certainly be more expensive. Restriction busters airtech.com claim to offer the same cheap fares to Hawaii whether you book months or one day in advance.
