Trip to Hawaii - Need Advice on Inter-Island Flights

[flying_tiger]

Hi,

 

I'll spend 15 days in Hawaii in August and plan to visit 3 islands - Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island.

 

I read on this forum that people suggest standby at airport for cheaper airfare. I checked on Orbitz.com and saw inter-

island flights cost $70-85/person one-way. Any experience standing by at the airports? It there any way I can save on

flights?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

 

Regards

[Carl Stone]

IME, the best way to save money, and not risk your vacation, is to book ahead. We booked a trip to Maui last December, and actually

went for 10 days on the 26th of May. During that time prices went up. up, up, but not for us. With the current upheaval in the airline

industry, you probably don't want to risk spending your vacation in an airport waiting for a standby seat that might be a long time in coming,

if ever.

 

Flights are being cancelled left and right, so less flights means less chance of a standby seat. Since you asked, we booked everything

through Costco travel service, and there were no unpleasant surprises. Good luck.

[steven_sullivan]

Hmmm - I know I've heard that there is ferry service between Ohau and Maui...not sure if it's available between

any of the other islands or not (I imagine most are a little too far apart).

 

As for island hopping - you might want to try Go:

 

http://www.iflygo.com/

 

I was considering trying to do a hop over to the Big Island from Kauai on my last trip (didn't work out though)

and these guys seemed pretty reasonable.

 

Good luck!

[stemked]

One complication to be aware of. Aloha Airways, one of the two large inter-island companies went under recently. I have used this airline twice myself and just did standby as you noted. However, I would suspect in the days of less competition and higher gas prices you'd better get advice from those who have done this in the last couple of months.

[Carl Stone]

Hawaiian Airlines has taken on many of the Aloha employees, and I think some of their aircraft. In a recent trip to Maui,

we first landed at Honolulu, then took another flight to Maui. The Maui flights, to and from, were both booked solid, that

is completely full.

 

I think that flight information is changing daily, with many flights canceled. I don't think that's safe to say today, what

might be happening in a week, or a month. Certainly, the most expensive flights are the ones booked at the last minute.

Naturally, that doesn't apply to standby, but the availability of standby is now questionable, with the airline industry

rapidly changing how they operate. The old rules do not always apply now. Top all of this of with the fact that we are in

the high travel period with schools now on Summer vacation. We left Maui a week before the main crunch of people hit

for their Summer getaways, and the airports were still busy places.

[flying_tiger]

Hi guys, thanks a lot for your feedbacks.

 

Did some of you suggest that even if I bought the air-tickets beforehand, there is still a chance the flights get cancelled later? I'll buy the tickets online in July for flights in 2nd-half of August. If I cannot count on the flights I will book, my itinerary will fall apart. How about hotel reservations then? It gets complicated.

 

Thanks.

Richard

[lmwalker]

We were in Hawaii when Aloha went under, and it just so happened that we went on a day trip to Oahu from Maui the

day after that happened. It was pure pandemonium at both airports. Lots of people scrambling to get on other

airlines. Fortunately we had booked on Hawaiin and not Aloha for the day trip. At this time, roundtrip tickets are $84

from Hilo to Oahu for August 1st. I don't know your budget, but to me $84 wouldn't be worth the hassle of trying to

fly standby, even if standby were free.

 

I don't know how much the ferry costs, but it is my understanding that to get from Maui to Oahu (one way) takes the

better part of a day on the ferry and the big island would be even longer to Oahu.

 

If you have flight reservations there shouldn't be anything to worry about. The airline business is having some pretty

difficult times, so it is possible that other carriers will be shutting down without notice, but I should think that

Hawaiin, which does most of the inter-island flights, would have gotten a boost after Aloha shutdown.

 

Hawaii is a beautiful place. I've been to Maui and Oahu several times, but never to any of the other islands. Have fun

and get lots of great pictures.

[swilson]

Last year I would have said no problems, but things are a bit nuts here now, I would not feel good about flying standby.

 

BTW I am on the Big Island, before you come here google VOG, it has been pretty bad this year.

 

Scott