when to buy air to hawaii?

[azseas]

We sail dec 8 thru 16th 2012. The flights have just come online. It is about $800 for roundtrip to Phoenix. YIKES!! Around how many months out does the price go down? Thank you!

[CruiserBruce]

I am seeing $717 on Delta, a couple bucks more on several other airlines, flying 12/7 and 12/17.

 

Who knows what airfares will do? Anybody know what the stock market will do over the next 6 months?

 

Buying them immediately when the fares come out is rarely the best deal- unless you are trying for award seats.

[lsakson]

I have heard that the rates are cheaper within a 4 month period of your trip. I have signed up with hawaiian airlines so that I get e-mails on specials. We have our trip booked for 7/19/12 thru 7/28/12, but not the airfare yet. I am also still seeing the $800 pp range.

 

Les

[oceanlessinNM]

I was having a hard time waiting to fly April 12th for POA from Phoenix. I like to get everything handled but airfare was around $800 each like you said. I did research and talked to my great TA who said wait until about 100 days out. I panicked but waited impatiently. Sure enough, the 1st week of January I got both of us tickets on Hawaiian for $980.00!! I did check every day and actually checked the morning that they dropped--still expensive. I called my TA that afternoon and they had dropped later in the morning. So about the end of Aug.- 1st part of Sept. if she is correct(and she was) they should go down. TA said that's just when airfares to HI are lowest where it used to be 6 months or so out. Saved me about 5-6 hundred $$. Hope this info helps.

[chipmaster]

YMMV, Hawaii is a year around destination. I for one plan tickets priced at time of booking. Could they go down, sure, could they go up sure. No different than stock price and about as predictable.

 

Who do you think will win election, what will happen to housing market, what will the EU do.. all play in to the larger macro economic supply and demand.

 

Those who say wait for months, what happens if the economy picks up?

[Countrygirl44]

We sail dec 8 thru 16th 2012. The flights have just come online. It is about $800 for roundtrip to Phoenix. YIKES!! Around how many months out does the price go down? Thank you!

DH and I are on the POA in September. We are flying into Honolulu on Thursday September 13 and back to Charlotte, NC on departure day of Saturday September 22.

I took a gamble and purchased our tickets about two weeks after the date they became available. There were a few flights cheaper than the ones I selected. I like only one connecting flight. DH has some health issues and it is just better to have one change (also lessens the opportunity for luggage to go to another destination).

Also I like at least two hours connecting time between flights. When I booked, my flights were $942.00 pp roundtrip. I know you are not supposed to look back once you book, but I do:eek: and I have been pleased.:) Had I waited until now, the flights are up $167.00 pp. If you want more than one connection they are now $985.00.

Just for curosity, those same flights 100 days out are $244.00 more.

As others have said, it truly is a gamble. Sometimes you just have to make a choice and go with it.

Also checked our cruise price and it is up $125.00 pp, plus we got $100.00 OBC and I signed up for the NCL credit card which gave me a bonus of 5000 points. I have used the card since booking for the excursions, air, and any thing that I normally would use the card to purchase(paying off monthly to avoid any interest). By the time I pay the cruise balance, I should have another $300.00 OBC that did not cost me anything...."just sayin"

[azseas]

THank you all for the input! We regularly see lower cost fares from Phx or LAX on Hawaiian -- we joined up to get emails and I set up a number of trackers. We will wait to see what happens. Also think I will get the Hawaiiian Air credit card -- so after a month of using the card I can get 25% off our flights. I think we will wait to the 100 day mark and book then -- although a gamble -- they really are not likely to go much higher as I have been tracking the flights since last year and have not seen more expensive ones -- even duirng the holidays. Plus -- it gives me something to obsess about!

[PCWalton1]

You are flying close enough to the holidays you may not see the prices come down. As someone already noted, Hawaii is a year round destination. That being said we frequently spend a week in Hawaii the first week of November and I have regularly seen good prices on Hawaiian Air around June for the November timeframe. So you may see some price drops this summer (july). :)