Any tips on cheaper air fare?

[si-am]

We are flying at the end of July (from ATL), and we just never did find good fares, so we sucked it up and are paying $2500 (for 2) for a nonstop flight on Delta. Other flights were a little cheaper but offered mostly one hour layovers, and I didn't feel comfortable with that! For me, I'd just rather pay the extra if we can for a nonstop.

 

[Baklava]

I also recommend the Hopper app, which allows you to scan for airline deals and keeps you updated on when to buy your flights for the cheapest option. For instance, I put in a watch on flights to Orlando for a trip to WDW and it would pop up occasionally and say something like "Prices have dropped for your flight, but we think they'll go lower. Don't buy yet." Eventually it will tell you that it's a good time to buy your flights. It's not perfect but it's better than a blind guess!

I downloaded Hopper to check it out. I had a flight in mind that's on Kayak for $479 pp. Hopper would like to sell it to me at $529 pp but says to wait because the price may drop to $480. If Hopper gives you a price, check it elsewhere before you book. This may be a freak thing, but it's worth knowing it happens.

 

[Psymonds]

we went all miles on Alaska with the credit card. in the past we've used our companion fare. From the west coast, Alaska offers pretty good service direct to Hawaii, from the east coast you'd likely be looking at coming on Alaska to seattle, or Virgin to SFO. we booked 4 round trip tickets from the bay area for 140k miles which was mostly from cc miles and work travel. we flew into HNL and out of Lihue, booked a 1way on Hawaiian for the interisland hop.

 

[DVCRSheridan]

I really want to get to Aulani within the next few years...but when I look at airfare I decide otherwise

We're in SC. Every time I look into it, flights look like they'd be around $1,000 per person. We are a family of 4 and could possibly talk our inlaws into going (part of 7-9 total depending on who all would go). I feel like we would go over the summer and stay 10ish days - to make the trip worth it.

We hardly ever fly, we drive to Disney World (8hrs).

Any tips on getting a good price on a flight. Are there better/cheaper days of the week to fly (and book)?
What airport do you need to fly into? Any advice would be much appreciated!

Not sure if you'd be able to do it being from SC, but we've flown Hawaiian Airlines from JFK direct to Honolulu 3 times. Between our 1st and 2nd trips we signed up for the Hawaiian Airlines MasterCard. By doing so we received 1 way free for 1 of us as well as a bunch of miles to use going forward. Again, not sure exactly how helpful this would be for you since you're in SC, not NY but every little bit of info helps! Wish I could help more.