AULANI - Air Fares

[EdDome]

I thought this may get a bit lost on the transportation board since it's Aulani specific. Making our first Aulani trip in June so I'm starting to look at air fares. I know prices fluctuate but am worried that if I wait too long the flight selection may be less than ideal or I'll lock into a costly nonrefundable. Any guidance from those of you who have done this before? Agree, no one has a crystal ball but thanks in advance.

Ed

 

[torrey]

I monitored airfare before and after we purchased our tickets for October of this year. It really didn't change much up from March through August. Maybe $50 difference from the best price in that range to the worst.

We ended up flying Allegiant. They only have one flight a day and only fly every other day. They have all sorts of fees. Taking into account all the fees (we wouldn't have had to pay for bags on other airlines) Allegiant was still $200 less per ticket. Saved us over $1000 and we had no problems with them.

 

[Mom of three]

Not staying at Aulani, but staying next door at the Marriott Ko'olina...same airport

We purchased our airfare back in June with Alaska Airlines. Total for all 5 of us was just around $2600 roundtrip out of Bellingham, WA.

For the past several months the price has gone down. The great thing about Alaska Airlines is, if you check and the price is lower they credit you that amount. There is no limit on how many times you can do this.

To date, I have been credited $419 on those flights, that's enough for another round trip ticket. I log on weekly to my reservation and "submit a claim", it will tell me if the price has gone down or if I already have the lowest price.

Another tip I learned, is to enable "private" browsing on your internet browser. This blocks all cookies and identifying information so it treats you as a new shopper. If you keep frequenting the same travel websites for the same flights, chances are you will get the same prices. Try searching in private mode to see if that changes things.

 

[ncgator]

I'll be heading to Aulani in October 2015 and just booked 1 of 2 tickets with miles right at the 11 month mark. For the second ticket which I need to buy (not enough miles for both), I'm planing to wait a while. The prices definitely seem higher now than they were earlier this year for this October, so I'll check closer to 6 months out.

 

[cedricandsophie]

I booked 4 people for a 10 day trip to aulani a couple of weeks ago. Less than 800 a person for united nonstop to Honolulu from chicago. This is our fourth year going to aulani and the cheapest so far. It was for late April to mid may.

 

[STLDisney_Freak]

Not staying at Aulani, but staying next door at the Marriott Ko'olina...same airport

We purchased our airfare back in June with Alaska Airlines. Total for all 5 of us was just around $2600 roundtrip out of Bellingham, WA.

For the past several months the price has gone down. The great thing about Alaska Airlines is, if you check and the price is lower they credit you that amount. There is no limit on how many times you can do this.

To date, I have been credited $419 on those flights, that's enough for another round trip ticket. I log on weekly to my reservation and "submit a claim", it will tell me if the price has gone down or if I already have the lowest price.

Another tip I learned, is to enable "private" browsing on your internet browser. This blocks all cookies and identifying information so it treats you as a new shopper. If you keep frequenting the same travel websites for the same flights, chances are you will get the same prices. Try searching in private mode to see if that changes things.

OMG I would jump at that. I wish I could find some cheap airfare so we could visit Aulani, but every time I price it comes out to almost $4500 dollars for a family of four from STL. I about want to die.

 

[AZMermaid]

We bought in Oct for late May, so like 7.5 months out. We got 4 tickets non stop from Phoenix on Hawaiian for $536 each. I actually looked today and these are up to 1000 each now at 6 months out. US Airways has held steady at 650ish this whole time.

 

[tikilyn]

Ours is sitting at 3288 for a family of 4 and we have to drive 5 hours to the San Antonio airport on top of that. It was cheaper two weeks ago and I was going to purchase them at that price but I was holding out hope for a price drop. Now prices are up. I'm hoping they go down soon. It's hard trying to decide when to actually buy them.

Alaskan airlines won't work for us. Every flight from Texas to Hawaii through them involves an over night layover in Seattle. We're only going for a weeks so thats not working for us.

United seems to be the cheapest for us out of Texas.

I just don't know what to do. LOL

 

[CMOORE185]

I thought this may get a bit lost on the transportation board since it's Aulani specific. Making our first Aulani trip in June so I'm starting to look at air fares. I know prices fluctuate but am worried that if I wait too long the flight selection may be less than ideal or I'll lock into a costly nonrefundable. Any guidance from those of you who have done this before? Agree, no one has a crystal ball but thanks in advance.

Ed

I am flying from Chicago in early June of 2015. Right now nonstop flights out of Ohare are $813. I read you get the best price 60 to 100 days out, and I have Kayak giving me daily updates.

 

[pinner33]

prices change daily with most airlines i got four tickets from bellingham wa for $1600 direct to honolulu next month

 

[MDTerp]

We just booked for June 2015. Got RT from DCA on Delta for $860/person.

 

[3monkeys4me]

We are a family of 5 flying from Minneapolis. We decided to stop in CA to visit family on each side of our Aulani trip. We ended up paying $3519 doing it that way, or just over $700 per person. The cheapest direct flights we were able to find were $1100 a person. We are traveling over Christmas break and that is part of the reason it was so high. We did consider going in the off season, but it was still around $800 per person. ETA: Sorry, I should have added that we are flying Sun Country MSP to SFO, then Hawaiian Airlines from OAK to HNL roundtrip. On the way home we are flying Southwest, OAK to MSP. We managed to hit sales with all three airlines. I bought the tickets from OAK to HNL in August, and the other tickets mid to end of October.

For us the stop is worth it, now we wont have to plan another trip to visit family until the end of summer, instead of spring break.

 

[SevenWonkas]

We are going to the Ko Olina Marriott Vacation Club (near Aulani) in May 2015. We haven't purchased our tickets yet, and I am jealous of some of the prices you all have received! We're looking at around $1,200/person for our tickets. Eeeek! We'll be coming from the Cincinnati/Dayton (Ohio) area. Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[JonLouisB]

Guess we are a little spoiled flying out of LAX. We always fly Hawaiian Air, collecting points for future flights. I have found that 60-45 days out is the best time to book. I have flown to Hawaii about 15 times over the years for vacations and bowling tournaments. You can test it out for yourself. Being that it's November 23rd, check flights around Mid January and you'll see that they are lower.

 

[deerh]

We just booked airfare for 5 of us at a RT price of $1250! We got $55 off for booking thru AAA.. It books the largest number of people in metro Atlanta, and we got $55 off each airfare off of the internet price... I got free Delta Skymiles trip for me... but DW and DD and DS had to pay the fare... It has NOT fluctuated much since July...Maybe $50-100....

We booked Oct 30 or so for our trip in May 2015... The reason for Delta over AA or other airlines was the airplane... BIG A330-300 nonstop... Did not want to stop and wanted a larger plane... The AAA office said AA airlines do not have the nicer planes.. and much older... I said NO on that!

The way I figure.. I saved $15000 on accommodations.. A 2BR and a studio OV..So... what is the big deal on saving $100-$150????
HTH

DeerH

 

[cindyzig]

I just got off the computer now and booked roundtrip from Denver to Honolulu at 621 pp for our family of 3 on United Airlines. Because my husband is a veteran, we we able to take off 5 percent more with a Veteran's Advantage card. The reservations are for January 26th through February 5th. I didn't realize we had such a price advantage living in the western part of the US. I checked airfare for months, and this is about the lowest it has been since we reserved the room several months ago.

 

[izzy]

Some of you are getting smokin' deals!

We are flying from Dulles to LAX (spending a few days at DLR), and then on to Oahu. We decided to splurge and booked first class tickets for $1,733 each. The coach seats were $1,220 each, and by the time I would have paid extra for economy plus seats (gotta have it for the longer flights), luggage fees, and buying snacks, I figured it only cost about $190 more to go first class. Well worth it in my opinion!

I'm still jealous over some of the prices y'all are getting, though!

 

[eyeheartgoofy]

We are going to the Ko Olina Marriott Vacation Club (near Aulani) in May 2015. We haven't purchased our tickets yet, and I am jealous of some of the prices you all have received! We're looking at around $1,200/person for our tickets. Eeeek! We'll be coming from the Cincinnati/Dayton (Ohio) area. Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

.

 

[gjl]

Z

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Yes, but remember that the great deals are not from the Midwest! LOL. We flew from Michigan in July 2014. Airfare was seriously painful!!!

And we west coasters often get jealous of the air fare you all get to FL!