Flight frustration...HELP

[msaseifert]

We have been watching flights for about 2 months and not much has changed. We arrive in Hawaii on 7/23 but we would like to arrive BEFORE 10pm. We have looked at possibly flying on Friday...is there anyplace close by the airport that we could lay our head for the night before checking into Aulani? I have looked and there are no rooms available at Aulani for that Friday at this time (using points). Flights are really expensive, we have to buy 4 tickets, we know it will be at least $5,000 but we were hoping to save a little bit which doesn't seem likely at this point. We are ready to make that jump, any advice one could give us will be most appreciated.

 

[cedricandsophie]

There's a Marriott down the street from Aulani. Otherwise you could try a hotel In Waikiki or something by the airport. I would look at booking.com or Expedia to see what's available and the price. Then I always use trip advisor to check out the reviews before I book anywhere. We are coming from Chicago in May and have had our flights for a while. For United, nonstop, we paid about 800 per person for 4 of us. I've paid more and I've paid less...just depends. We have been to Aulani 4 times already. Love it.

 

[JWigs]

We watch flights for Oahu as well since we are going in Sept. Where are you flying out from? Most direct flights from Seattle either land closer to 10pm or some (if you wanna fly early in the morning) can land you there mid day in Hawaii.

 

[alohamom]

Yes, where are you flying in from? There is an airport hotel owned by the Outrigger group that has a shuttle from the airport, I think it is less than a mile. I have never stayed here and it doesnt look like more than a 2 star hotel but the rate is 199/night and they have availability for 7/23 http://www.outrigger.com/reservations/select-room

 

[blondietink]

We watched for our flights in April from near Buffalo, NY and booked almost 9 months ago when the price was around $800 PP for 4 people. It sometimes pays to look at nearby airports. We are driving 4 hours to Pittsburgh to catch a non-stop to Dallas, then nonstop to Honolulu arriving a 2:30 pm. There is also a flight out of Dallas that arrives earlier at 12:30 pm. All the flights from Buffalo had at least one more stop and sometimes 2. We also checked Cleveland and Toronto before settling on Pittsburgh. You need to be flexible to get a price break on flights to Hawaii.

 

[alohamom]

(You might already be doing this but...) another thing I would suggest to you is watching flight prices through ITA Matrix. This only gives you pricing and the airline it is offered on, you cannot book through this site, but it is a very useful tool to see prices for different dates and from different places
https://matrix.itasoftware.com/

 

[msaseifert]

We are in the Richmond VA area. We finally found and booked some more reasonable flights by arriving one day earlier and extending our stay by one day. Hubby has lots of Marriott points so we will stay in a Marriott one night before and one night after our Aulani stay. We figured we could start out in Waikiki and then on the last night stay in North Shore after checking out of Aulani. We have rented a car thru Costco so we will have out own ride. Pricing from Richmond was ridiculous at close to 1400 per person. We decided to fly out of DCA and got the flights for $950 pp. Which was a little better.....so we are booked! Thanks everyone

 

[saradela]

To get the least expensive tickets to hawaii, the outbound has to be from San Francisco Ca or San Diego.....

 

[ToodlesRN]

We flew on a late flight last year (to save money about $400 on airfare) and stayed in wakkiki for the night, think the room was about $150 at the Outrigger reef on the beach (they have 3 locations). The kids loved it as it was the first time since age 2 and to walk on wakkiki beach and do a little shopping before heading to Aulani was the perfect start to our vacation!!

 

[matheke]

We are going through the same thing. I just checked today and airfare is down to $1100 per person (was as high as $1600). We have a few more weeks we can wait to see if things get better. Checking seat availability there is still plenty of room.

 

[nkereina]

We watched for our flights in April from near Buffalo, NY and booked almost 9 months ago when the price was around $800 PP for 4 people. It sometimes pays to look at nearby airports. We are driving 4 hours to Pittsburgh to catch a non-stop to Dallas, then nonstop to Honolulu arriving a 2:30 pm. There is also a flight out of Dallas that arrives earlier at 12:30 pm. All the flights from Buffalo had at least one more stop and sometimes 2. We also checked Cleveland and Toronto before settling on Pittsburgh. You need to be flexible to get a price break on flights to Hawaii.

We're going in September, flying out of Buffalo on Delta. We have one stop in Atlanta and will arrive in Honolulu at 2:30pm. Our flights were $980 per person (round trip) and I booked them 10 months in advance. I have had fare alerts set up, and the price isn't really moving. We checked Toronto too and found flights to be cheaper, but we'd also need a hotel for the night before or even after our flights due to the commute/border crossing. The hassle and negligible savings wasn't worth it for us.

For the OP traveling in July, I would book what you can now since fares may only get worse. If you arrive the night before, there's a few hotels in the vicinity of the airport but none that I can speak to. You could also take a quick cab ride to the Waikiki area where there's a ton to choose from, as well as some good breakfast options before heading to Aulani!

 

[AKMOUSE]

You will definitely be exhausted. Coming from east coast, a late arrival - I am betting you will just want to be done with transportation.
Aulani is a good car ride from the airport - 20-30 minutes?? I would recommend to spend the night in Waikiki, especially since it will be dark. We stay at Hilton Hawaiian Village. Cheaper off beach option is DoubleTree.
We fly in, take the shuttle and stay at Hilton Hawaiian Village and get rental car there and then headed to KoOlina (Aulani).
Research the shuttle I want to say it $60 for the 4 of us.

Aloha!!!