Going to Aulani need airfare advice

[lifesgr8]

please move if this question is in the wrong place!!


Help!! What is the most affordable way & right time to buy 7 airline tickets to Aulani-honolulu from slc, ut ? (going january 11-18, 2015) I am willing to drive to a better airport.

Right now san jose to oahu is on sale..... contemplating driving there?! (13 hr drive) Am I crazy?

There are 7 of us. I will also need to rent a minivan when in Oahu. Would like to book flights and van together.... unless you guys know of a better way?

I hate that some of the sites wont even search past 6 passengers!

I feel like I need to get this booked before I can start planning anything while at the resort!!

 

[slowly]

Checks out Hawaiian Airlines. They recently had specials for fits during that time period.

 

[JessLCH]

Not sure if Alaska Airlines flies out of any airports in your area, but if they do, they always seem to have the best prices by far to Hawaii (usually connecting thru Seattle).

 

[Anal Annie]

Well, good news I would guess is that you're not going in the summer or over a holiday so airfare should be cheaper. I personally wouldn't drive more than 2 or 3 hours to an airport if I lived within an hour or so to my CLOSEST airport. A 13 hour drive in a van could feasibly cost you $500 in gas (round trip). How much would your savings net out to be after that? Plus meals on the road (at least probably a couple for that long (x2). Just saying there is more to consider. Maintenance on the van to be "road trip ready"? I always get a big maintenance done before I take a long trip like that (alignment, tires, oil change etc). For me, that is nearly as long as driving from the DC area to FL (just a couple hours shy). We don't drive to FL unless we HAVE to.

Taking 7 people to Hawaii is an expensive proposition no matter how you slice it up. Check for deals on Hawaiian Air and / or Alaska Air (sign up for their FF programs and / or emails). Allegient Air offers some cheap flights out of LAX to HNL but they are a little sketchy for me to book on (reviews vary widely). BUT they are THE cheapest. AND they don't fly the route every day so be aware of that. Round trips tend to be the cheapest option. Isn't SLC a hub for Delta? You may find more options with them. Set up fare alerts on Kayak.com and Airfarewatchdog.com. We just paid approx. $1,300 pp from the east coast to go in August. Granted that included a 3-n stop in LA and a hop to Maui - but you should be able to find air for a FRACTION of that for January.

Discounthawaiicarrentals.com OR Costco usually offer the best car rental rates. Hawk the sites on a regular basis as prices DO fluctuate.

Good luck!!

 

[drmrchk]

We are taking 10 of us over NYE. We just booked plane tickets about a month ago for about $860 a piece. Cheapest we'd seen since they were low like that around Feb/March when we booked our DVC rooms. It's expensive to fly anywhere from MT. We actually got prime tickets, with only one layover (practically unheard of, since you have to fly to the ports (Minneapolis, Denver, SLC or Seattle) before you can get anywhere...then lots of times there's a layover on the next flight. We fly through Denver on United, which makes for a longer leg than if we flew from the coast, but herding 10 kids on a layover is a pain. We got this same configuration on the way back. We catch a redeye at 10 and land in Denver the next AM. Will be great for the kiddos sleeping to have that extra flight time. I honestly don't think we could ever get cheaper. SLC is a major airport so I wouldn't drive all the way down for the 13+ hours. You lose a ton of time driving that I would rather spend on the beach. that subtracts 2 days from what you can spend in HI, plus you have a hotel room cost on either side to be able to drive and catch flights.

 

[JackandSally79]

We have gone to Aulani in Feb. 13 and last month. We are from the east coast and have flown to LAX then to HNL. We used Hawaiian Airlines both times and loved it!! When we go back in a year or so we will be doing it the same way. It was cheaper for us to break up the flight. For the car rental we used Alamo booking from the Costco travel site both times.

 

[Dean]

please move if this question is in the wrong place!!


Help!! What is the most affordable way & right time to buy 7 airline tickets to Aulani-honolulu from slc, ut ? (going january 11-18, 2015) I am willing to drive to a better airport.

Right now san jose to oahu is on sale..... contemplating driving there?! (13 hr drive) Am I crazy?

There are 7 of us. I will also need to rent a minivan when in Oahu. Would like to book flights and van together.... unless you guys know of a better way?

I hate that some of the sites wont even search past 6 passengers!

I feel like I need to get this booked before I can start planning anything while at the resort!!

It looks like $619 is the best out of SLC, under $500 (roughly $450)from San Diego and San Jose was the best I saw. So basically $1200 difference which by the time you look at driving, parking, hotel overnight, eats, etc; doesn't save you much. However, by driving and getting a direct flight you do pick up some benefit and reduce your risk as well as picking up the cheaper fares as well as having more control over the flight parameters.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Cheapest I've flown to HNL from California was $391 and that will be two years ago and flying out of SFO. In my experience with San Jose airport, I find their fares on the expensive side. Not just for travel to HNL but to any place we fly to. Usually we use our little local airport which you'd think would cost more than San Jose, but frequently comes in less. Just keep trolling the websites. The $391 airfare was purchased in October for the following year trip in February during Presidents Week travel so we were lucky.