RT Airfare -- Chicago to Maui -- Help!

[espana94]

DD20 has been asked to stand up in a destination wedding in Maui in June. She is the Maid of Honor. In all honesty, I am having a coronary everytime I check on airfare. Does any one have any tips on how to save on airfare to Hawaii? DD is a student so she should be eligible for student discounts, if anyone has insight into that.

I know that someone is going to suggest that DD should regretfully decline participating in the event since the cost is, well, extreme...That is not an option we are considering. She agreed to the honor and will be standing up in the wedding. I'm just trying to get her there in the most budget-friendly manner possible.

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[stsomewhere]

Priceline?

 

[js]

DD20 has been asked to stand up in a destination wedding in Maui in June. She is the Maid of Honor. In all honesty, I am having a coronary everytime I check on airfare. Does any one have any tips on how to save on airfare to Hawaii? DD is a student so she should be eligible for student discounts, if anyone has insight into that.

I know that someone is going to suggest that DD should regretfully decline participating in the event since the cost is, well, extreme...That is not an option we are considering. She agreed to the honor and will be standing up in the wedding. I'm just trying to get her there in the most budget-friendly manner possible.

Thanks in advance everyone!

Just keep checking. Check the first thing on Tuesdays also. It seems the prices do go down on a Tuesday when they go down. If Tuesday morning it is still the same, check throughout the day. I work so the computer is on my desk and I continually keep checking. Also, on tripadvisor, there is something you fill out that keeps checking the exact airfare dates/destinations you want and if the price changes, it lets you know (I did that for Punta Cana in DR).

But, can I ask you about Student Discounts? My dd will be staring college next fall. Does she get discounts on her airfare when we travel?

Thanks.

 

[crisi]

A lot of people use frequent flyer miles - however, Hawaii trips on frequent flyer miles take a LOT of miles and there usually aren't many seats available - you have to both plan ahead, get lucky, and be willing to move your dates around - planning ahead - too late already, moving dates around - bad for a wedding.

There are almost never good deals on Hawaii out of the Midwest - but there ARE sometimes good deals out of Phoenix, LAX or Seattle. If you are up for a cross country drive, you can save hundreds per ticket

I haven't heard of airlines offering student discounts.

 

[taaren]

Just keep checking is right. The other thing you could do is "piece together" a trip like we are doing for our trip to WDW going in the other direction in December. I went to college in Michigan so I remember feeling your pain.

Expect to pay about $400 RT in off-season going from West Coast to Maui (check Seattle, Vegas, San Diego, Oakland/Sacramento) ... possibly $500 depending on whether its early or late June.

Then from the West Coast about $350ish to Chicago, possibly over-nighting in the West Coast if the times can't match up precisely (we have lots of Marriott Rewards points for this, plus friends in several cities on the West Coast that we can visit/use their spare room). If you use Southwest, there's no baggage fees for that portion though it is a bit of a hassle to pick up your bags then check it in on the next airline.

The idea behind this is several of the West Coast airlines (Hawaiian, Alaska, US Airways) tend to run good rates from Hawaii/West Coast but don't include those fares if you connect to another airline going back to the Midwest. A bit of hassle, but if you can't find a through fare for $800 or less, its one way to go that can be fairly reliably less painful.

 

[Green Tea]

Got to Beat of Hawaii beatofhawaii.com and sign up for their specials. Most are from west coast but occasionally they will be from east or mid wear airports. Seriously, nearly every day I get a note of a $130 from here or $145 from there to HI. They have a Facebook page as well which may post them them a few minutes earlier than the email arrives. They are not selling the fares, they just direct you quick airline reductions that you can catch because they alerted you.

 

[sk!mom]

A lot of people use frequent flyer miles - however, Hawaii trips on frequent flyer miles take a LOT of miles and there usually aren't many seats available - you have to both plan ahead, get lucky, and be willing to move your dates around - planning ahead - too late already, moving dates around - bad for a wedding.

There are almost never good deals on Hawaii out of the Midwest - but there ARE sometimes good deals out of Phoenix, LAX or Seattle. If you are up for a cross country drive, you can save hundreds per ticket

I haven't heard of airlines offering student discounts.

Good points...The OP might also consider looking for a good deal out of a West Coast airport and then use points or a more budget airline to get to the West Coast.

We are looking in to using SW Rewards to fly to NYC this Summer to take advantage of a good overseas fare from there. We'll get a day in NYC on each end out of it.

 

[Green Tea]

Last night's sale was $131 from Oakland to Maui. Not sure how cheaply your child could get from Chicago tot he west coast.

 

[wisconsinmom]

What kind of price are you hoping for? When we got to Hawaii we fly from either Milwaukee or Chicago. Out of Chicago if you could get airfare for $600-$700ish that would be a major bargain!! We typically pay between $800-$1000 per person. We are going this year on Spring Break and paid $920 or so out of O'hare.

 

[woodkins]

Just found an AMAZING deal on Hawaiian Air for my family this week. I was able to get nonstop flights from NY to Honolulu for 20,000 HawaiianMiles each way (their frequent flier point program). The great part is that you can use American Express Points and convert them to HawaiianMiles for free. The cash value of 20,000 amex points is like $400. You can borrow amex points if you don't have enought, and people can also transfer points to you, so if you don't have enough you can be "gifted" points from someone else.

I was able to book my family of 3 round trip for FREE! We will be staying at Disney Aulani for 8 nights for Thanksgiving 2012!!

 

[dgr1973]

I'm sorry I have nothing to offer since I see you live in Pingree Grove which is near me in Huntley, I assume she will fly out of O'hare? My family is going to Orlando in June and it cost us 1300.00 r/t which is 500.00 higher then we have ever paid in the past! I just think airfare costs have gone way up and flying in the summer is never cheap! Good luck I hope you find something but everytime I check my flight(I am a glutton for punishment) not only has it not gone down in price, it has jumped even higher!!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

I suggest what PP have already said. Southwest frequently offers $99 flights from Midway (MDW) to Los Angeles (LAX). She can fly with Southwest and then book a separate flight from LAX to Maui. You'd probably run around $600 RT that way if you really keep an eye on deals. I would keep checking for ORD to Maui too, though. You never know what may pop up! Good luck!

 

[SuzanneSLO]

We are looking at a trip to Maui from California in late June and the prices are currently $800+ from LAX, with little change over the past 2 months. They are closer to $600+ from San Jose or Oakland. We usually fly off season and booked flights for $435 from LAX to OGG for flights last October. -- Suzanne

 

[Ms.Grumpy]

I'm sorry I have nothing to offer since I see you live in Pingree Grove which is near me in Huntley, I assume she will fly out of O'hare? My family is going to Orlando in June and it cost us 1300.00 r/t which is 500.00 higher then we have ever paid in the past! I just think airfare costs have gone way up and flying in the summer is never cheap! Good luck I hope you find something but everytime I check my flight(I am a glutton for punishment) not only has it not gone down in price, it has jumped even higher!!

This is the reason we no longer fly to Orlando. Airfare would run me $800-$1000 for my family of four. We drive down, and it only cost $400 roundtrip.

 

[NotUrsula]

Try STATravel; it is a student agency. She is likely to have better price luck and a wider choice of dates/times from a west coast city, sometimes it is worth staying overnight near the airport to get a better deal on a flight like this, not to mention that taking an overnight break will shorter the over the water travel time.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

Try STATravel; it is a student agency. She is likely to have better price luck and a wider choice of dates/times from a west coast city, sometimes it is worth staying overnight near the airport to get a better deal on a flight like this, not to mention that taking an overnight break will shorter the over the water travel time.

This is my advice, too. They seem to be able to work some sort of magic with student fares. Right after I graduated from college, I suddenly got a job offer in London and needed a last minute flight to the UK.... it was peak summer season so everything was really expensive. STATravel worked some sort of magic and routed me from the east coast to Chicago, and then Copenhagen, and then on to London Heathrow. Not the most direct route I've ever taken, but it was hundreds cheaper than I could find on my own.

 

[dgr1973]

This is the reason we no longer fly to Orlando. Airfare would run me $800-$1000 for my family of four. We drive down, and it only cost $400 roundtrip.

We did seriously consider that this year but to be quite honest I don't think I could handle it. I barely can sit still long enough for our trips up to the Dells and that only takes 2 hrs or so!

 

[KarenAylwood]

We checked out tripadvisor forums and the main recommendation for saving on airfare to Hawaii was to check out PandaOnline.com. They're a Hawaiian travel agency that's been around a while but you can buy online through them (their customer service is amazing by the way).

We went to Hawaii in September for our honeymoon. Everywhere had prices for $1200-1000 per person and we found $700 per person through pandaonline. Awesome deal!! (we were flying from Norfolk- usually not a great place for flying to Hawaii or anywhere international- prices are usually high).

Goodluck. DH and I take weddings very seriously and have made almost every one we've been invited to. I'm sure it will mean a lot to your daughter's friend.