Thinking Airfares $$

[Meemoo]

Hello

I'm considering a few options for our USA trip next year, I want to start to get a realistic idea of our airfares. Last year we did Hawaii and were fortunate enough to nab fares in the Jetstar take a friend free sale and ended up taking our whole family of 4 return for $2400. I always planned to do this again and just to a domestic USA flight over to LA for the Disneyland portion of the trip. BUT, Jetstar didn't include Hawaii in their sale this year and theres every chance they wont next year so......

For example if I see a $1000 return flight to LA with Virgin, how do the one way fares usually work out? As we'd still like to go to Hawaii on the way or way back, maybe get Jetstar home from Hawaii. Has anyone seen good fares that allow a couple of stop overs? Where should I keep an eye on for these types of deals?

 

[zanzibar138]

Hello

I'm considering a few options for our USA trip next year, I want to start to get a realistic idea of our airfares. Last year we did Hawaii and were fortunate enough to nab fares in the Jetstar take a friend free sale and ended up taking our whole family of 4 return for $2400. I always planned to do this again and just to a domestic USA flight over to LA for the Disneyland portion of the trip. BUT, Jetstar didn't include Hawaii in their sale this year and theres every chance they wont next year so......

For example if I see a $1000 return flight to LA with Virgin, how do the one way fares usually work out? As we'd still like to go to Hawaii on the way or way back, maybe get Jetstar home from Hawaii. Has anyone seen good fares that allow a couple of stop overs? Where should I keep an eye on for these types of deals?

You have two main options. You can look for a return airfare with a stopover in Hawaii on the way back. Lots of people do this and can probably point you towards airlines to look at.

The other option is to use your cheap Jetstar fares for return flights to Hawaii, then book cheap return flights from Hawaii to mainland US. This could be your cheaper option, but it will require you to also stop in Hawaii on the way over (leaving plenty of time between flights since they won't be linked).

 

[aussie shaz]

I looked at doing Hawaii on our way home from our last trip to LA. it was just so much more expensive.
Qantas you can go via Hawaii and I think Virgin does same but using Hawaiin Air as well.
You wouldn't want to do a fare to mainland USA and the domestic return fare from LA to Hawaii because there's hours of backtracking to do. I'm sure they wouldn't let you do 'open jaw' on an international fare to US. (Ie you couldn't fly Aust to LA on the international fare, then LA to Hawaii on the domestic fare, and then International from Hawaii to Aust, if that's what you were thinking.)

 

[ssour]

I think it would definitely work out cheaper to include the stop in Hawaii on the one ticket than to get three one way tickets. If you're going to LA it isn't normally too bad to stop in Hawaii on the way there or back. If you just want to stop in one direction you'll be looking at Virgin/Hawaiian or Qantas/Jetstar. If you're happy to stop in both directions you might get a good deal on Hawaiian. The benefit of stopping in Hawaii on the way there for a few hours is getting through immigration there and not in LAX.

 

[Mumtotwocuties]

We are booked with Virgin to do this in Sep. I booked the flights in Dec 13 and flying Syd to LAX via HNL on the way back only worked out to be $100 more per person. $1250 Sydney to LAX return compared with $1350 with HNL on the way back. Kids were a little cheaper. The ticket is through Virgin but they use Delta and Hawaiian Airlines as carriers. Very excited for our first trip to Disney and Aulani!!

 

[Meemoo]

We are booked with Virgin to do this in Sep. I booked the flights in Dec 13 and flying Syd to LAX via HNL on the way back only worked out to be $100 more per person. $1250 Sydney to LAX return compared with $1350 with HNL on the way back. Kids were a little cheaper. The ticket is through Virgin but they use Delta and Hawaiian Airlines as carriers. Very excited for our first trip to Disney and Aulani!!

That sounds like a good deal, I will keep it in mind. We don't mind to stop both ways in Hawaii and stay a few nights both stops. What I meant was fly return from SYD - HNL then from HNL -LAX return domestic. Does stop over mean you must continue to fly on, that same day?

 

[Oz Mum]

We are a family of four (2A/2C) travelling in September, I purchased our flights during a Virgin sale in January. We paid $6260 in total to fly from Sydney to LA then LA to Honolulu then Honolulu back to Sydney. I posted on here at the time to see if this was a good price & had some great feedback so went ahead & booked

Our flight over is on a Virgin Plane however the ticket is through Delta. From LAX to HNL we fly Delta (ticket through Virgin Aust) & coming home we fly Hawaiian (ticket again through Virgin Aust). I found the flights on KAYAK & then went to a travel agent who matched the price & booked them for me.

Hope you find a great deal

 

[zanzibar138]

That sounds like a good deal, I will keep it in mind. We don't mind to stop both ways in Hawaii and stay a few nights both stops. What I meant was fly return from SYD - HNL then from HNL -LAX return domestic. Does stop over mean you must continue to fly on, that same day?

In airline speak, the term stopover usually means you are there at least overnight, and there is usually an extra charge for each one. So if you wanted to do a stopover on the way there as well, it might mean extra cash.

If you're planning to do stopovers of a few days on each end, I would definitely look at getting cheap return flights Sydney - Honolulu with Jetstar (especially if they have companion deals again), then getting cheap domestic return flights Honolulu - LAX. If you've got a few days between flights you won't need to panic about the first one being delayed and causing you to miss the next one etc.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Check out Hawaiian Airlines. When I played around with multi-stop itineraries using Expedia, I discovered that adding a stopover in Hawaii was just as cheap as flights without a stopover. In fact, besides Air Tahiti (with a stopover in Tahiti), it was the cheapest flight option I could find.

We are 2 adults and 1 child flying Auckland - LAX (with a 3 hr layover in Hawaii) and then LAX - Auckland (with a 3 night stopover in Hawaii) and the flights are costing us AU$4050. Given that this is during peak school holiday period, I am happy.

I'm not sure what kind of deals Hawaiian Airlines offer in Australia, but I definitely recommend checking them out. I didn't find their website very user friendly for programming in stopovers, hence the reason I used Expedia.

 

[Meemoo]

Check out Hawaiian Airlines. When I played around with multi-stop itineraries using Expedia, I discovered that adding a stopover in Hawaii was just as cheap as flights without a stopover. In fact, besides Air Tahiti (with a stopover in Tahiti), it was the cheapest flight option I could find.

We are 2 adults and 1 child flying Auckland - LAX (with a 3 hr layover in Hawaii) and then LAX - Auckland (with a 3 night stopover in Hawaii) and the flights are costing us AU$4050. Given that this is during peak school holiday period, I am happy.

I'm not sure what kind of deals Hawaiian Airlines offer in Australia, but I definitely recommend checking them out. I didn't find their website very user friendly for programming in stopovers, hence the reason I used Expedia.

Thank you, will check them out. That sounds pretty good to me for school holidays