jonslow

My wife and I were trying to book ourselves and son and GF for a Saturday-Saturday trip to Hawaii from Las Vegas, about six weeks out. The price came to over $6600 (actually going to Kauai) if we tried to put 4 of us on the same reservation. This was because there were "only 3 seats left" at the lower price. However, then I decided to just book one couple at a time. The first couple got the lower price of under a $1000 per person. As soon as I booked them, I booked the second couple. Magically, after the first couple booked two of the "three seats at this price," three more seats at this price became available so I booked the second couple at the same price as the first.

Come on, Hawaiian. We didn't shop any other airline because we love Hawaiian because you treat non-elite flyers better than your competition. How about dropping the "only 3 seats left at this price game?"

iflyalexair

I'm a loyal DL flier, but I noticed this same thing when I booked a few tickets recently on HA.

I live in NYC and we're headed to LIH in Feb. DL was 1100 and HA was 630 with better flight times. So we went with HA.

I first booked three seats on those days with "3 seats remaining at this price" but I checked again for a 4th person to come along and it said the same thing. Interestingly, bookings have no effect on I class (in this case) inventory. Now, a week later, the same flights in the same booking class are pricing out higher, but still with only "3 seats remaining."

azj

To be fair... I've noticed the same things on Kayak and other search engines. I'm thinking it's a software thing to create a sense of urgency to buy, like many other merchants.

Tempus

I've had the same problem while booking inter-islands. I need four tickets, but of course 'three seats remain', so I only book two at a time, and ensure I get the lower fare.

formeraa

It's probably a question of the message ("three seats left") being out of sync with current availability. Or, it might be that the website doesn't check availability in real time...so it may actually allow more than 3 seats to be booked until the reservations system sends back a message that the fare is sold out.

In any case, why are we notifying HA of their consumer-friendly loophole?

jonslow

I have a great deal of respect for Hawaiian Air and think it is the best carrier on its routes for coach passengers. (For example, if you call their phone for no-status passengers they actually answer fairly quickly. Try that with
Virgin American and you may be on hold for 50 minutes.) So rather than notifying them of this consumer friendly loophole, I was hoping someone at Hawaiian Air would read this post and fix the situation.

PainCorp

You've alerted them they put more fairs on sale than they meant to, thanks!

/sarcasm

ah7e

Seeing "3 seats left at this price", I ended up booking HNL-HND earlier this month for a late December departure.

The price was $225 each way ($450 roundtrip) + $459 in taxes and a YQ surcharge.

If I waited to book 3 months out, prices on this route could skyrocket and leave me scrambling on another way to get to Japan.

But...by booking now, I was able to put myself in seat 13C in their A330. Who knows what kind of availability there would have been if I waited at a later time to book.