Originally Posted by Humbirdie
My family and I are planning to fly to Hawaii this August and there will be 7 of us going so we would like to get the most reasonably priced tickets to fly from the midwest. Where do we look for the cheapest tickets and when is it best to book early or last minute?
Isn't it already sort of "last minute"?
Some tips for finding the lowest fare:
From the "mid west" meaning Chicago, it's still difficult to beat fares offered by ATA. A quick check of mid August fares shows RT's in the $700 range, which is about as good as it gets right now.
There are a couple of scheduled charter discounters operating from the west coast: North American and Suntrips. When considering ATA, NA or Suntrips make very certain you understand what you're giving up in exchange for that cheap ticket. Your rights are substantially different from scheduled airlines.
Aloha Airlines continues to offer competitive fares from Oakland.
If price is the only consideration, look into Omni Air International flying from Las Vegas to Honolulu. Again a scheduled charter. Many don't know LAS is the most popular vacation destination for Hawaii residents. As such there is a large market for cheap travel between the two points. I myself would pay more not to fly OAI, but if price is the only consideration . . .
Surprisingly, UA is very competitive with the charters as long as "midwest" = ORD and a change of planes on the west coast is acceptable.
Basically, fares are high at the moment, and you're looking for many seats in absolute peak season. It's definitely time to start collecting facts and making decisions. As stated earlier, waiting may yield a last minute special, but almost certainly will result in your group of 7 being split.
Aloha,
Lihu'e 1k