LondonGlobalist

Morning,

I took the jump and booked the HNL TP run for Jan 2023. Flying BUD - LHR - JFK - LAX - HNL - LAX - JFK - LHR - BUD

With the 6 night in the US fare rule, I decided to stop one night in NYC outbound and take an overnight flight LAX-NYC on the return.

I have 4 nights in HNL (11/1 - 15/1) and it’s still eye wateringly expensive for a single traveler: does anyone have any recommendations for good value accommodation in wakikki (or suggestions elsewhere), or thoughts on calling AA and trying to punctuate the flights more with a pit stop in LAX / JFK on way back.

It’s post Christmas/NYE so may be sales on the horizon but deals aren’t great atm.

Thanks as ever.

RichieMc

Like you I jumped when I saw this fare appear. Only after booking did I get the shock at accomodation prices over New Year. I think Waikiki will be expensive pretty much anytime. It really depends on what you are looking for. I have found beach bungalows on the North Shore around Haleiwa and Waimea that are more reasonable, but still expensive...this is peak big wave surf season. East coast is much more reasonable. I found a good array of oprtons on Vrbo. The romance of renting a camper van and chasing the best surf appealed, but my aging back decided this was a bad idea.

timcjp

On my recent trip I stayed here: https://www.kaimana.com/, it's not cheap but it was massively cheaper than the other more central Waikiki hotels.

lsquare

Take a look into AirBnb. I did that a few years ago and it was great as I also got parking with the place. HNL is definitely not a cheap location, but with parts of the world shut down to leisure travel, I suspect lots of Americans will be flying there and driving up demand for accommodations!

FlightDetective

I booked Hotel Renew - https://www.hotelrenew.com/ - for a trip over Easter. It's a boutique hotel, no pool, but right on the beach, and plenty of beach gear (towels, snorkels, floats, chairs) to take to and from the beach which is about 30 seconds away. Thoroughly recommend it! Top tip though, I booked and it was $1,280 for six nights, then it went down to $1,000 and then in the Black Friday sales at the end of November I got my Easter break for $780 for the six nights. That was before travel really opened though, but if you do book something, I would highly recommend a refundable room and then check it from time to time as you might make a saving (keeping in mind Black Friday too!)

Gagravarr

We did a CDG-....-HNL run earlier this year, and likewise found Honolulu quite expensive. We ended up buying a return flight to Hilo on the Big Island, and spending the majority of our time there. Seemed to be quite a bit cheaper than the Kona side of the island, and was nearer Volcanos National Park which was a big plus. You'll want a car out there to get to the Volcanos National Park, and outside of Hilo you can get some very good deals on AirBnB etc on places that need a car well out of town, assuming you don't mind doing your own cooking

lsquare

I would argue that even Honolulu needs a car for convenience, but it's doable. I was a poor university graduate that spent a week in Honolulu more than a decade ago taking public transit exclusively. It's not convenient, but again, it's doable. Outside of Honolulu, a car is essential.

Gagravarr

With a Holo card - https://www.holocard.net/ - which is like a slightly crap oyster card, we were fine with the bus everywhere around Honolulu. Google Maps was fairly accurate at directing us to the next bus when there were a few stops/routes nearby, but not perfect. Bus drivers were super friendly and nice to me, the British accent seemed to help! My sister-in-law (white, American and with the accent to match) was once told off for being too loud while us Brits received no comments. Only tip is that the Airport bus to Waikiki has no luggage space, so head to the very back to avoid annoying the locals who all seem to prefer the first two doors. Honolulu buses aren't quite as good as Birmingham, are a step down from Oxford, a world away from London, but still the best bus system by a long way that I've used in the USA!

LucyK1806

if you’re a good sleeper and can stand noise, take a look at Waikiki place . Com. These are basic studios in a very central location and come with a parking spot.

How much was your fare if you don’t mind my asking?

SavvyTravel

Have a look at whether hotel/accommodation prices on some of the other islands are any less eye watering (probably not, as we went to Maui earlier this year and wow, it hurt).
That's because having done trips to HNL (nowhere else on Oahu), Maui, Kauai and Big Island (Hawaii), HNL would be at the bottom of our list by quite some margin.
Inter-island flights are relatively cheap (especially if HBO) and frequent. You can also avoid crazy car hire fees because taxis/Uber will get you around smaller places with ease.
PS as this is a TP thread so chances are such an option won't get you anything extra.

AndyUK_101

Morning,

Looking at a tier point run late this year or early next

BUD - LHR - JFK - LAX - HNL - LAX - JFK - LHR - BUD for £1350 with AA looks good, decent availability according to ITA

Just a sense check to see if there is any further way to optimise this or a specific way to force the JFK-LAX sector onto a 321T for the flat bed rather than recliner

RichieMc

JFK-LAX is always with flatbed in business (denoted with “sharklets” in Matrix. And I've had good luck cash upgrading to F for between $250-350. I’m doing a similar trip but going BUD-LHR-PHL-PHX-HNL. Same TPs, only you get domestic first PHL-PHX but flatbed on a 787 on PHX-HNL morning flight. My personal call was that this is better than flatbed between JFK-LAX and recliner on LAX-HNL. This could go tits up if schedule changes work against me!

AndyUK_101

Ahhh - flew AA on a JFK - LAX segment a while ago and it was a recliner in business, good to know it is a flat bed

Good call on the PHL-PHX segment, think i'd probably make the same choice

Thanks

wanderingjock

Richie, how far in advance did you get the J-F upgrade for that price? Thanks.

CW2000

Can you kindly share how you booked this please. Would love to jump on this to achieve GGL.