One of the first e-mails I look at each day is my Hawaii airfare alerts. This morning, I had to do a double take when I saw fares as low as $441 listed! I’ve been trying to determine the pattern and which particular airline has the deals. Northwest, Delta, and Continental all seem to be having fare sales below $500 from various cities across the US. (The FrugalTravelGuy has also confirmed this pattern.)
Here are some airfare sale shopping tips to help you find the best deals.
- Start with a flight search engine tool like Kayak.com that searches multiple airlines and discounters. Note that American Airlines results will not be displayed.
- In addition to your preferred local airport, consider flying from nearby airports. Sometimes you can save hundreds of dollars by driving a couple of hours to an alternative airport.
- Check fares directly on your favorite airline’s websites.
- After you see what sort of airfare only deals you can find, consider combining airfare with and without hotel on sites like Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com, Hotwire.com, etc.
Happy airfare sale shopping. Let me know if you find any extra special deals.
Sheila Beal
11 comments
The deals on Delta are gone…they didn’t even last 24hours
Where do you sign up for these alerts?
@ Moe – when these fares happen, you pretty much have to jump. Unfortunately, I learned that from my own experiences of missing out on a fare sale. Definitely keep looking. I don’t think that will be the last of them.
@ jim – Kayak.com is my favorite.
Best fares I’ve seen from the Bay Area to Maui in a while. Departing Oakland Oct. 11 for 7 days on United $480.
The flight connects at LAX, so I say to myself “must be some really great fares from LA.” Same flight from LAX $709.
Ah, the airline insanity continues….
Sheila,
Thanks for the encoragement. We are planning our honeymoon :)….Oahu,
TurtleBay Resort, trying to save on airfare so we can spend the extra
on an Oceanfront Cottage. We actually booked a temporary res with
Delta on the 28th and stupid me, I called to confirm but missed the deadline by an hour. 🙁
Have you been to Turtle Bay? Anyone have an opinion on spending the extra on the ocean front cottages vs. a regular room….wanting to make my fiance enjoy it as much as possible and provide a high level of romantic atmosphere….plus, we have never been to any of the islands…received several suggestions from others that Oahu North Shore is nice.
Also, I wanted to let you know of a site I ran across yesterday in my searches for the incredible Delta fare…. http://www.yapta.com It has some great alerting features to keep on top of pricing fluctuations….and provided me with some information which I was not aware of regarding reimbursement from airlines if you book a flight and the price goes down….if nothing else, this site is a great way to insure if you book a flight and the price decreases, you can call and request the airline provide a refund or credit toward another flight. Something I was never aware was possible.
Every little bit counts….
@ David – No kidding about airline insanity! Why would fares from NC be between $400 and $500 while fares from LAX be $709? By the way, I saw your contest announcement. Looks fun….if I don’t mention it within the next week, please remind me to do so. 🙂
@ Moe – I would keep an eye on the airfare over the weekend. The last big airfare war was over Memorial Day weekend where fares were less than $300. Not that there’s much of a rhyme or reason to the sale patterns, but it just makes me wonder if another fare ware might be in store for big holiday weekends. I’ll look into yapta…I have seen it mentioned before but not yet explored it. Thanks for that tip.
Now – about Turtle Bay Resort – I loved it! Here’s my review of the resort, restaurant, and spa:
https://govisithawaii.com/2007/06/27/turtle-bay-resort-review/
https://govisithawaii.com/2007/08/16/review-of-spa-luana-at-turtle-bay-resort/
https://govisithawaii.com/2007/06/28/turtle-bay-resort-restaurant-reviews/
Oahu North Shore is very nice, in fact it’s my favorite area of Oahu.
Have you seen the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall? That was all filmed on TBR, so if you’d like to see more about what it is like, see that movie. Some of it is filmed in the cottages. I do think that the cottages are a notch above the main hotel rooms. I think you will find it more private, plus it’s really a special treat to be able to step outside your door, walk over a short lawn section and be right on the beach. There’s hammocks there…it is divine! When you book hotels and restaurants, do tell them you are on your honeymoon.
I know you’ll probably have tons of wedding photos, but if your interested in getting a professional photographer take photos of you in Hawaii on your honeymoon…I know a really great photographer that’s in that neck of the woods.
Sheila,
thanks again for all the links, resources and advice. We haven’t seen the movie but did read it was filmed there along with several others in Oahu….kinda cool.
the travel agent we are requesting quotes from pretty much said the same thing about the pricing…wait until the holiday weekend and keep and eye on it everyday. I am crossing my fingers.
If you have the name of that photographer, that would be a nice suprise for my fiance…we are going to have alot of wedding photos..but it would be nice to have some from the honeymoon as well. If you want to send the contact info privately, let me know and I will provide my email address…or if they have a website, I can get ahold of them that way as well.
thanks again…with all those links of resources…i have a lot of reading to do.
Well thank you Sheila. I’ll throw your name in the hat for mentioning our contest. You sure got some great images for your “colors” series. Some were just unbelievable. Your snow and sunset was my favorite.
David
Sheila and readers….
Just wanted to share what I thought was a good price for Turtle Bay Resort for anyone who is looking.
I booked it on Orbitz.
Flight (Depart Florida) and Hotel package price for 8 days and 7 nights in an Oceanfront Cottage was $4740
Then, I added a coupon code “ENTERTAIN200″…and to my surprise, it reduced the price to $4540.
Good luck
Hi Moe – that sounds like a pretty sweet deal, especially considering it’s for the swank cottages. I’m sure you’re glad to have that all booked. Enjoy your time there!