Help on Airlines Choice from members who have traveled to Hawaii

[marcyjane]

Hello,

Looking for help from cruise critics members who have made the flight to Hawaii.

 

Right now Delta is the cheaper flight at $711.60 per person from Nashville, Tenn to Honululu, HI and American Airlines is at $780.60 per person. On the Delta flight leaving Nashville is on a connection flight on one of the tiny planes to Ohio then on to Hawaii. The American Flights are all on the larger planes.

Southwest flights for our flight date is not up and available yet.

So we have been watching flight prices since September 06 and they keep going up and our cruise is May 2007, so we thought we might need to go ahead and book this week-end do to as well to the fact that when we look at seating choice the flights are filling up.

 

What would you veteran cruisers do?

 

Thanks,

Marcy

[jimc_usa]

Hello,

Looking for help from cruise critics members who have made the flight to Hawaii.

 

Right now Delta is the cheaper flight at $711.60 per person from Nashville, Tenn to Honululu, HI and American Airlines is at $780.60 per person. On the Delta flight leaving Nashville is on a connection flight on one of the tiny planes to Ohio then on to Hawaii. The American Flights are all on the larger planes.

Southwest flights for our flight date is not up and available yet.

So we have been watching flight prices since September 06 and they keep going up and our cruise is May 2007, so we thought we might need to go ahead and book this week-end do to as well to the fact that when we look at seating choice the flights are filling upQUOTE]

 

Are you sure that Delta doesn't go thru Atlanta? But anyway Cinncinati is a Delta hub so should be no problems!

[cmjaffe]

how long are the layovers and where? Are you a member of both frequent flyer programs? (the mileage you earn will be substantial factor that in... I know it's easier for us to redeem for tickets on American over Delta). If you have an Entertainment card I know American offers 5% off a ticket up to 6 passengers.

Good luck

Carolyn

[marcyjane]

We don't have any flyer programs, we only fly about once a year for vacation, but I did sign up the other day with both Delta and American flyer clubs.

 

Delta does have a flight going to Atlanta as well, but the layover is 3+ hours and about $230.00 more expensive. The layover on Delta at Cincinnati is 1hr 15mins.

 

I guess what I'm trying to determine is which airlines any of you have been on and how they compare on a very long flight.

 

Thanks,

Marcy

[kebboli]

Did you try ATA or Southwest?? They were the cheapest for us. We paid $625 pp for March leaving from Chicago. Travelocity I think was not bad also when I looked but they didn't have as good of fight times.

[cruzfiend]

FYI, Continental also will give you miles for your Delta membership and we have found them to be usually cheaper.

[knarf]

Hi,

We are flying to Hawaii from Pitt on 9/27/07.

We went to Hawaii last Oct and will cruise again next Oct.-07

When I looked for air, of course trying to find the cheapest that I could find, BUT I also looked for these things:

1. no long layovers in each stop

2. tried to find flight that would break up the long flight to Hawaii-I could have went from Pitt to Atlanta or Chicago or Columbus-but I wqnted to fly longer on each segment to break up the long flight.

So after much looking I found Pitt to Denver to Honolulu -And then Honolulu to San Franscisco to Pitt for $635.00 each. I like the rate and I like the break up of the flights and time between flights is about 1 1/4 hrs for each stop- I would have minded alittle longer for each stop, time to eat, stretch-and have some little extra time in case of a delay somewhere-but was very pleased with everything else.

Air last Oct-06 was $657 each.

I usually check everywhere for flights. Found this flight on Expedia. If can be of any help please ask.

Sincerely, Knarf (Frank backwards)

[GranysT]

Wow, are the prices you posted for a one way flight? I booked a one way flight home from Honolullu, after our April cruise, for only $230 pp total. That was just from Honolulu into San Diego tho. I booked this thru Travelocity,at the end of Sept. Sounds like I made a wise choice.

[TrqoisWtrs]

If you have an Entertainment card I know American offers 5% off a ticket up to 6 passengers.

 

Thanks Carolyn! I never even thought of checking my entertainment book and was just about to book our air to Cozumel - cool! :)

[kebboli]

GranysT- Mine as I said was $625pp but ya that was round trip with taxes etc ($255 one way and $325 back plus taxes)..... Going from Chicago to Calf. to Honolulu and back. I had looked for a week or more but other sites were more and up tp like a $1,000pp I think so since we are leaving the first of March I went with ATA. I wish I could of found cheaper but I was afarid to wait to long and have it be more or no flights............:)

[marcyjane]

Prices that I mention are for round trip, ATA/Southwest is not yet open for our dates May 18th-May 27th

I'm looking and checking everyday. I have never used the online agents to book with like Orbitz or Travelocity or Expedia. Don't know why just not sure about them, just don't want to show up for flights and something be wrong. Just me I guess, always booked direct with the airlines.

 

Thanks to all of you for you input.

Marcy

[kaylahszoo]

We too are waiting for Southwest to open up next few months of airfares. I read somewhere- I think it was on the disboards- on the budget forum- that SWA typically opened those dates in the beginning of February. I am also checking everyday. ATA prices have gone up some- we're from Phoenix, so our prices to fly to Hawaii are a lot less- but I'm thinking now that the holidays are over and gas is going down a bit in price- maybe airfare will drop some. You know- it's all just a guessing game. If I book today- sure enough- the price will go down tommorrow. That's why I like ATA - they will give you a voucher for fare difference-and SWA lets you rebook cheaper fares.

[jerseyjk]

I've not made that particular flight, but I've made several flights on "one of the tiny planes" which I believe is the CRJ-100. Personally I love those planes. It's a smoother ride than those flying dump-trucks. Granted, the long leg from Cincy to HNL the big plane is a necessity, but for the two hour hop to Ohio, the itty-bitty plane isn't a problem, and you may actually find it better if that's your worry.

 

I use sites like kayak.com to check the various airlines fares and then book directly. Kayak isn't an agency, just a search tool. They don't sell tickets. I usually find airfare booked with the airlines directly to match or beat the online sites.

 

Now as for Delta's financial condition ... that I can't vouch for.

[zqvol]

We have flown to the islands four times in the past six years with another trip coming up in August. We always take Delta.

 

A couple of things to consider, that you may not have thought of yet:

 

1. If it is nonstop from CVG that is a miserably long flight, I would try to find something that has a stop either in SLC or LAX.

 

2. Non stop return to ATL or CVG is not so bad because it is usually at night and with the normal tail winds is about 2 - 3 hours faster.

 

3. Look at the type of plane. You want a 767 if possible, I don't know if Delta is flying in 757s that far or not but they are not the most comfortable planes that were ever built.

 

4. As crazy as this sounds we have found that it is better to arrive later in the day at HNL. If you get there too early (mid afternoon or so), you tend to go to sleep by 7:00 or so and are up at 3:00 in the morning. All the hotel clerks in Honolulu laugh about it because it happens to so many people coming from the mainland.

 

Good Luck!

[kaylahszoo]

I have a question to those that have booked Southwest to Hawaii. Do they do the same (even though they're actually ATA flights) and have you board A, B, & C. Or is it assigned seating. It looks like ATA is assigned and I wondered if you book SWA if you get the leftover seats or what. Wouldn't mind with a small group, but we're a group of 14 going and we don't want to be scattered all over the plane. On second thought, after sitting next to a relative for that long, I might wish to be scattered elsewhere.

[RoseM]

Hello,

Looking for help from cruise critics members who have made the flight to Hawaii.

 

Right now Delta is the cheaper flight at $711.60 per person from Nashville, Tenn to Honululu, HI and American Airlines is at $780.60 per person. On the Delta flight leaving Nashville is on a connection flight on one of the tiny planes to Ohio then on to Hawaii. The American Flights are all on the larger planes.

Southwest flights for our flight date is not up and available yet.

 

So we have been watching flight prices since September 06 and they keep going up and our cruise is May 2007, so we thought we might need to go ahead and book this week-end do to as well to the fact that when we look at seating choice the flights are filling up.

 

 

What would you veteran cruisers do?

 

 

Thanks,

Marcy

 

Marcy, it is my understanding ATA is owned by Southwest...they receintly purchased it...well about nine months ago.

 

We went on Pride of Aloha Jan. 7th ( live in

sacramento Ca.) booked air though NCL as a package with the cruise..they gave us United Airlines....terrible flight..nice plane and attendants but quite uncomfortable..no leg room..when the people in front of us put their seats back, even less. They told us in Honolulu there was only two flights out per day..morning and late afternoon..I think we left at 4:45PM....had transfers to the airport so spent a lot of time there waiting for the plane.

 

I saw on the inter net a couple of days ago Hawaiian Air was having a sale on trips to Honolulu. There is also Aloha Air.

 

Good luck...we really liked Pride of Aloha, you will too.

[marcyjane]

Thanks RoseM,

Thats my understanding to that we would book Southwest out of Nashville then ATA on to Honolulu.

 

But the flights right now (diffent dates) just to look at times etc. The flight time and lay overs are not that good for us. And I talked with NCL air and they told me that they would use United if we booked air with them.

 

I think that today we've looked at all the airlines and have pretty much decided on American.

 

You talked about Hawaii airlines, checked them to and they had good prices, but we can't get a flight from here that will get us there in time on the West Coast for any of the flight listed.

 

Marcy

[love2relax]

Just a last thought to let me put in my two cents here....I have flown to Hawaii twice in the last three years: once on Delta (a first class fare that we simply could not pass up: WHo wouldn't be comfortable?), and once on United. United has what is called an "economy plus" class that we managed to get last summer. It is usually fairly reasonably priced. Is there a possibility of booking one round trip airline to a gateway on the west coast, and then United rount trip from the west coast to HI? The economy plus didn't have any extras like first class, but we had considerably more leg room than the regular economy class. We were quite comfortable for our flight.

[JohnL1935]

We just landed yesterday on a nonstop to Newark on Continental. Paid around $550 pp. Airtime was around 9 hours. We were talking to a couple on the same flight and he was going on to Richmond. He said it was cheaper to go into Newark rather than Washiington or some of the other southern or mid country hubs. I don't know the time layover or cost to go south from Newark but you might expand your consideration of airlines and airports. I'm looking to go to Rome in the fall and it is around $2,300 pp non-stop out of Newark and the distance is almost the same as Hawaii. Figure that out!!

 

John L.

[Rex JRH]

Try checking out Kayak dot com. This site searches airfare and schedules on numerous other sites based many criteria. The site may not check Southwest, but it does check all of the other sites. Good Luck!;)