Fares to Hawaii take a dip. Need to act fast, though. Kauai pictured here. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
UPDATE! United’s been on a tear this week with tons of low fares for winter trips from the Bay Area- we can barely keep up! First it was Hawaii at $325, then South Florida for $251, then SFO-Boston for just $197 in basic economy, $228 regular (even during peak summer) and now SFO-HNL or Maui (OGG) are back and even lower at $299-$305- and these fares are good November thru May and then again in August and September. And there’s even more: How about SFO-LAX for just $73 roundtrip in basic economy, $110 in regular. Yep, and it’s good for trips late November through end of February. Grab ’em while they are hot! All fares found on Google Flights & United.com and subject to change.
>>Here’s the original post from last week.
Whenever we see fares to Hawaii from the west coast dip below $400, we jump. Over the last year it has been rare to see anything below $399. That changed this week when roundtrip fares dipped quietly closer to $300.
The airlines are not making a big deal about this, but we are!
Today we are seeing some very nice deals for winter travel to the islands– most at around $325 round trip between the Bay Area, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle and Honolulu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii. (This applies to both nonstop and one stop flights.) Interestingly, this does not apply (yet) to flights from LAX where fares remain above the $400 mark, but not by much, at around $410.
UPDATE #2: As of 3 pm on Oct 24, these fares are already drifting higher– most $325 fares are now closer to $350.
UPDATE #3: We are now finding flights available for deep peak summer for just $325-$345, mostly SFO-HNL in late August and early September
UPDATE #4: Weds Oct 25 7 am– the lowest roundtrip fares are now in the $375 range- not $325 any more, but still a good deal for winter trips to Hawaii. Most remaining discounts appear to be on flights to Maui (OGG).
Update #5: Weds 5 pm This sale appears to be slowing down however we are still finding SFO-Honolulu or Maui on Virgin America for $345 Nov-May and also in late August. That’s a very good deal.
Fares for mid-Late November between SFO and Hawaiian Islands (Google Flights)
What’s even better about this is a nice big window for travel– it starts in November and goes all the way to May. Of course this does not include the Christmas/New Year’s holiday period, but it does include spring break months of March and April (excluding the week before Easter). First class fares from the west coast are at about $1,000 roundtrip.
As of today, its mostly United and Hawaiian that are offering the low fares, but keep an eye out for matches from Alaska Air and Virgin America.
As of this morning (Tues Oct 24) we have found the following deals on Google Flights and as always clicked thru to airline sites to confirm:
- San Francisco or San Jose to Maui: $325
- San Francisco to Honolulu or Kauai: $333
- San Diego to Honolulu, Maui or Kauai $338
- Sacramento to Honolulu or Maui: $366 (one stop in SFO)
- Seattle-Honolulu $348 (one stop in LAX)
- Portland to Honolulu $333 (one stop)
San Francisco to Maui nonstop for just $325 in February is a great deal. Go grab it! (Google Flights)
Right now it appears that United is leading this sale with the most sale fares. Keep in mind that this could change rapidly– the airlines might just be “testing the waters” to see how low they must go to stimulate demand.
As always during the slower fall and winter months, it’s important to act fast on these un-publicized sales. If you see a fare that works for you, grab it because it likely will not last.
What’s a “good” deal to you when it comes to Hawaii? What’s the least you’ve ever paid to fly there? Please leave your comments below.
Get that $325 roundtrip fare nearly every day in cold dark Jan and Feb and get to paradise! (Google Flights)
Aloha!
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While it gets increasingly rare to find good deals to Hawaii as the weather cools off, we are probably going to see a lot of interesting moves by airlines as they prepare for Southwest’s entry into the market https://travelskills.com/2017/10/12/confirmed-southwest-fly-hawaii/
Sounds good. I must not understand how to use Google Flights very well. I can get my screen to look like yours with the green prices highlighted, but as soon as I click on a departure date, it shows that the actual price is only for a flight returning the same day. If I choose a return flight that is a week later, it is $100-200 more. I’ll study it and hopefully find a cheap flight to LIH for Feb. Maybe there will be a fare war later this year…
Sorry you missed out on the LIH flights, but as you can see on the post image from Google Flights, they were $333 when we posted this yesterday morning. Happy to report that I got one of em! Aloha!
I’m using the calendar function. SFO to LIH in January and Feb 2018 are listed as $538-$820, same as it was yesterday. Here it is: https://www.google.com/flights/#flt=/m/0d6lp..2017-11-10*./m/0d6lp.2017-11-14;c:USD;e:1;sd:1;t:h
Check now and you can still go to Maui from SFO for $377.. But that’s about all that’s left of this sale right now.
I checked tuesday at 5pm… 🙁
We love to hear that! Have a fantastic trip and let us know how it goes.
As stated in the post, the prices we posted were available on Tuesday Oct 24 and are subject to change. These are “you snooze you lose” type fares so be sure to sign up for our emails or FB page to get in the game earlier next time.
Hi there.. as stated in the post, these prices are subject to change, but I just did a quick check and am still finding several round trips for trips from two days to two weeks for $377 in Jan-May of next year. Are you using the calendar function when searching? That’s the easiest way to see the cheapest days. Hope that helps!
Were the prices you quoted for trips lasting only one day? It seems that the prices on Google Flights are very cheap if you fly to Hawaii and return the same day or the following day. But those prices are not worth reporting.
SFO to Kauai isn’t $333, it is $543.
Nice work! Just snagged SFO-HNL-SFO for $345. Haven’t seen anything under $400 in a long time. Thanks!
Good to hear you say that, Dean cuz I know you know the market very well. Let’s see how long they last.
Fantastic news! These are some of the lowest Hawaii fares I have seen in a couple of years.
Thank You I’ll check it out.
United flies to SFO first, then on to several cities in Hawaii. The SMF deal is for one-stop flights and right now it appears that the cheapest flights are to Maui, not Honolulu.
Does United fly out of Sacramento to Honolulu or Maui.