How to get to Hawaii affordably in school holidays?

Hoju on 18/02/2016 - 08:36

I was wondering if anyone has any advice.

We have the option of free accommodation in Maui for January 2017, which we really want to take up.
But when I look at flights they're insanely expensive at the moment.

Jetstar is saying sold out for every single day in January, which is the real issue because as far as I know they're the only exceptionally cheap airline to get to Hawaii on.
I was wondering, can they really be sold out every day this early, or do you think they just haven't released seats for January 2017 yet?

I also have enough qantas FF points to get the seats on points, but when I look now there are only flights on partner airlines that means being routed via vanuatu then fiji to get to honolulu!

Is it likely that Qantas/Jetstar would release some award seats during this Dec/Jan period at a later date or do they just not get released at all during this peak sort of period?

The other option is to just sell my Qantas points, around 350,000 of them and use the money to subsidise the other expensive fares but it seems such a waste.

Are there any other airlines I should be considering, or possible routes? I thought about getting to LA the cheapest way possible then doubling back to honolulu but it seems like a seriously painful expedition, not sure if that would be worth it. Or I guess I could see what's leaving Brisbane to Honolulu and then find a short flight there.

Any thoughts on the intricacies of peak travel would be really very much appreciated.
Thanks

TLDR: want to fly to Hawaii in peak season, should I wait for cheaper fares / will some be released later

Travel

Comments

  • djones145 on 18/02/2016 - 08:58

    Hawaiian airlines?
    they are pretty good and cheap, luggage allowance is best of the lot, 2 * 32kg plus 2 personal items on the plane

    https://www.hawaiianairlines.com.au/Book/FlightResults#/segm…

    couldn't book past 15 January 20167 and the system craped out when I tried
    prolly need to wait a bit

    • Hoju on 18/02/2016 - 09:01

      Thanks for the suggestion I tried them and it came up with over $10,000 for 4 of us! Though it's true I couldn't check after mid January so I just tried up until then.

      • djones145 on 18/02/2016 - 09:02

        that's interesting

        I looked at oct and it was 800 return

        there sale period doesn't cover jan so you prolly need to wait

  • inherentchoice on 18/02/2016 - 10:14

    Air Asia is actually planning to launch a service to Hawaii starting from December 2016. It will be a massive detour via KL and Osaka, but it could still be cheaper… especially if they have a special sale price when they launch the route.

    http://www.centreforaviation.tv/ceo-update/airasia-x-ceo-upd…

    • Hoju on 18/02/2016 - 10:24

      Wow interesting news thank you. We first flew to Hawaii 9 years ago on Jetstar when they launched the new route and yep it was $249 return! Would be amazing if air Asia did something similar :)

      • inherentchoice on 18/02/2016 - 10:29

        Your travel date is still 10-11 months away so wait and see if a sale comes up. I think Jetstar hasn't sold out on any of it's flights to HNL in January, it just hasn't released them for sale yet. Even for flights next February it says "sold out". Highly unlikely.

        I think just wait and as long as Jetstar doesn't withdraw from the route then SYD-HNL flights will be available soon. I can see that they're selling flights until 31 December right now and a Christmas Eve flight is only $274. You can also ask Jetstar via a facebook message. They're pretty good at replying.

        • Hoju on 18/02/2016 - 10:44

          Thanks for the Facebook idea, I've called the call centre but they appear very uncertain so maybe I'll try that. Hopefully more seats come out then.

        • Hoju on 18/02/2016 - 10:48

          Oh wait how did you find $274 for Christmas Eve? It would be tempting to just book that flight at that price and worry about the return later. I come up with $569 though.

        • inherentchoice on 18/02/2016 - 11:00

          @Hoju: Ah I made a mistake sorry. $274 on Christmas Eve is from HNL to SYD.

  • Randxyz123 on 18/02/2016 - 12:30

    I don't think Qantas has updated their website with flights for next year yet. Jetstar probably hasn't either because they wouldn't be sold out yet for Feb. They just wouldn't.

    Are you a high status on with Qantas ? If so the premium line is usually helpful at seeing if there are flights from other cities

    I just did a search departing on the 28th of Dec and returning on the 28th of Jan it is $1961 per adult. This is via Sydney and Honolulu. You might be better off booking to Honolulu and then trying to get a cheap flight to Maui. If you leave later in Jan (around the 7th and return in early Feb (say the 3rd) Brisbane to Honolulu is 70,000 points per adult. It's not showing me how much the taxes are for some reason though(maybe because I don't have enough points for 4 tickets).

    There are also deals through I Want That Flight to LA but I don't think the dates match with the end of the year yet. Would be worth keeping an eye on though.

    Selling your points is a waste of money. You'd be better off saving them for a parents only holiday in the future :) or upgrading the adults only.

    Also had a look at jetstar and there's a little message at the bottom of the date selector that says "Flights may be booked approximately 9 months in advance". So you might want to hold off for a month or 2. Flights departing are about $700 so flying with them might be cheaper.

    Sorry for the long post hopefully it is kinda helpful but basically

    TL;DR Wait for another 2 or 3 months and there might be more flights.

    • Hoju on 18/02/2016 - 13:14

      Thank you, I hadn't spotted the 9 months clause, hopefully that provides a solution! I would love to be able to use points, its only 56,000 and about $200 taxes so maybe when the seats start getting released for next year they'll have some award seats included in that with Jetstar.

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