How to Estimate Airfare to Hawaii

Hawaii is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the world. Finding affordable airfare to Hawaii from any destination can be a challenge if not planned months in advance. This guide will help you find cheap plane tickets to Hawaii no matter which island you are planning to visit.

Depending on where you are in the world, tickets to Hawaii generally range from $500 to $1000 per person if purchased within a month of the flight. In order to decrease this cost, there are numerous methods you can take to assure you have money leftover to spend while you are in Hawaii.

One way to save money on flights to Hawaii is to mix-and-match airlines. Some online travel agencies like Expedia, Kayak, and Travelocity now give you the option of mixing and matching airlines in order to decrease the cost of your plane tickets.

What is Mixing-and-Matching?

Mixing-and-matching airlines means that you fly to Hawaii on one airline, and leave on another. People have been using this method for years, but only recently, sites like Expedia have been pairing flights together like this in order to make cheaper round-trip tickets.

In the past, a person would have to buy two one-way tickets from different airlines. This method was not as effective as the cost of two one-way tickets was usually equal-to or greater than the cost of a roundtrip ticket on one airline.

Now, you have the opportunity to mix-and-match on travel agent websites, which has been helpful to those who want to fly to smaller islands in Hawaii.

If you want to fly to Oahu, which is the island that holds our capital, Honolulu, you will not have trouble finding non-stop tickets to the Honolulu airport. If you want to fly to any of the other islands (like the Big Island or Maui), you may have difficulty finding a one-way ticket.

Other than the Honolulu airport, Hawaii's airports are generally very small and some are even outdoors. When local residents fly in and out of the state, they usually fly to Oahu first and then off to their destination.

Tickets are cheaper on inter-island flights, so most locals use that to their advantage. If you are visiting Maui from the mainland (continental US), you will want to buy a ticket from your city to the Honolulu airport (HOU) and then purchase another one to Maui.

On Mokulele Airlines, you can get an inter-island ticket for as cheap as $40 USD.

If you really want to save money on airfare to Hawaii, depart and return on "off-days" or weekdays. Generally, tickets departing from Friday to Sunday are more expensive than those leaving during the week. Not only will leaving during the week save you money, but it will also save you time at airports. Hawaiian airports are usually full of tourists from all over the world and most of them visit during the week, but fly in and out during the weekend.

Another way to save on tickets to Hawaii is to fly on red-eye flights. Red-eye flights leave at nighttime and generally land early in the morning. These flights not only cost less, but are less crowded, giving you plenty of time to sleep and spread out.