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May 27, 2008

My Hawaiian Friends Get Mini Airfare War — Hope It Expands

Filed under: Airlines, Airfare Sales — Rick Seaney @ 12:40 am

On Saturday at 5pm, Continental Airlines inexplicably fired out an incredibly cheap airfare from Los Angeles to Honolulu for $257 (including fuel surcharge - plus fees, travel starting August 16th).

These tickets have been going for at minimum twice that price lately and in some cases for June and July four times that price.

In obvious retaliation on Sunday at 5pm, United - not to be out done — fired out similar price airfare from Continentals hubs in Newark and Houston to Honolulu (travel Mon-Thur Departing after August 20) and the mini battle began — fuel or no fuel. Charlotte, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were added into the mix.

Here is the current skirmish cities — take advantage while you can this probably won’t last long:

Continental, Charlotte to Honolulu $271 (Fare Code: SRWL21N)
United, Newark to Honolulu $245 (Fare Code: SLO213NH)
United, Houston to Honolulu $247 (Fare Code: SLO213NH), $291 (Fare Code: WLOE303N)
Continental, Los Angeles to Honolulu, $257 (Fare Code: XLWE7N ) $308 (Fare Code: XLOE21N)
Continental, Philadelphia to Honolulu, $260 (Fare Code: TLOE21N)
Continental, Pittsburgh to Honolulu, $228 (Fare Code: SRWL21N)

Let’s hope the “war” extends to other airlines, my buddies in Hawaii need all the help they can get …

« Frontier to Raise Fee for Transporting…Antlers?! Continental Pilot “Startled” — By a Rocket? Or What?? »

4 Comments »

this is a great deal, thanks, rick! i bought two trips from houston on united for myself in 2009 (get a head start on requalifying for 1k for ‘10) and one trip for my parents. the united flights are upgradeable with miles, if you have enough and there’s availability. (continental charges a monetary fee in addition to miles to upgrade, so it’s possible, but both more expensive and trickier.)

Comment by karen kay — May 27, 2008 @ 2:08 am
We needed a break out here since inter-island fares are close to $200 now. I booked to Houston for $287 on United. Unheard of!!

Comment by casey — May 27, 2008 @ 5:03 am
Hi Rick - I just ran across your blog this morning.

These deals are almost unbelievable, but I’m so happy to see them! I’m an unbiased Hawaii travel blogger who lives on the US East Coast, so I’m hoping to take advantage of them.

You are right that our Hawaii friends could use this shot in the arm. People seem to be too freaked out over the higher fares. What most people don’t know is that the hotels are offering deals that are more than offsetting the higher airfares. I’m seeing tons of amazing Hawaii hotel deals. I recently crunched some of these numbers for a blog post and determined that a couple would actually save money on a week’s vacation to Hawaii - even with the higher fares. A family of four would break even or possibly have to pay a little bit more - say around $20 more. That’s not bad at all.

If you can snatch one of these special airfares and take advantage of the excellent hotel rates, you’ll save a bundle!

Comment by Sheila — May 27, 2008 @ 10:08 am
Hmmmm, I wonder why didn’t I receive a farecompare email alert on this.

Comment by Del — May 28, 2008 @ 3:28 pm