When is the best time to purchase inter island flights?

This is for the trip I am planning in May 2008, so I have some time. We%26#39;re purchasing our Chicago to Honolulu tickets with miles (part of the reason that I%26#39;m planning so far out!), but we are paying out of pocket for the inter island portion to Lihue since it will cost us an additional 10,000 miles each to add the Hawaiian airlines portion. Our other (no additional cost) option was to fly to Lihue through LAX, but I decided against that one because the flight doesn%26#39;t get in until 8:30pm. That doesn%26#39;t seem like a good idea when you are traveling with a baby and a preschooler!

Here%26#39;s my question...the inter island flights seem pretty reasonable to me (but what do I know) at $39-59 for the outbound part of our trip. Should I be purchasing the inter island tickets when they ticket my Honolulu flight or should I be waiting?

Also, I don%26#39;t know if anyone knows the answer to this...it%26#39;s not a Kauai question, but it seems like there are a lot of people here that use their miles for their flights. We%26#39;re getting 4 seats on the flight from Chicago to HNL so the baby has a seat. I was thinking about not buying a seat for the baby on the Hawaiian flight. Is that going to screw us up in anyway? The only thing I could think of that might be a problem is baggage. I%26#39;d need to make sure that the gate agent doesn%26#39;t check any of our bags under the baby%26#39;s ticket.

When is the best time to purchase inter island flights?

They have been running specials (limited number of tickets of course) for as low as $9. It really doesn%26#39;t matter how far out you book them, just get them when they are cheap if you can. $39 is the ';normal'; price for a one island hop but even still, those tickets can be gone if you wait too long.

As to the baby question the island hops are short duration so there really isn%26#39;t a need to book a seat for the baby if you are ok with one on your lap for say a 1/2 hour or so.

When is the best time to purchase inter island flights?

Regarding the baby question... like you said, don%26#39;t check bags under the baby%26#39;s name for the originating flight. If they codeshare, then they can be checked to final destination. Ex: AA and Hawaiian codeshare, so when we leave next week, we will show our AA confirmation along with our Hawaiian confirmation at checkin so bags will be checked through to our final destination. Our 9-month old does not have a seat on either flight (AA was with AAdvantage miles, HA was with $39 fare). Therefore no bags will go in her name either way. (Also make sure to check on the ';legal connect time'; with your original airline for the HNL airport before booking your interisland leg.)

Keep an eye out for those $9 fare wars. Sure, we spent ';too much'; by jumping on the $39 fare a while back and saw other options for $9 - but oh well. We did take advantage of the $9 for a day trip over to the Big Island to see the volocano during our first week in Hawaii.

Have fun!

Another thing to keep in mind, is that airlines tend to change flight times periodically. So by the time next May rolls around the Chicago-Honolulu flight may have changed it%26#39;s flight times 30-60 minutes. So I find it best to wait till it is 2-4 months before the trip to buy the inter-island portion of the flights. Hawaiian Air will now charge you if you need to change the flight time after you have purchased the ticket.

If you%26#39;re able to go online and find the $19 specials or the next lowest fare of $39 one-way, I%26#39;d grab it. These two lowest fares go fast. After that they go up to $59 one way and then $79. You%26#39;ll see that as time ticks on the fares available for purchase are going up. This is GENERAL RULE OF THUMB. Now that%26#39;s not to say that they won%26#39;t throw out a doggie bone now and then for a flight that has has some seats left still. That usually happens with flights that are earlier a.m. or later evening. Most folks from the mainland are arriving around crunch time, that is high noon and early afternoon. This is when it%26#39;s hard to get the cheaper fares so if you are also arriving at crunch time grab the best deal you can find, fast.

We%26#39;ll be arriving at crunch time. If we can get flights for $39, I%26#39;m going to grab them. If there aren%26#39;t any $39 flights left, should I be holding out for a sale or just go for the $59?

Okay...so I just went back to the Hawaiian Airlines website to look at the flights and now the only fares available for my outbound flight are the $59 ones. Will they release more of the $39 ones or are they gone? Seems crazy that the $39 fares are gone for next May when it looks like $39 fares are available for next week!

I agree that it might be better to wait. Our flight for the end of June was booked in January and has changed 8 times by as much as two hours!

sdfjhalkf....Do you have any United Air miles? You can purchase R/T Aloha Air inter-island flights for 5000 United miles. If you can get the $39 special it%26#39;s probably not worth using miles but if it%26#39;s higher it may be worth it.

I would hold up and see if any of the $39 fares show up again. May is low season. Also remember that the airlines do not release all of their seats at one time. They do it in dribbles. Chances are pretty good you might see a lower fare than the $59 one way. But Hawaiian airlines just announced some major money issues and had to go through some cost cutting measures. This could go one way or the other.

Last year I booked a package in March for a trip in November. The inter-island carrier was Island Air. By the time September rolled around, they had eliminated that flight, and the next closest (available) flight was four hours later. Very luckily, we were able to fly direct and get a refund. So be careful if your itineraries are not linked. I%26#39;d recommend waiting until about 3-4 months out to start watching fares. Plus, if the wars are down to $9 now, you know it%26#39;s not too long before go! will be giving out their flights for free.