Hawaii Sales
Meanwhile, as we mentioned above, it seems like everyone and their brother is advertising some sort of a winter sale. And as is the case with any fare sale, some of these are real steals while others are barely, if at all, any better than what is typically charged for these routes. Such is the case with some of the fares listed in Hawaiian Airline's (tel. 800/367-5320; www.hawaiianair.com) winter sale. For example, we found Seattle to Honolulu (nonstop roundtrip) on Hawaiian Airlines for $310 and, using the same dates, found it for $274 (nonstop roundtrip) on Northwest by using Travelocity.
Hawaiian Airlines does have some potentially good deals for those traveling inter-island. If you island hop through May 31 and, are signed up for HawaiianMiles, their frequent flyer program, you'll receive 5% off future travel (as long as it's completed by June 15) to anywhere Hawaiian flies. A roundtrip purchase, for example, would earn you %10 off. This could really add up for those booking inter-island travel for multiple passengers; five inter-island roundtrips and you're already at 50 per cent off.
Even better still is the Aloha Airlines sale which we reported earlier in the week. Aloha (tel. 800-3/67-5250; www.alohaairlines.com) states on its site that the travel period for these sale fares ends on February 28, we discovered that seats are available for the same fares, at least on Travelocity, for travel May 1 to June 13 as well.
AirTran OneWay Sale
Also in the winter sale game is AirTran (tel. 800/AIRTRAN; www.airtran.com), with some great one-way fares, some of which are being matched by United and JetBlue, and even beaten by AirTran itself on some routes, albeit with shorter travel periods. Purchase by January 18. Below are some samples;
- Atlanta to Dallas $89 one way, which United is matching.
- Boston to Orlando $79 one way, which JetBlue is matching
- Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale $129 one way
- Boston to Philly $39 one way
- Phoenix to Memphis $89 one way
- Newark to Savannah $89 one way
Spirit Sale
Spirit (tel. 800/772-7117; www.spiritairlines.com) is having another sale, really worth checking out. But hurry, the sale ends Friday, January 12 and midnight. Some sample roundtrip fares, before taxes, include:
AlaskaAir Winter WestCoast Sale
Also going on this week is the Alaska Airlines (tel. 800/426-0333; www.alaskaairlines.com) Winter West Coast Sale, offering some fairly decent one ways. The blackout dates, and there's a lot of them, for these fares are pretty restrictive but seem to relax in late April. These are for purchase by January 22 and good for travel through May 10. Fares include:
- Burbank to Portland $109 one way
- Tucson to Boise $109 one way
- Oakland to Santa Ana $49 one way
- Las Vegas to Yakima $129 one way
Los Angeles to Tokyo
Sure, Japan Airlines and Nippon both announced plans to hike fares, but you can still get a good fare to Tokyo. We found a special on Singapore Airlines (tel. 800/742-3333; www.singaporeair.com) from Los Angeles to Tokyo for $699 nonstop roundtrip. And yes, you could also fly American Airlines, Los Angeles to Tokyo, but come on; have you ever flown on Singapore Airlines? It's worth the extra $30, we promise.
George Hobica is a syndicated travel journalist and blogger whose website, www.airfarewatchdog.com, tracks unadvertised airfare wars and other fare sales.
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