Airfares to Hawaii are escalating

Paradise is getting pricier.

Effective Monday, Delta Airlines will add a $110 round-trip fuel surcharge to its LAX-Honolulu (HNL) flights, according to a notice posted Friday on Pleasant Holiday’s website. Pleasant, in business since 1959 and now a subsidiary of the Auto Club of Southern California, is noted for its package travel to Hawaii and other locations.

Meanwhile, some LAX-Honolulu airfares, which began an upward climb after ATA and Aloha airlines went out of business in recent weeks, have topped the $800 mark for mid-summer travel. A check Friday of Orbitz found a fare of $663 on Delta (that’s without a fuel surcharge) leaving July 16 and returning July 23, and a fare of $806 on Hawaiian and Northwest, leaving July 18 and returning July 25. (These fares may no longer be available.)

The picture is better for mid-August. Orbitz on Friday showed a fare of $584 for a nonstop Northwest flight leaving Aug. 13 and returning Aug. 20. That jumps to $683 with a Friday departure on Northwest (Aug. 15, returning Aug. 22). Both fares include a red-eye on the return part of the trip (but these may no longer be available either).

By September, fares are settling back into the $425 range; Northwest has that fare for a Sept. 11-18 trip, a check of Sidestep.com shows. That return trip is still a red-eye but I’m happy to stay away for that chunk of savings.

The other bright spot may be this: Pleasant is offering a five-night package (hotel, air) to the Big Island from $479, although my attempts to find a flight to Kona (KOA) failed when I tried on Friday evening. Travel must be booked by May 26 for trips June 15 to Aug. 31.

Pleasant is also touting packages to Oahu from $505, Maui from $525 and Kauai from $499.

— Catharine Hamm, Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

[Photo: Green sea turtle plies Hawaiian waters / Cynthia Hankins]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 11:08 am by Catharine Hamm and is filed under Frequent Flier, Hawaii, Hawaii's Big Island, Honeymoon, Spa & Romance, Islands & Beaches, Kauai, Lanai, Maui, Molokai, News, Tips & Advice, Oahu. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.