ALERT: Southwest & ATA Hawaii airfare sales

I just received a virtual “Aloha!” e-mail from Southwest Airlines announcing the airline’s “Sunshine in September” sale, which included flights between California and Hawaii. Hoping that airfares had dropped since I blogged about them last week, I decided to investigate.

Deal or No Deal? Southwest’s sale applies to flights taken between September 5 and 30, 2007. One-way airfares to Maui, Kauai and Hilo (Big Island) are $189-$279 before taxes and fees. Sale fares are valid for departures from LAX, Burbank (BUR), Ontario (ONT) and Orange County (SNA) airports. The cheapest round-trip airfare to Maui in September came to $419.10 including taxes and fees. That was more expensive than flying with other major airlines, such as United ($377) and Continental ($361) — no deal here.

As I searched for better airfares on other airlines, I found that ATA was offering its own Sizzlin’ Summer Savings. Flights from LAX, BUR or ONT to/from Honolulu, Maui, and Kona or Hilo cost $129-$199 each way, excluding taxes and fees (flights from SNA were available only to/from Honolulu). These sale fares are valid for travel through mid-December. The cheapest round-trip airfare to Honolulu came to $277.30, including taxes and fees. But I easily found matching fares on Delta and Northwest Airlines, so ATA was not necessarily the best bargain.

Any money saving tips for flights to the neighbor islands? Chime in below in the Comments area.

When: You must book Southwest’s sale fares online before midnight (CST) on August 30 for travel September 5-30, 2007; a 10-day advance purchase is also required. ATA’s sale fares are valid for travel on select weekdays (Mon.-Thurs.) through December 14 for flights after today to Kona, after September 10 to Hilo or Maui and after September 25 to Honolulu; black-out dates are November 11-26, 2007.

Caveat: Southwest Airlines flights may be operated by ATA, and vice-versa.

Why Go: Sometimes Southwest and ATA fares are lower than what major airlines are charging.

Why Not: For dates when round-trips flights to Hawaii cost the same on Southwest and ATA as with major carriers, wouldn’t you rather fly with more amenities (e.g., window/aisle/exit-row seats that can be reserved in advance)?

Contact: Southwest Airlines, 800-435-9792
ATA, 800-435-9282

Related Los Angeles Times links:
Hawaii: Autumn airfares still falling
Hawaii: Get 10–12k American Airlines miles
ALERT: go! Hawaii inter-island airfare sale

– Sara Benson, L.A. Times Travel Deal Detective

[Photo credit: LAT / Gail Fisher]

Permalink | E-mail | Print | Add to My Trips

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 4:39 am by Sara Benson and is filed under Fall, Hawaii, Hawaii's Big Island, Islands & Beaches, Kauai, Maui, 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.