Three nights in Hawaii from $299, including air

Pleasant Holidays is extending into June its deal, announced in January, for three nights in Hawaii, including round-trip airfare from Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO), starting at $299 per person, double occupancy, plus some taxes and fees.

“These prices are the lowest I have seen in years,” e-mailed Jack E. Richards, president and chief executive of Pleasant Holidays, when asked how they compared to past summer deals.

Of course, there are a few catches:

Higher prices off Oahu: The $299 price applies to Oahu. Packages start around $400 for Kauai and Maui, and more than $500 for the Big Island.

Limited availability: Officially, the deal, called the Hawaiian Islands Getaway Sale, applies to travel through June 4, the company says. But to get the $299 rate for Oahu from LAX, for instance, you’ll mostly need to fly out on weekday afternoons. These flights seem to be selling out quickly.  And don’t expect $299 to buy you a hotel on the beach.

Tough to find: I suggest you book this deal by phone, (800) 742-9244, not online. The lowest price is so limited that you can spend forever trying to hit the magic dates on Pleasant Holidays’ website. And depending on Web traffic, package info can be slow to upload. The company agent I reached today by phone eventually found the $299 price (actually $333.50, including taxes and fees) for April 20-23 at the Queen Kapiolani Hotel in Waikiki. My return flight was a red-eye.

The bottom line: Even if you don’t get the $299 price, you’ll find good deals through this promotion. On several dates, I found three-night packages for $403 or $455 on Oahu.  Considering that round-trip airfare from the mainland was running twice that on some dates last year,  these are bargains.

— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

[Photo: Big waves off the North Shore of Oahu. Credit: Vans Triple Crown of Surfing]

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 at 4:29 pm by Jane Engle and is filed under Airline travel, Deals, Family & Kids, Frequent Flier, Hawaii, Hotels, Islands & Beaches, News, Tips & Advice, Oahu, Tours & Cruises. 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.