We’re frequently asked on Facebook where the Hawaii travel deals are from cities like Denver, Dallas, Chicago and other non-west coast locations. Hang in there and we’ll report them as soon as they materialize. There is a reason we don’t have these Hawaii deals more often.
Legacy airlines Hawaii interest has waned significantly
Over the past few years, the legacy airlines, American, Delta, and United in particular have to a large degree lost interest in Hawaii. Their intention is to use Hawaii routes for their frequent fliers who are willing to pay more in order to accrue miles in their frequent flier programs. This is one reason why Hawaiian Airlines has a problem with their New York route, even though the cost is often quite reasonable. Frequent fliers stay with their brand, especially when a base 10,000 miles is at stake and up to 20,000 when doubled for most frequent fliers. These routes also serve to burn up frequent flier miles when customers buy Hawaii tickets using their accumulated miles. While this scenario doesn’t reflect the totality of the situation, it is the main reason we don’t see more Hawaii deals from these carriers.
West Coast has the majority of the Hawaii deals
Two carriers continue to battle for Hawaii dominance from the west coast, Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines. They are competing primarily from San Diego, the San Francisco Bay area and the Pacific Northwest. Thus we find more competitive pricing and recurring Hawaii airfare sales on these routes. Because they do not compete directly on Los Angeles, however, that important city is left out of most fare sales. Allegiant Air is also competing on Hawaii routes from Bellingham, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The other Hawaii airlines have not for the most part found it necessary to compete with Allegiant. Allegiant offers a low cost, low service model that has not of yet taken hold to any large degree.
Beat of Hawaii photo taken at Waimanolo Beach, Oahu
I’m no snob–give me those Allegiant fares–I’ll be able to go more often and leave my bucks IN Hawaii! With airlines cutting back on so many “amenities,” Allegiant isn’t much different than flying coach. And you really don’t need to check a bag or have a seat assignment!
I am using my long held United miles to come over soon. It was easy to book the award trip on the United site – which was amazing and a happy thing. Now I want to get rid of that mileage card !