Inter-Island Airfares: Up to $433 Round Trip!
There’s been little fanfare, but the cost of flying between the Hawaiian islands has just risen again. It’s ironic since we are currently seeing some of the most active discounting in the past couple of years on mainland to Hawaii airfares.
With no real competition and diminishing traffic, our two airlines, Hawaiian and Go!, are completely back in control. Unfortunately for visitors, this makes the idea of a trip to multiple islands sometimes cost prohibitive. For those of us who live here, our “bus” is no longer ridden as much.
Between Oahu and Neighbor Islands
Base fares are now at $63 each way, when you can find them, and they range all the way up to $138. That means a simple round-trip between Oahu and any of the neighbor islands could cost (including tax) a whopping $288.00.
Between Neighbor Islands
A flight between any of the main neighbor islands, such as Maui to Kauai or the Big Island will set you back from $85 to $204 each way, which can amount to as much as $433 round trip. I’m not sure, but haven’t these just become some of the most expensive domestic airfares based on cost per mile?
My suggestions
- Take advantage of the plethora of non-stop flights between the mainland and Hawaii’s neighbor islands. If you’re planning to visit only one island, this can be less expensive than adding an inter-island flight in Honolulu.
- Buy inter-island flights as part of a through fare. In other words, pricing from Chicago to Kauai will in most cases be far less expensive than from Chicago to Honolulu plus Honolulu to Kauai.
- When visiting multiple islands, fly directly from the mainland to one island and directly from the other island back to the mainland. That way you’ll only have to pay for a single inter-island fare. This works when you can buy either open jaw or one-way fares. These are typically available on Alaska and Hawaiian, although we just saw a series of one-way fares available on United as well.
- Book early. As soon as you have travel plans, reserve any inter-island flights you need. We’re no longer seeing as many last minute deals.
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Upon receipt of your alert today, I checked for a flight we wish to make on Feb 4/5 of next year. Hawaiian was $184/ rt per person from Maui Kahului to Kona; Go! however, was a whopping $308 each way Ogg to KOA. This is beyond insane -of particular interest, wasn’t Go! and their low low fares pretty responsible for sinking the super ferry?
Thanks for your comment Judy.
I’m glad that the heads up was of use. It can break either way as to which airline is cheaper at any point in time, so it pays to check both as you did.
Aloha, Jeff
Isn’t this price fixing and illegal? I can’t believe how ridiculous this has gotten. It’s cheaper to fly to the mainland than other islands especially if its traveling outside oahu. I shelled out 35k HA miles for my gf and I to go to kauai next month from maui because i didn’t want to pay $400 for the two of us. I never would have thought that would have been a good deal! they should be promoting interisland travel in this economy rather than pricing us out of it. and to think that at this time last summer you could fly for as low as 50$round trip! Really disappointing.
Hi Greg,
I’m not sure its price fixing, but no one likes it. There just isn’t any competition. Hawaiian runs the show, and Go! is a very minor player. I don’t think it would take much for Go! to be gone entirely.
Aloha, Jeff
Great tips and good looking new site
I’m just looking into Hawaiian Air flights from Kauai to Maui Oct 8th and the round trip comes to 262! Have you heard of any inter-island break in these high fares coming our way???? These are scary prices!!!!!
Hi Joan,
Thanks for your comment. Actually, at this point, $262 between neighbor islands would be considered a good fare. There is no reason to expect any break in these fares until something changes in this marketplace. There is no competition.
Aloha, Jeff
Boy, I am glad that I flew inter island LAST spring…….it was very reasonable with GO! (even though the service wasn’t the best, it was worth the short trip.) I will never fly inter island again if it costs nearly as much as it does to get to the islands in the first place.
I am a “shopper”
I do not search for deals to Mexico – I am only searching for my preferred destination which is Hawaii. Traditionally, Mexico is cheaper than Hawaii for hotels BUT I feel much safer personally and safer with respect to food and water in Hawaii. No travel deal to Mexico can really offset that feeling of safety in Hawaii.