Putting Hawaii travel costs in perspective. From the Honolulu Clipper take off to today’s landing.
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191 thoughts on “Prices Went From $5,500 To $99 As Air Travel Reshaped Hawaii”
Putting Hawaii travel costs in perspective. From the Honolulu Clipper take off to today’s landing.
Our first flight to Hawaii was more recent, in May 2022.
We flew on Alaska Air from ORD to HNL. It was part of a package that included airfare, 7 nights at the Waikiki Resort Hotel & a rental car, & the total price was about $2700.00 with taxes & fees. I think the airfare part of that was about $1100.00 for the 2 of us.
We had wanted to visit Hawaii for some time but it seemed cost-prohibitive. Then I found a travel site affiliated with AAFES, & on a lark searched some vacation packages. Finding this we decided to go for it, & the trip was wonderful!
August 1980. United Airlines. My ticket was about $300.
1st time over was in ’54 on the S.S. Lurline. What a Great trip for a 7 year old boy. The 2nd was 2 years later on a NWA DC-6 after Dad was out of the Army. The pilots invited me into the cockpit for about an hour. Right then, I decided that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So between my years flying in the USN, two airlines and being HNL based for years, I’ve made literally 100’s of trips in/out of “Paradise”.
In the ’50s, Grandpa played checkers with his local buddies at Kuhio Beach, swapping sea stories and lies with them. Mom met Duke Kahanamoku and got a few “surfing lessons” from his “Waikiki Beach Boys”.
Great times. I still miss the “old Waikiki” of the ’50s and ’60s …
Thank you for your service!
On my wall I have two very nice black and white pictures of the “Hawaii Clipper’s” first flight out of Pearl Harbor. These were taken by Tai Sing Loo who photographed many events at Pearl Harbor and around Hawaii. I got them from my uncle who got them from my grandfather who lived in Aiea Heights.
One is of the plane accelerating on the water, the other is of the plane moored to the dock and draped with leis. A young girl also covered in leis is sitting on the nose with “Hawaii Clipper” clearly visible below her.
The newspaper article taped to the back of the picture states that the flight left San Francisco on it’s way to Honolulu on November 22, 1935. It arrived in Hawaii the next day, November 23, 1935.
Dec 1975 and I had just turned 18. I came over by myself and received the flight and stay in kauai at coco palms as a Xmas gift from the firm I worked for. What a sweet gift! I instantly fell in love with the islands and have been coming back at least once a year, and sometimes 3x/year to all the different islands for the past 49 years!
My first trip to Honolulu was not for pleasure. I was in the Navy and flew on a chartered flight from Travis AFB in California. The flight had its first stop in Honolulu. This was in January 1970 and we were dressed in winter wool uniforms. While the stop was brief, I thought this was a special place and was determined to come back some day. The flight left Honolulu and next landed on Wake Island and then on to my stop in Yokota AFB in Japan. I have been fortunate to have been able to return to the islands twelve times since. Aloha.
Departed pdx in 1969 on a Pan Am DC-8. Went to Oahu and stayed at the Royal Hawaiian Village. Trails with live parrots and little break louge spots on the way to the lagoon. Fresh leis on your pillows every morning you came back to the hotel. Real puka necklaces sold outside the hotel by real native Hawaiians that made them by hand in front of you. Displays of black carved lava statues with gem eyeballs for only 2.75 cents. Homemade french crepes sold with fresh strawberries or pineapple and a ton of whip creme for about 5 bucks in the ala moana shopping center upper floor. My question is really where did that kind of culture dissappear to. Sorry it’s gone.
So eh eh . In other words don’t act hawaiian when your really not.
My Dad, Charles Barnard, was a Captain for United, retiring in 1981. He was on a layover in Honolulu when I was born in 1951. He met my Mom on her first flight as a stewardess on a DC-3. He flew everything between a DC-3 & a 747. Interestingly, his son retired as a Captain for Delta in 2018 & his grandson now flies for United Express.
My first trip to Hawaii was on a Pan Am 747 and a total blast. It was like a party from the moment we got up to altitude. The stews were glamorous and very, very friendly. Most everyone who could drink, was smashed by the time we landed. We deplaned using a large stairway and a few folks stumbled down. At the end of the stairway we were met by beautiful hula dancers and we all got leid. We stayed at the Hilton Kuilima (now Turtle Bay) and they were filming a game show at the hotel where you basically grabbed money and it was hosted by Bob Eubanks. I have returned several times since, but it was a magical time which I will always remember.
My first flight to Hawaii was in 1973 with my parents and younger sister. I’ll never forget being greeted at the airport with fresh leis placed around our necks and the sweet scent of plumeria blossoms in the air. I was so enthralled by the islands that my sister and I moved there during the summer of 1978 with $1,000 in our pockets and a week’s reservations at the Lahainaluna motel. We both found jobs and a place to live within that first week. I ended up staying for almost 8 years before moving back to the mainland. My sister stayed for only 6 months because she wanted to get her degree from the University of Texas. Living on Maui changed my life and my outook on life in a positive way forever.