If ultimate dynamic Hawaii airfare pricing isn’t enough to raise an eyebrow, another trend has just being observed by one airline that flies to Hawaii. A trend that could forecast a change in Hawaii travel and make it less advantageous and more expensive to book one-way flights to and from Hawaii.
For decades, airlines priced round-trip airfares with advance purchase and minimum night stay requirements. That was how most Hawaii tickets were sold. One-way fares were always somewhat to considerably more money. Then, about a decade ago, that all changed. When it did, it became cost-effective to book one-way tickets with more flexibility for us the consumer.
Since that happened, it has meant that flying into one island and out of another, for example, without paying extra, has been possible. Or flying over on one airline and flying back on another. While there have remained some advance purchase rules, even on one-way tickets, those, too, have been far easier to navigate in recent years. But it looks like there could be an industry trend upcoming that will change all that once again.
Could this result in some Hawaii airfare increases of over 50%?
It’s too soon to know, but one aviation geek (affectionate term) we follow from FlightRadar, Jason R., posted on X (aka Twitter) yesterday something that he noted. “
“US airlines are starting to bring back round-trip pricing for domestic flights and I Hate it.”
In his case, Jason found a Delta flight that was priced 53% higher when purchased as two one-way tickets compared with a roundtrip.
“This JFK-PIT-JFK @Delta itinerary prices at $262.80 if booked as a round trip, but $233.90 and $168.90 if booked separately. That’s a 53% increase in price!” — https://twitter.com/AirlineFlyer/status/1706324790150037907.
Beat of Hawaii: Using Google Flights, we checked and can confirm the very same situation that Jason reported. It’s too soon to know how this will impact Hawaii flight prices, but we suspect that it may and will keep checking back. As of today, we did not find this in effect on Hawaii flights Yet.
What works for the airlines internationally may return again to Hawaii.
It has remained true when flying internationally that one-way flights can be more costly than round-trip. Your editors flew from Hawaii to Europe this summer, and the round trip fare they paid on United Airlines was about the same as a one-way ticket on the same route.
The airlines are endlessly creative when it comes to pricing. Let us know your thoughts.
Hate the airlines. Sadly like telecoms it’s a necessary evil. Given how often tax dollars bailed out the industry you’d think they’d do something good for consumers but it’s nickel and diming, further make flight’s uncomfortable etc.