The winter deals for warm and sunny places have been nonstop lately — now, you can book flights to Hawaii starting at $217 round-trip.
These fares are especially convenient if you live on the West Coast, since many cities in California — along with Portland, Oregon, and Seattle — have a lot of marked-down routes to the Hawaiian cities Honolulu, Kahului, Kailua-Kona and Hilo.
The travel dates for these flights are primarily from January to March, so this is one of the best times to plan a trip to Hawaii, given how many airlines have slashed fares.
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These fares are expected to last for the next couple days, so we recommend booking as soon as possible.
Deal basics
Airlines: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines.
Routes: Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, New York, San Francisco and other cities have discounted routes to multiple destinations in Hawaii.
How to book: Use Google Flights to determine your best dates, then book directly with the airline of your choice.
Travel dates: January to March.
Book by: The next one to two days.
Kudos to Scott’s Cheap Flights for finding this deal. The site’s Premium membership — which includes a 14-day free trial — costs $49 a year and offers discounts of up to 90%. The Elite membership also flags premium, business-class and first-class deals.
Sample flights
You can get cheap flights to Hawaii from many major U.S. cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. There’s also a lot of availability from smaller cities on the West Coast such as Long Beach, California, and Medford, Oregon.
Here are some flights that stood out to us:
- American, Delta, Hawaiian and United: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Kahului Airport (OGG), starting at $217.
- Hawaiian and United: San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), starting at $237.
- Delta: Portland International Airport (PDX) to Kona International Airport (KOA), starting at $247 (includes a layover in Los Angeles).
- Hawaiian: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Hilo International Airport (ITO), starting at $396 (includes a layover in Honolulu).
- American: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) to OGG, starting at $411 (includes a layover in Dallas).
- United: Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to KOA, starting at $447 (includes a layover in San Francisco).
- Alaska: Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to HNL, starting at $522 (includes a layover in Seattle).
We recommend searching through Google Flights to find your ideal dates and then booking directly on the airline’s website; direct airline bookings are more dependable in the event your flight is delayed, canceled or has a booking change.
For a Jan. 31 trip to Honolulu from Newark, Alaska offers a flight at 7 a.m., which also includes a layover in Seattle.
When departing from Honolulu, Alaska has a flight at 10:30 p.m. — the returning flight has a layover in Los Angeles.
Remember that these cheap fares to Hawaii are only for basic economy. Alaska’s basic economy fare, known as the Saver option, does not include seat selection or allow passengers to change their tickets. Passengers can bring a free carry-on and checked baggage costs $30 one-way.
While some airlines charge additional fees for seat selection when flying basic economy, Alaska does not let its Saver flyers pick a seat. To select seats for your flights, you’d need to upgrade to Alaska’s Main option for an additional $170.
Maximize your purchase
Be sure to use a card that earns bonus points on airfare purchases, like The Platinum Card® from American Express (5 points per dollar on airfare booked directly with the airline or through American Express Travel, on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year), Citi Prestige® Card (5 points per dollar on airfare), Citi Premier® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve (3 points per dollar on airfare), American Express® Gold Card (3 points per dollar on airfare when booked directly with the airline or through Amex Travel) or the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (2 points per dollar on travel). Check out this post for more on maximizing airfare purchases.
The information for the Citi Prestige Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Bottom line
With its warm temperatures in the middle of winter, Hawaii is perfect for a quick getaway. Typically, flying to Hawaii can be an expensive ordeal, but with these cheap fares, you can save hundreds of dollars on your flights — some of which are discounted by as much as 65%.
Even though these cheap flights are only for basic economy, it’s still worth booking if you want a quick trip to somewhere warm in the winter.
