Flights - Vent

WinstonsGirl

Sorry to vent, but I just watched flights to Hawaii jump to $700 there between dinner and now.  We're looking to leave on a Wednesday - mid week!! and come back the Friday week after.  The Friday price jumped this morning to $400, but the $700 price to get there is killing me.  It's mid-week!!  This is the same now as flying Saturday.  Please tell me Air Canada or West Jet will drop their prices sometime before March, otherwise we might be hitchhiking there.    Have you guys often seen seat sales for March dates??  I figure they can't stay this high until then

maui2011

No worries...the fares should go down.  Initially we were going on points with United...had an awesome flight from Ottawa to Chicago then Chicago to Maui...nonstop...arriving at like 2 pm but with all the changes going on now with United we decided to cancel and purchase tickets as AC was having an awesome seat sale...$289 each way from Ottawa to Maui via Vancouver.  If you want to avoid the states then i would go with westjet as AC only flies to Maui on Saturdays.  Not sure what part of the country you live...i am planning to do a shout out to all the Canadian Hawaii Knotties to see what parts of the country everyone is from. I would track the prices on flight network and on ACs/westjets website...with AC you may not be able to go the whole trip with them on a Wednesday but you will be able to return with them on a Saturday.  We purchased our tix towards the end of May for our September wedding...could have saved an additional 15% if we would have waited a bit do to the strike. HTH! J. :-)

WinstonsGirl

We're Edmonton to Honolulu, so lots of flights, at elast 1 a day from Vancouver.  I had the strike promo too, but travel had to be finished by December I think.  I've also got a 15% off I won through their last contest, so I'm hoping to get both legs for similar price, otherwise we would have booked return already.  That leg just went up again to $700 too. 

maui2011

Sorry very presumptuous of me to think you were going to Maui. I'm sure the price will go down again just keep looking but don't get too obsessed or else it will drive you crazy...trust me...lol.  Did you purchase your departure tix already...if so was it more than $300 the one way? Thx. J. :-)

breaness

I honestly haven't even looked at the prices since we booked because I knew it would depress me to see if they dropped, which I'm sure they have. I would recommend waiting a little while to see if they drop, but don't wait too long as flights do book up!

WinstonsGirl

We haven't booked anything yet, as we were trying to figure out when we could get off work.  I also wanted to use that 15% we had, and was hoping to use it on a return flight.  And yes, I am driving myself crazy, but I can't stop checking to see if they've dropped again.  I'm sure not for a few weeks as they jsut went up. 

fabutan

No worries, I'm absolutely certain that prices will drop closer to the time...so it's best to sit tight for now.  You're currently more than half a year out, so it's much too early to book flights.  I'm pretty sure prices will drop 3-5 months beforehand.  Keep looking out for seat sales or promotion codes...subscribe to the airline newsletters/e-mail offers.  You can also track airfare on sites such as Yapta and view graphs that track flight prices to get a ballpark idea of how low they can go.

In our case, we waited until the last minute to book our airfare and saved a bundle.  However, my parents caught a sale early on and it worked for them...it all depends...  

We found it was useful to book accommodation first (before flights).  Mainly, because hotel rates are cheaper and condos also have more availability the earlier you book. 

Early booking doesn't necessarily work for airfare, but we've found it applies to accommodation (at least in Hawaii).  HTH!!  

maui2011

Yep...fabutan is right on!

I know it is hard but seriously you need to stop the search at least till the end of this month. Concentrate on finding accommodations and other wedding related activities.  I can give you the coordinates to my mom's travel agent if you like...she is based in Ottawa but i am sure she can assist you over the phone...she was able to get some good deals for some of our guests.  We booked our tix ourselves when i was absolutely at my wits end with United and i looked up westjet and i think their sale was over $300 which i thought was good and then checked AC and they were even better so that's when we cancelled and purchased our tix.

Just so you know if we would have bought our tix in December/January on AC & Westjet it would have cost about $1000 or so return...with the seat sale we saved hundreds...around $725...but we also piad for lounge access both ways as well so that added another $65 to the fare each.

HTH! J. :-)

ktabin

I recall seeing seat sales from Saskatchewan to Honolulu last December/January for flights in April for about $400 round trip so Edmonton should have been cheaper than that (we're usually about $1200 round trip). I'm sure the price will drop again this year. 

iallrd8itWed196457

Every thursday from 1-4MST West jet has their Blue tag sale. Every week there is a different type of special but keep a close eye on it cuz it has some good prices. My bridesmaid is flying from edmonton to Maui to like $270 each way

WinstonsGirl

Thanks guys.  I get all the e-mails/flight updates, etc. form the airlines.  We've been looking into accommodations as well, we're just waiting on one piece of information from our coordinator before booking, but we've got 3 lined up just in case.  I'll send happy lower your price vibes to Air Canada!!    

SunshinyLees

Omg the same thing happened to me, I feel your pain!! Were from Vancouver and my fiance and I just recently set our date for Maui next Feb. So Im was doing some research on flight prices and noticed that Air Canada was just less than $500 return incl tax ( $189 ea way) direct from Vancouver to Maui! We hadnt received confirmation yet on our venue so we didn't want to risk booking, two days later we get confirmation, went to book and the cheapest fare went up to $825! Ugh!! I started to freak out, but im just praying prices come down again. I have signed up for fare alerts from every airline and will be stalking their sites till we get a good deal lol!

WinstonsGirl

On another point, when West Jet released their schedule for March, their prices were right where they are now, so they were never low.  To me this means they have to drop eventually!!

maui2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_hawaii_flights-vent?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:73Discussion:0e5416f9-7bc3-4dec-b57a-35ef284937c3Post:17d1df26-761b-414f-87af-e11f4acbbbd7">Re: Flights - Vent</a>:
[QUOTE]On another point, when West Jet released their schedule for March, their prices were right where they are now, so they were never low.  To me this means they have to drop eventually!!
Posted by kje_[/QUOTE]

Last Sunday on westjet return from Ottawa to Maui flying on fri/sat the price was $359...$339 i think on a Wednesday/Thursday...since i started looking at airfares since we are no longer flying on points this is the cheapest i've seen on westjet for our airport city codes.  The price they are quoting you now will drop by March...no worries. J. :-)

Made a mistake...price mentuioned above is one way not return...sorry...return would be in the $700 range from Ottawa to Maui.

WinstonsGirl

Boo Ottawa.  They're $500-$700 from Edmonton at the moment.  I really don't understand how they price these flights, other than the number of tickets left.  That's the cheapest I've seen so far from Air Canada too

maui2011

Amended my pp...sorry price mentioned is one way not return.. J. :-)

WinstonsGirl

Yup.  AC was $339 each way.  They're now about $700 each way.  West Jet hasn't been close to that yet from Edmonton,  They started high and haven't budged yet

maui2011

I would think it would be one cheaper to travel from the west coast to Hawaii versus the east coast plus they travel to Oahu more than Maui.  I would mos def wait...the prices will go down. Hang in there and congrqts on securing a place o stay. J. :-)