Atlanta, Georgia Air Travel to Honolulu Searching on Expedia

I did a search on Expedia for flights from Atlanta, Georgia to Honolulu (HNL), Oahu, Hawaii. My searches were for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport (ATL), GA. I'm tracking prices and trends, so for a search on the last day of February, I found general average cheapest prices of:

Mar 5-11: $800

Mar 12-18: $700 but prices way up on both weekends

Mar 19-25: $580

March 26-April 1st: $700

Month of April: $780

May: $700

June: $800

July: $820

August: $750

September: $740

October: $750

November: $820

December: $800 but way up near Christmas

Chicago to Honolulu Fares Using Expedia Comparison

I used Expedia's Comparison Engine to track Hawaii flight prices from Chicago, IL to Honolulu, both from Ohare (ord) and Midway (mdw). I found general average lowest prices of:

These prices are from O'Hare Airport (ORD)

This week: $800

Mar 5-11: $600

March 12-18: $580

March 19-25: $650

March 26-April 1st: $600

April 2-8: $680

Apr 9-15: $650

April 16-22: $680

April 23-29: $600

Month of May: $600

Month of June: $700

Month of July: $750

Month of August: $700

Month of September: $650

Month of October: $650

Month of November: $780

Month of December: $800

Now from Midway Airport (MDW), Chicago Illinois

March: $690 - prices are all over the place, and seem to climb higher on the weedends than O'hare prices

April: $700

May: $650

June: $800

... There does not seem to be a significant price difference between the two airports.

My searches were based on one week, wednesday to wednesday travel. Anything leaving or coming back Friday through Sunday or around holidays will almost always be more, sometimes significantly more.

Airtech Cheapest Fares to Hawaii Explained - $159!

Best for: students and those with flexible travel plans

Airtech is an airline "inside trader". They are a company that sells the empty seats on pre-scheduled flights. They normally put their clients on stand-by status, but to Hawaii, starting January 2006, they no longer use the standby tickets. Now they use e-tickets with confirmed/reseated seat booking. Check current Hawaii procedures to make sure nothing has changed.

As I write this, the one way price to Hawaii starts at $159! Sometimes, you will be able to find specials at Aloha or Hawaiian close to this low, and sometimes, maybe Hotwire might come up with a deal like this, but this is the lowest consistent price you will find.

The way it works is, you buy your Epass on the site. You can choose to leave from San Francisco or Los Angeles. When you are ready to fly you contact the airtech people and they start trying to get you a on a flight. The epass can be booked within 4 days of when you are going, and you will have a reserved seat - this is not standby.

They don't guarantee they can get you a seat, but they are pretty confident they can. Check out current policies - procedures.

Some comments from people who have used airtech

Digihitch article - This is an article about airhitch.com, but there are several comments from people who say they prefer airtech and have gotten great deals with little hassle.

Booking Flights Using a Booking Engine vs the Airline Direct

I did a search at Expedia's Comparison Engine, at Orbitz, Priceline, and again at the individual airline pages. My search was from New York to Honolulu, leaving on July 7th and returning on July 14th. All of these resulting fares should be taxes and fees included and one or no stops.

Hotwire doesn't tell you who you are flying with unless you book, but their best flight was $712, coming back on a red-eye.

United Airlines
Expedia: $875
Orbitz: $877
Priceline: $874
United: $870

American Airlines
Expedia: $770
Orbitz: $772
Priceline: $769
American: American site did not let me sort by price, and they didn't show me prices until I picked a leaving and return flight out of a dozen choices, and I couldn't find a combination under $1000 before I got sick of doing that. They do show prices up front if you choose the flexible dates option, and that way their best price was $850, but the dates were off.

America West
Expedia: $1028
Orbitz: $762 when I searched at 6 am, $902 when I searched at 10:30
Priceline $758
America West: $971 * not including fees

Continental
Expedia: $866
Orbitz: $970
Priceline: $865
Continental $817.34 ** not including fees

Delta
Expedia: $1159
Orbitz: $930
Priceline $783 at 0900, $753 two hours later
Delta: $1045

Northwest
Expedia: $1616
Orbitz: $1291 ** $871 for two stops
Priceline - none
Northwest: $1521.84

US Airways
Expedia: $1664
Orbitz: $995
Priceline: $776
US Airways - US Airways site would not show me prices until I picked a departure and return flight out of several - I tried one and got a price of $1621- probably not the cheapest available. I tried to search by price and found no available economy flights in July at all.

ATA
Expedia: none
Orbitz: none
Priceline: $906
ATA said there was nothing available for the times I searched.


Most Notable Discoveries:

Priceline had the lowest price for almost every search, sometimes only by a dollar though. I'm guessing they make a small cut in their markup to make this possible.

I see no reason to go to any of the Airlines sites directly, unless you want to be really thorough. Their prices were almost always higher than what the discounts seen at the sites giving you comparisons and choices.

Airline sites that offer a lowest fare guarantee on their site were only lower by a few dollars.

Searching at different times of the day can make the fares hundreds of dollars lower - if you don't like the price you see, try again in two hours

Two or more stops can save you money only sometimes. Use the comparison engines to figure this out easily

Flight Prices Hold Steady

I have seen no significant changes in flight prices from JFK to HNL, no matter how last minute you want to book. Even spring break week is still inexpensive. Not flying on weekends still seems to be the best way to save money on any trip.