From New Jersey or Philadelphia to Honolulu or Hilo

Ok, we are trying to book tickets for my sister-in-law and her daughter to come out and visit us for a little over two weeks. My husband prefers searching on Orbitz while I prefer Expedia.

She would prefer to leave from Atlantic City Airport (ACY) in New Jersey but past attempts have shown us that they likely do not have many flights that will connect to Hawaii. I searched just once, for completeness and found one Delta flight for $811. Not bad, but not what we want to pay.

So instead, all our searches will be done from Philadelphia Airport (PHL) in Pennsylvania

To Honolulu:

evening search on a friday in early february - lowest prices: American Airlines, 2 stops $572 - Continental 1 stop $654

Sunday evening search - lowest prices are American Airlines 1 stop for $569 and 2 stops for $572. Pretty good. Hmmm, maybe we should stop looking and start buying.

If I search straight through to Hilo, American Airlines is still giving me the best price at $654 with a connecting flight in Maui, not Honolulu. Interesting that the connecting price (interisland flight) is less than $100 - so they really can get good interisland prices when you book everything all at once.

A similar search on orbitz shows a price of $656 - $2 more.