How to find cheap flights to Hawaii 🐠 Maui, Kauai, Oahu, Big Island

ALOHA!

So you’re planning a trip to Hawaii! (Here’s what NOT to do the first time you go.)

Your flight to Hawaii can be one of the biggest expenses of your Hawaii vacation.

But before you start doing extensive research on flights, it could be best to first decide which island you want to go to:

• Oahu
• Maui
• Kauai
• Big Island

Each of these islands will offer you different experiences, and the cost of your Hawaii vacation can vary quite a bit based on which island you choose.

So it’s generally best not to book your flight to Hawaii only based on which island that you can find the cheapest flight for.

In general, Oahu is the cheapest Hawaiian island to go to for vacation when considering all costs, not just the flight. But it is possible that you can find a cheaper flight to Kauai for example.

Oahu can be cheaper because you’ll be able to utilize a decent public transportation system and you might be able to find a cheap hotel in Waikiki, while on Kauai you will likely want to rent a car for longer than if you were on Oahu. 

Airports in Hawaii

These are the airports in Hawaii to know about for your flight across the Pacific Ocean:

• Oahu: Honolulu HNL
• Maui: Kahului OGG
• Kauai: Lihue LIH
• Big Island: Kona KOA or Hilo ITO

Newsletters to sign up for to find cheap flights to Hawaii

1. Beat of Hawaii

They basically make it their job to keep up-to-date on all things related to flights to Hawaii.

You can also read through comments of previous posts to get a better idea on what kinds of factors influence the cost of flights to Hawaii.

They often reply to specific queries that people ask about which might be the same questions you have.

2. Scott’s Cheap Flights

This one isn’t specific to Hawaii, but it can be a good newsletter to sign up for anyway.

Their job is to scour the internet for the best deals on flights, and sometimes Hawaii is among the travel destinations that they find those good deals.

The newsletter is free, but they also have a premium membership that isn’t too expensive. This premium version will give you access to more deals for cheap flights that they find. That membership is around $40 for a year.

Some of it may be luck, but in the chance that you act on a deal they find, the hundreds of dollars you save on your flight to Hawaii could offset that $40, especially if you’re buying multiple tickets.

As an example, they recently sent out an e-mail on their free newsletter list about price drops on flights to Hawaii.

There were more deals listed, including flights to Maui, to Kauai, to Kona, and to Honolulu, but you get the idea.

Hawaii flight deals were listed from a combined 30+ cities across the United States.

Flight search engines to find cheap flights to Hawaii

Aside from searching the direct airline websites, these are a few flight search engines you may want to use:

• Google flights
• Momondo
• Kayak.com
• Kiwi.com

All of these websites work by searching most airline websites so you don’t have to go to each individual website to see which has the cheapest flight.

Best airline for island hopping around the Hawaiian islands

There’s currently only one airline to fly if you want to visit more than one Hawaiian island during your vacation.

And that’s Hawaiian Airlines.

That makes things easy, and you can just go direct to the Hawaiian Airlines website to get an idea for inter-island travel costs.

Now… for the airlines that go TO Hawaii.

Direct flights are the BEST… if you’re fortunate enough to live in a city that connects directly to Hawaii.

So, which airlines are those?

Airlines with direct flights to Hawaii

Naturally, if you live on the west coast, things are much better for you!

If you live on the east coast or in the midwest, there’s a good chance that you won’t be flying direct to Hawaii.

These are the airlines that offer direct flights to Hawaii:

• Hawaiian Airlines
• Alaska Airlines
• United Airlines
• Delta Airlines
• Southwest Airlines (soon)

Out of these, Alaska Airlines can generally be the cheapest airline to fly to Hawaii.

But that can also depend on where you’re flying from and if any of these airlines have major hubs from your airport.

And then of course, once Southwest starts their flights to Hawaii, they might become the cheapest out of all of these!

Are there direct flights to Hawaii from the east coast?

It is possible to fly non-stop from the east coast to Hawaii!

If you’re in Boston or New York, Hawaiian Airlines offers non-stop flights from these 2 cities.

Are there direct flights to Hawaii from the midwest?

Airlines may cancel and add routes, but…

Delta offers some nonstop flights from Minneapolis MSP to Hawaii, and in the future, they will be offering nonstop flights from Detroit DTW to Hawaii.

Both of these flights may be in high demand though, so you may not want to get your hopes up too high at your chance of going for a direct flight. 😉

If you’re in Chicago ORD, have a look at United Airlines low fares to Hawaii.

They don’t fly to Hawaii, but they are a Hawaiian Airlines partner so they’ll have some of the cheapest flights from Chicago.

What cities fly direct to Hawaii?

Here are some of the airport cities that have direct flights. Again, this can change.

• Anchorage
• Bellingham
• Boston
• Denver
• Las Vegas
• Long Beach
• Los Angeles
• New York
• Oakland
• Phoenix
• Portland
• Sacramento
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• Seattle

And if you’re still deciding on which Hawaiian island to visit…

Here are some ideas to get you started! (hikes in Hawaii = amazing views!)

• MAUI
  • Best Maui hikes
  • THE famous Maui scenic drive to do
  • More things to do on Maui
  • Sample Maui itinerary
• BIG ISLAND
  • Best Big Island hikes
  • Black sand beaches
  • More things to do on the Big Island
  • Sample Big Island itinerary
• OAHU
  • Best Oahu hikes
  • More things to do on Oahu
  • Sample Oahu itinerary
• LANAI
  • Best Lanai hikes
  • More things to do on Lanai

HAPPY SEARCHING FOR CHEAP HAWAII FLIGHTS!

Don’t make these mistakes your first trip to Hawaii