IF YOU'RE PLANNING A DO-IT-YOURSELF TOUR
of the Honolulu Marathon, one of your greatest challenges
will be to get the most convenient flights to and from
the Hawaiian Islands and pay the least money for them.
That's no easy task, even if you know how to surf the
web, even if you're a travel agent.
The reason is because the airlines have so many fares and
so many Honolulu-bound flights-and change them with great
frequency!
While gathering travel information for this screen,
I did a computer search of flights and fares between
my departure airport, Chicago O'Hare (ORD), and Honolulu
(HNL). Matching our Itinerary,
I told the computer I wanted to depart the morning
of December 6 and return leaving the afternoon of
December 16
The computer selected United Airlines flight 43,
departing Chicago at 10:00 and landing (non-stop) in
Honolulu at 2:40 P.M. Returning, United 44 departs Honolulu
at 5:10 PM and arrives back in Chicago the next morning
(Friday) at 5:07 AM. (To conform with our Itinerary, you
also would need to book inter-island flights, but let's
consider that later.) The price outgoing on United
was $590.94, returning $535.77, or $1,126.71
round-trip. (Flying first class would cost $3,842.)
American Airlines flight 73 departed at 9:00 AM, arriving
in Honolulu at 2:23 PM. Flight 72 returning left at 5:35 PM,
arriving in Chicago at 5:45 AM. Not only did times nearly
match for United and American, so did prices.
Those were non-stop flights. If you didn't mind flying a
connecting route, changing planes en route, you can save
money. United would take me to Honolulu on flights 111 and
193, departing at 8:30 AM, connecting in Los Angeles, and
arriving 3:00 PM. Price one-way was: $472.18. Returning on
an 8:00 AM flight that arrived in Chicago at 5:30 PM, the
price was $413.18, the total round-trip: $885.36.
Slightly less convenient, but you save nearly $250.
When I called American and asked the reservations clerk
to find me the cheapest fare, however, the best he could
offer was $1,171. A United clerk offered me a
$1,000.43, less than American, but more than what I had
found on a travel agent's web site. I surfed into the United
web site (http://www.ual.com/) looking
for bargains, but felt like I was circling O'Hare in a
holding pattern, going from screen to screen looking for
fares. (I never found any and eventually gave up.) Other
options included TWA through St. Louis, Delta through
Atlanta or Continental through Houston. I discovered an
America West fare of $826.97 out of New York that
seemed like a bargain, but then when I called that airline,
I learned it didn't fly to Hawaii!
If you fail to match those numbers, it's because airlines
change prices frequently and often without warning. "The
fares could change overnight," admitted the United clerk who
served me.
What's the Do-It-Yourself traveler to do? If you're
willing to spend time surfing the Internet or calling
toll-free numbers, you can find bargains. I
challenged my computer-savvy daughter-in-law, Camille
Higdon, to do just that. She came up with a Honolulu-Chicago
fare of $614 round trip, using TWA through St. Louis.
It took her an hour.
Or, you can call a travel agent used to dealing with the
vagaries of the airlines and ask that person to book your
travel. I also challenged Isabelle Willis of Lakeshore
Travel in Michigan City, Indiana to find me a Best Buy. She
beat Camille, locating a fare of $574.75 round trip
on American Trans Air. The hitch is that ATA flies to Hawaii
through Phoenix and only on Fridays and Saturdays. (Isabelle
also found a $861.36 fare on United, slightly less than I
had found through my own efforts.)
By the way, since I did this search before the 1999
race, all of the prices have changed by the time you
read this.
The approach I usually follow is to do enough research to
allow me to guide my travel agent. That increases the chance
of landing that Best Buy. For instance, the agent might be
able to tell you--based on experience--whether you are
better off buying now to assure a seat on the least
expensive and most convenient flight, or buying later
when the prices might drop. But it's a gamble. One year when
I was heading to the Honolulu Marathon, the airlines cut
fares only two days before I departed. If I had waited, I
could have saved money. But what marathoner, who may have
trained a year for his Big Race, wants to risk waiting until
the last minute?
For those wanting to make their own Do-It-Yourself
reservations, here is some helpful information on airlines
that fly to the Hawaiian Islands: toll-free numbers, web
site addresses and hub airports through which you may need
to fly. (Code names for those airports are
below.)
