Travel

The upcoming travel season through next spring, should be replete with airfare deals to Hawaii. By next summer, however, predictions for a stronger economy and a resurgence of travel could mean significantly higher prices.

We are repeatedly asked when airfare sales will be occurring now that the summer peak season is winding down. Actually, low season has already officially started, even though most airfare prices don t seem to show it yet.

Here s my best thinking of what you can expect for deals this season.

1. Pacific Northwest will be the hottest market.

In just the past week the cost to fly from Seattle to Honolulu has dropped by 25% and is now at $298 round-trip on Hawaiian. I expect to see Seattle and Portland fares continue to drop, especially on service to Honolulu and nonstop flights to the outer islands.  Likely we will again see round-trip fares for as little as $200 (plus tax of about $20), from time to time, as we saw last year .

Regionals and former partners, Hawaiian and Alaska, are going head to head starting this Fall.  They are joined by Delta/Northwest, and to a lesser degree United.

2. Bay Area will be the second hottest market .

When Alaska rolls out its Hawaii service from Oakland in November, expect to see some of the best fares.  Hawaiian and Alaska are going to duke it out from Oakland, with competition from neighboring airports exacerbated by United, American and Delta/Northwest.

Don t forget that Alaska and Hawaiian are going to make the deal even sweeter. In honor of their competition, both carriers have promotions that will save you from 10 to 40 percent.

3.  Single most important market to Hawaii remains Los Angeles .

With no shortage of competition there, I anticipate frequent, intermittent return of the $99 (each way) airfares that were available from last fall until as recently as two months ago.

4.  Midwest and East Coast will have deals, but are less predictable .

So what s the trick?  It s all in the timing.

Sit poised and ready to pounce as soon as we post the deals at Beat of Hawaii.  Get you calendar out since the bulk of Fall and Winter deals could come at any time.

The best value airfares only last a couple of days, and the most in demand dates are gone within a few hours.  I suggest you subscribe to Beat of Hawaii using RSS. Twitter or Facebook. in order to find them in time.

The best deals last year were announced in October; I predict they ll be sooner this year.

The airlines waited, hoping against hope that higher fares would be sustainable.  Ultimately of course, they were not, and as a result we ve seen unprecedented deals in airfares from all over the US, Canada, Australia and Europe.

This year the airlines are not deluded in their thinking.  They know that this winter will likely be as bad as last year.  Therefore, I expect that Fall/Winter fares will start to drop later this month and in September.

Last season s top deals are a good predictor of what to expect.

Find your city to see what could be possible this season.  We ll compare notes next year and see how it all turned out.

The fares below are expired deals from the past year .

Chicago to Maui $419 roundtrip

Washington DC to Honolulu $421 roundtrip

Denver to Honolulu $111 each way

Roundtrip air plus hotel for two! $589 (all-inclusive)

Sacramento to Honolulu $350 roundtrip (including holidays)

Vancouver to Honolulu $225 roundtrip (all-inclusive)

London to Honolulu $397 roundtrip

San Francisco to Honolulu $250 roundtrip (all-inclusive)