Hawaiian Airlines Hilo gouging ?

[macuu222]

My wife and I have to go to Honolulu next week for just 1 day. Hilo roundtrip....$500.00 Kona round trip $280.00!! I guess if I had booked it months in advance I could have got the Hilo roundtrip lower....but this was sudden. But with competition in Kona with Island Air, you can wait till the last minute to fly and still have substantial savings . For me...$220.00 savings is worth the drive!

[terracore]

Island Air wants to offer Hilo service but they, and nearly every other airline, is having problems recruiting pilots. More demand than pilots, and since all flights originate out of expensive HNL, Hawaii is the bottom feeder on the pilot food chain. Hawaiian can charge whatever they want because there is no other option.

[PaulW]

My advice is to get one of those HA credit cards (if you qualify), they often have 50,000 mile bonuses if you sign up on the flight.
That will get you 6 one-way flights.

[jrw]

Hawaiian Airline has been raping Hilo for a long time just look up a flight to Cleveland from both Kona and Hilo one way. $60 more out Hilo making same flights out of Honolulu. Over last few months I have seen up to $200 dollar person from them. I know no competition but the could lighting up some on there fares .

jrw

[jrw]

macuu22 why not fly island air if driving to Kona. Only why to hurt Hawaiian Airlines is not to fly them.

jrw

[macuu222]

I am. They have senior fares which we quality for and roundtrip same day discounts which makes the one way fare $65.00 per person. Beats Hawaiians fare out of Kona and there are still plenty of seats available.

[terracore]

"That will get you 6 one-way flights"

Not if you book anywhere near a holiday, or a Monday, or Friday, or short-notice, etc. Economy flights to bring our daughter home from Oahu and back around Thanksgiving are 25,000 miles. That is the same amount of miles to get from Alaska to NYC or DC and back on Alaska Airlines. The Hawaiian airline program is tailored for corporate profits. I should have bought their stock a few years ago, it's up 500% since the price of oil cratered. Their ticket prices went the other direction.

[kalakoa]

No different than "island price" charged by other merchants. Where else you gonna shop?

[Durian Fiend]

The inter island fare fluctuations are mostly due to supply and demand. If a flight doesn't have many seats left on it, Hawaiian jacks up the price. If there are tons of seats, they drop it. So Hilo prices on any given day may go between $100-$190, while Kona is more like $70-$150.

But apparently the Hilo fare starts at a higher base rate, and I agree that $250 rt to Honolulu is steep. They must be making a killing on this route.

[DTisme]

There's a Facebook group called Fair Air Fares Hawaii geared toward getting better Kama'aina fares: https://www.facebook.com/groups/523031767894286/