As you can guess, being in the middle of the ocean, traveling to Hawaiʻi takes several hours. This means that the travel can take a toll on you and jet lag can be tiring. That's why we always tell people to take your first day and just relax. Try to limit yourself on the number of sightseeing activities you have planned. Luckily, with all the beaches, relaxing in Hawaiʻi shouldn’t be a problem. Just be sure to plan for this time before you go!
Flying to Hawai'i
Now, let's plan on how to get to Hawai'i. The vast majority of visitors travel to Hawaiʻi via one of the many airlines that fly here. Travel from the United States west coast is approximately 5-6 hours one way depending on if you are coming from Los Angeles or Seattle. Travel from Japan, Australia, and similar distances are typically a 12-13 hour flight. The biggest airlines flying into Hawaii are United, America Airlines, and Delta.
Like we mentioned in our previous section, The Islands, its a good idea to choose one or two islands to focus on. If you do, we recommend finding flights that go straight through to your destination and not switch airline carriers to save money.
Cheap flights to Hawaii
When it comes to cheap flights for Hawaii, its good to research when to go and which airlines fly there. This is where you have to do a bit of research and investigation. First, start with a cursory search of major flight aggregation sites like Hipmunk or Google Flights. I like these because you can see multiple flights and dates that could work for you. If you are looking for cheaper flights, it's a good idea to see where the major hubs are for flights to Hawaii, like Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, etc. You can then check flights to that hub and then hop on direct flights to Hawaii. Weigh all your options and be sure to check direct airline websites like JetBlue to find airlines that don't use aggregation sites.
While every trip is different, here is some rough numbers for the area of the country you live in (Note: these can change dramatically depending on the time you go): East Coast to Hawaii – $900 per person. Mid-West – $750 per person. West Coast – $475 per person