No, this isn’t clickbait. And no, I’m not going to gate keep. In this article I’m going to share how much my flight to Hawaii cost me, how I scored the sweet deal, how YOU can score similar sweet deals, and what I got up to on the Big Island!
How much did my flight to Hawaii cost?
My flight to Hawaii cost me $308, round-trip. I flew on Delta from Salt Lake City to Kona, with a 5 hour layover at LAX.
Oh, and I went over a holiday weekend, too!
So…how did I score such a cheap flight to Hawaii?
Allow me to explain.
A few years ago, well, before “The VID” apocalypse of 2020, I came across an Instagram handle called Flights From Home. This account posted flight deals out of the Salt Lake City (SLC) airport.
After some digging, I learned that they had a premium account that you could sign up for less than $30 annually, and get flight deals emailed to you multiple times a day.
Knowing that $30 would easily be recouped by a single steal of a deal, I signed up for the premium membership and have saved myself literally hundreds of dollars.
Within the posts and emails, the company explains what dates are available for those specific deals. So in other words, the “catch” is that your travel dates need to be semi-flexible for these deals to work. If you are bound to specific dates, you’re less likely to be able to take advantage of most deals, unfortunately.
The upside is that a lot of the dates showcased in the deal details can be up to a year in the future. If you start looking for next year’s big trip, you can plan the details around the flight dates instead of the other way around.
Since discovering this amazing company, I’ve flown all over the world on these deals: Romania, Guatemala, Oahu, Puerto Rico, Chicago, and St. Louis to name a few.
Lake Atitlán, Guatemala; Lanikai Pillbox, Oahu; St. Louis, Missouri
After my birthday this year, I got a notification for a flight deal to the big island of Hawaii for $308. The dates offered were scattered through August/September for 5-7 day trips. I opted to take advantage of the Labor Day holiday weekend and booked a Thursday-Tuesday little jaunt.
The $308 deal, and most of the deals offered, are for the most basic of seats. The deal I scored was through Delta’s Basic Economy, which means no seat selection and a few other restrictions. With my status, I was upgraded and didn’t have to worry.
How can you score cheap flights?
The best way to score cheap flights like mine is to sign up for a subscription from some kind of flight deal website. Whether it’s Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights), FareDrop, or Flights From Home, there are niche websites that run programs to find the best deals on flights.
Most flight deal websites are fairly similar:
- Sign up with your home airport
- Pay a pretty small fee to support the website
- Select countries or destinations you would like to receive notifications for
- Check your inbox for flight deals and instructions on how to book!
It’s pretty straight-forward, and if you travel at least once a year, it’s totally worth it to get these deals sent to you.
Or if that makes you nervous, you can always do your own manual searches. But it’s one of those times where having the computers and technology do the work for you saves you tons of time and headaches!
Or reach out to me and I can help you!
These are screenshots from a recent email I received from my Flights From Home subscription. The graphic on the left is what they use for their Instagram posts and stories. The pic on the right includes the details on how to book the flight, when it’s available, the airline information, and how long they believe the deal will remain available.
What did I get up to in Hawaii?
Hawaii is so much fun and a dream destination for many. As someone who has been to the islands multiple times and also many in the Caribbean (gosh, that sounds so pretentious, but I swear I’m not trying to be), I try to make each visit to an island distinctive. Sure, spending hours and days lounging at the beach is wonderful, but there is so much more to a location.
And although I did spend some time at various beaches, I got up to a little more than just lounging in the sun and getting some color back into my pale skin!
I swam with giant manta rays! This was one of the things I was looking forward to the most when I was planning this trip, and it did not disappoint. I’ll be writing about the experience in more detail on another post, but just to give a little teaser: I snorkeled in the ocean at night with a group of people and had giant mantas barrel-rolling within inches of my face!
I visited an organic honey farm! I know it sounds a little random, but it was such an amazing experience. When I was figuring out what I wanted to do when I got to the Big Island, I wanted to do something a little more local and support where I could. I discovered a few local farms outside of Kona, and with my schedule, decided to visit Big Island Bees Honey Farm. I got a demonstration of how the hives worked, watched the bee keeper introduce a new queen to the hive, learned about what it takes to make actual organic honey, and have a tasting. Not only was it informative and delicious, it was as local as you can get.
I road-tripped around the whole island! If you know me at all, you know that I love a good road trip. Renting a car on the Big Island was going to be a necessity, so I made sure to rent one with unlimited miles and check out as many out-of-the-way locations as possible. And was able to circle the whole island! Well, in smaller chunks, but I did make it a complete circle!
I visited Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park! To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was going to visit this national park, but curiosity got the better of me. And good thing, as there is now an advisory for magma activity and the Chain of Craters Road is now closed (as of today, 9/16/24). Which is crazy, because I WAS ON THAT ROAD!
Of course I did more than just these highlights, but these are the ones that stood out. I visited a farmer’s market, ate delicious seafood, swam in some beautiful coves and beaches, snorkeled with more fish than I can remember, and chased waterfalls.
Now after visiting 4 of the main Hawaiian islands, I can honestly say that my flight to Hawaii was memorable, worth it, and unique from all of the other ones!
Would you have purchased this flight to Hawaii? Have you ever been to the Big Island before?
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