I love Hawaii and know few people who haven’t had amazing times visiting. Growing up on the east coast we always opted for the Caribbean for tropical vacations and I never understood why east coasters would trek all the way to the Pacific until I went to Kauai for the first time and fell in love with the Island. Since, I’ve been to Maui, but plan to visit many more times in the future since each island has it’s own unique character.I love a fare war- to a destination that I actually want to visit!If you live in the NYC area and want to see what Hawaii is all about, there’s currently an airfare war going on, bringing prices below $400 total roundtrip- including taxes. Hawaiian Airlines, who started flying JFK- Honolulu last year on their A330 aircraft, seems to be leading the charge with fares to Honolulu as low as $375 roundtrip and Maui and Kauai for as low as $388. American and United aren’t far behind, but their fares seem to be in the low 400’s depending on the date and route. Sadly, Hawaiian is partners with Delta, but Delta does not allow mileage accrual for flights from the mainland US to Hawaii. You can bank to partners like Virgin Atlantic, Virgin America, Korean, ANA and others- but just double check that the fare class you purchase earns full mileage.$365 total roundtrip JFK-HNL on Hawaiian this March.. Spring break anyone?You can play around with dates on the airline websites, but I prefer to use the ITA Matrix search engine that allows month-long searches of all airlines so you can better compare options on different carriers.http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ -> Enter NYC and then whatever island you want to search for and the number of days and hit search.NYC- Kauai monthlong resultsYou’ll see a list of dates and you can also filter by carrier. Note: This isn’t 100% accurate and you can’t book through ITA- you need to find cheap fare dates and then book through the airline or your preferred online travel agency. Check out this post for maximizing airfare purchases through credit cards and portals.I don’t imagine these fares will last long, so I’d recommend booking sooner than later. Most airline and online travel agencies will either let you hold (American) or refund your purchase within 24 hours. On American and United you can route through out of the way hubs, like Houston and Dallas to maximize your miles (and upgrade potential). The lowest fares I’ve seen are from NYC, but if you notice any other good deals from other cities, please share in the comments!Hat tip FlyertalkSign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Related posts to help plan your trip:Travel Tuesday Top 10 Hotels to Stretch Your Points in HawaiiDestination of the Week: The Big IslandDestination of the Week: OahuDestination of the Week: MauiDestination of the Week: Kauai[card card-name=‘Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card’ card-id=‘22125056’ type=‘javascript’ bullet-id=‘1’]
