Good Deals to Hawaii

By: Jim Gullo
Topics: travel talk

(AP)

Keoni Wagner, who is the Vice-President of Public Affairs for Hawaiian Airlines, came to town recently to point out that if your stock portfolio is in shreds, you might as well be weeping over the shreds in Hawaii.

Well, that's not exactly what Keoni said. He pointed out that the airline is running great specials between now and Dec. 12, (excluding the Thanksgiving holiday) to drum up fall business, and travel to the islands is awfully affordable before the Christmas season ramps up. How affordable is it? A recent check on the Hawaiian Air website showed a $320 round-trip fare between Portland, Oregon and Honolulu for a flight in the first week of December, or $436 round-trip from their new gateway in Oakland if you wanted to be in the islands for Halloween. Trust me when I say that being in Lahaina, Maui for Halloween is an other-worldly experience.

Book on-line now and you can also get good deals on packages to all of the islands between now and the middle of February. You can choose from a standard package built by the airline, or "Shop around and make your own package," said Keoni.

I personally think that we'd all be better off – not to mention nicely tanned and relaxed – if we stimulated the economy by flying off to Hawaii for a stolen week of swimming, surfing and eating an obscene amount of macadamia nut ice-cream. But that's just me.