Myself, I would book your inter island flight ahead. Maybe book it a week or two out. You just never know when some family reunion or a sports team is flying and if you want a particular flight on a particular airline it may be booked. Also, if you want to “shop” you need to do it from home now and get the best deal you can and lock it in. (Try http://www.iflygo.com)
The planes are not that big — a big family reunion of several families could fill one as could a sports team and some spare passengers. There should be a couple of flights every hour or couple of hours during any day to choose from, but if you are leaving a rental and want to fly at at a particular time leaving it to chance might leave you in unexpected limbo for a few hours between flights, although being in limbo in Hawaii is not such a bad thing — there is always something to occupy the time every block, every mile there is something to see or explore.
Arriving early to airports (for flights to the mainland) is the same thing. 90% of the time getting there 2 hours ahead means you will wait for an hour and a half before boarding. But then hit the airport during a peak time like the IronMen going back home and you may need all those 2 hours to just get thru the process and run to your gate. Also, airlines don’t seem to have as many flights out these days so the planes are often full, so the “get there 2 hours early” request for “international” flights applies more these days than it might have in the past.
So, for peace of mind and to take advantage of deals you might consider doing it ahead from your home. If you wait, there should be plenty of flights and the only consequence I can see is that you might not be able to fly at a set time you expected and might need to fly an hour or couple of hours later if that were the case.
Thanks for you question, I will put some of it on our FAQ page for others to benefit..
Mike
on 9/10/09 7:01 AM, Jacquelyn Beals at jkbeals@hotmail.com wrote:
We have one question you may be able to help with: It looks like there are frequent flights from Hawaii to Maui, from both airports (KOA and ITO). Are those walk-in commuter flights? Or should we make reservations in advance? I’m traveling with a friend who lives in Nebraska [I’m in Virginia], so it takes a little planning to be sure we both reserve seats on the same flight. We wondered if advance reservations are needed for the short hop to Maui ... Could we feel confident about buying tickets for a Sunday flight (Hawaii to Maui) at the airline’s desk when we fly in on Thursday evening?
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