Thread: Zed fares out of Hawaii?

Well, ZED and "don't...get stuck" have nothing to do with each other. ZED = Zonal Employee Discount. Destinations are grouped by zone and charge a flat fee based on distance. Different carriers have different pricing plans for nonrevs. A couple of examples in addition to ZED might be: ID90, ID75, ID100 indicates the discount amount off the full unrestricted fare. Another, service charge passes, are set $ amounts regardless of destination. All of which are space-a and all of which can be bumped. Again, each airline can be different. Check your pass bureau/staff travel office for information on your specific agreements.

The best chances to nonrev from the mainland to Hawai'i are January (after New Years) and early February, September/October after Labor Day is done and school has started. September/October represents what historically is the slowest season for Hawai'i. This is time of the year usually offers a better chance and interline discounts at hotels are better and more prevalent.

As for flights, this would depend on what agreements you have with other carriers. The best option might be EWR to HNL nonstop on CO. (I have no idea how loads tend to run throughtout the year). Most major hubs in the U.S. offer at least 1 daily flight, again depending on your agreements. My recommendation to most people is to try LAX if you have limited options. Order them several backup passes (you can refund what they don't use). From LAX you have UA, AA, NW, TZ, HA and several charters. LAX has more flights to the islands than all other airports in the country combined.

We just returned from HNL this morning. We flew AA nonstop from ORD last Thursday and returned on their overnight last night. Over the years we've sucessfully non-rev'd to Hawai'i a couple of times a year. Holidays are probably the worst time to try, you can count on being bumped. June is terrible, shool is out and people are taking their first summer vacation. I've sucessfully done it in June but I'll never try again. It took me 3 days! The only reason I did this foolish thing was to attend a wedding I had committed to several months earlier.

Another thing I would do is use the "Find" feature on the tool bar at the top of this page. Just type in "Hawaii" and it will search all of our threads. This question comes up several times a year and keeps getting rehashed over and over.

However, if you have any further questions just ask.