A trip to Hawaii sounds exotic and expensive to most travelers, but it doesn't have to be. There are several airlines that fly direct from cities in North America. Even better, several of these airlines partnered with Hawaiian Airlines to provide customers travel points on both of the partnering airlines. Not only will these airlines fly direct and provide codeshare flights, but several offer multiple flights a day for the same price as a domestic flight in the U.S. And the options keep growing.
Later this year, Virgin America will launch its inaugural flights from San Francisco to both Oahu and Maui (yay!) And Southwest, we hope, will be coming onboard eventually.
Lucky for you, Hopper found five airlines that offer affordable rates and easy access to Hawaii right now. All you have to do is pick out your favorite Hawaiian shirt and hit the runway.
1. Hawaiian Airlines
Fittingly, Hawaiian Airlines offers some of the best flights to Hawaii, providing daily service to Hawaii from more North American cities than any other airline. It also offers 150 flights among the islands. One way the airline made it easier for East Coast travelers to get to Hawaii was by partnering with JetBlue in 2012. Hawaiian placed its HA code on several connecting JetBlue flights, making it easier on travelers with one-stop check-in, seamless flight connections and boarding passes from the origin to the destination. At the same time, Hawaiian Airlines launched nonstop flights between New York City's JFK Airport and Honolulu International.
2. Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines is the go-to airline for travelers flying from the West Coast. The airline offers more than 160 flights a week from eight West Coast cities: Anchorage, Bellingham, Oakland, Portland, Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, and Seattle. These flights provide incredible access, as they travel to four Hawaiian Islands: Hawaii (the Big Island, Kauai), Maui and Oahu. Plus, the airline features artisanal foods on board each flight -- all of which are sold at affordable rates.
3. American Airlines
American Airlines serves 250 cities in 40 countries, offering daily flights from a wide variety of airports to five Hawaiian cities: Lihue on Kauai, Honolulu on Oahu, Kahului on Maui, and Hilo and Kona on the Big Island. Hawaiian Airlines also partnered with American in a similar way that it partnered with JetBlue. Customers can earn Hawaiian Airlines points by flying on codeshare flights operated by American Airlines -- a perfect opportunity for business travelers to save up for a personal Hawaiian getaway.
4. United Airlines
United brings more passengers to Hawaii than any other airline, with numerous flights each day between major U.S. cities and Lihue on Kauai, Honolulu on Oahu, Kahului on Maui and Kona on the Big Island. United offers direct flights to Hawaii from the airline's hubs in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco. For those United passengers interested in flying between the Hawaiian islands, they can earn United's MileagePlus points on qualifying inter-island flights on Hawaiian Airlines in conjunction with a United flight.
5. Allegiant
All Hawaii flights on Allegiant Airlines are nonstop, creating quite a perk for those trying to avoid flights with stops. Allegiant Airlines began service to Hawaii from several cities in the western United States in 2012. Its first flights flew from Las Vegas and Fresno to Honolulu. Since then, the airline has added varying flights to and from Hawaii two or three times each week. Plus, flights on Allegiant can be cheaper than competing airlines. For instance, flights from Las Vegas can be as low as $149 one way!
6. WestJet
Canadians, rejoice: Low-cost carrier WestJet offer a number of flights from departure airports in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, and Edmonton to the Hawaiian Islands. And these flights can be seriously cheap; we found flights from just $290. Note that the airline leases two Boeing 757-200 aircraft from partner Thomas Cook Airlines to provide Canadian fliers with non-stop flights to Honololu and Maui from Calgary and Edmonton; in-flight amenities may differ from the usual WestJet selections.
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This article originally appeared on Hopper.com, the app that tells you when is the best time to fly and buy.