There are also a few other special strategies that might work out from you depending on your special circumstances.

• Splits - Sometimes splitting up the long flight to Hawaii from central or eastern Mainland into two separate roundtrip tickets is cheaper than one roundtrip to Hawaii. For example, a roundtrip from Boston to San Francisco and a 'Frisco to Honolulu can save a few hundred dollars over the Boston to Hawaii roundtrip. If you "split" try not to check in any luggage. (You should be travelling light anyway.)

• Airport bingo - All airports are not created equal and they're often hundreds of dollars apart in price. Consider departing from any airport within a comfortable driving distance from your home. In some areas of the US driving two hours and leaving the car in the long term parking of another airport will leave you another $300 or more to spend on your entertainment in Hawaii.

• Commuter delight - If prices still have got you down, try commuting. Is there a cheap commuter flight to a large airport outside your area where the roundtrips to Hawaii will still save you over $100 or more? Maybe you'll fly from home to a large hub in the early morning and then leave the hub for Hawaii late that night, but you'd be saving a few hundred.

• Don't take the first offer. - After you know the prices and dates, try negotiating with the airline, and/or call a rival airline and give them the chance to beat that price and make a sale. Airlines want to sell tickets, so give them the chance to edge out their rival.

• Use a travel agent - After you've done your best and gotten your lowest price, call a travel agent and ask her to get you to Hawaii cheaper. If she can and the terms and dates are similar or acceptable to you, you may have found your lowest fare.

What's a consolidator?

After all's been said and done, from whom you buy your ticket counts. Most passengers buy from airlines whether they do the transaction from an agent, on the Web, or via the 800 line. But there are "consolidators" who sell tickets for much less.

Consolidators buy blocks of tickets from the airlines at a steep discount several months in advance of flights. They buy big buckets of tickets, and have been known as "bucket shops," through it's considered a somewhat unsavory term: something similar to calling your stock broker a "boiler room."

The airlines get chunks of cash up front and save money not having to advertise or service individual ticket buyers, while the consolidators make their money on their mark up, which usually is still significantly under market rates.

Sometimes the consolidator signs up for large sales commissions from the airline, and the airline holds so many tickets for the consolidator. To move the tickets, the consolidator will shave the price of the ticket. Either way the passenger gets a cheaper seat.