Published: May. 22, 2024 at 5:03 AM HST|Updated: 3 hours ago

A Hawaii airfare sale finder tool, either new or at least new to us, is something unique we discovered for finding the cheapest airfares to Hawaii on Alaska Airlines.

It currently features four routes from the mainland to Hawaii for under $100 and three more for just $105. The page lists specific dates on which these fares are available, from May through November. However, after checking further, we were able to find these same fares available on other nearby dates as well.

• San Diego to Honolulu $99
• San Jose to Kona $99
• San Diego to Maui $99
• San Francisco to Maui $99
• San Francisco to Honolulu $105
• Los Angeles to Honolulu $105
• San Jose to Honolulu $105

How does this work in relation to traditional Hawaii airfare sales and U.S. DOT requirements?

We will contact Alaska Airlines about this and report back with further details. This method of offering specific date and route deals appears to avoid U.S. DOT regulations on how airfare sales are promoted.

These are specific deals available and not a Hawaii airfare sale.

First, the DOT requires that any advertised airfare (which this appears to skirt) must be available in a reasonable quantity unless the advertisement clearly indicates a limited availability (which this does).

The DOT doesn’t specifically mandate a minimum number of seats or percentage of seats that must be available for an airline to promote an airfare sale. Airlines must nonetheless ensure that advertised prices are genuinely attainable in adequate numbers by consumers.

When sale airfares are available only under very limited conditions or in extremely limited quantities, this must be clearly communicated in the advertisement, as is the case here. This is intended to prevent “bait-and-switch” practices, where airlines could advertise a low price that is so limited in availability that it lures consumers into buying higher-priced yet more available fares.

Airlines must also adhere to DOT’s full-fare advertising rule, which says that any advertised fare must include all government-imposed taxes and mandatory fees, allowing consumers to see the total cost upfront.

One thing to note here is that the Alaska Airlines sale airfares shown, at least today, are Basic Economy, or the most restricted type. That will not appeal to many Hawaii visitors. Having said that, Alaska has the most generous rules associated with their Alaska Saver airfares.

What are your thoughts on this type of Hawaii airfare sale promotion?

A Hawaii state judge on Tuesday awarded the state more than $900 million after he found two major pharmaceutical companies had employed unfair and deceptive business practices in marketing the blood thinner drug Plavix.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and U.S. subsidiaries of Sanofi, a French drug company, were each ordered to pay $458 million by First Circuit Judge James Ashford.

The companies failed to disclose the efficacy and safety profile of Plavix, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez said in a press release.

Ashford found that the companies knew some patients, particularly non-Caucasian races, might not do as well on the drug but deliberately suppressed research and allowed Hawaii doctors to prescribe the medication without having the necessary information.

According to the AG’s press release, the judge found that the defendants “deliberately turned a blind eye toward the diminished response problem because of Defendants’ concern that addressing that problem might adversely affect Plavix sales and Defendants’ profits.”

In enforcing Hawaii’s consumer protection statute, the court concluded that Hawaii had a heightened interest in this case because “the omission of warning information raises a serious risk of harm to all consumers, but a particularly high risk to patients of East Asian and Pacific Island descent, who represent a significant portion of Hawaii’s population,” the release said.

The case was initially filed in 2014 by then-Attorney General David Louie. You can read Ashford’s order findings, conclusions and order here.