Aloha '08 Update

Aloha family!

I have changed the dates of the Aloha '08 family reunion because of airfare reasons (see below) and because it works out better for the McOmbers (Christian's school and Howard's work). Since I think everyone has said that they want to stay past the 5 days to visit other islands the new dates are:

Saturday, May 17, 2008 - Thursday, May 22, 2008 (Family Reunion)

Thursday, May 22, 2008 - Monday, May 26, 2008 (Visit other islands!)

Flying back home on Monday, May 26, 2008 (Memorial Day)

This schedule is for those that wanted to stay for 10 days, you can certainly fly back sooner/later if you want, you just need to let me know soon. With this schedule, people will miss 5 days of work. (Memorial Day is a holiday)

The Saturday, May 17, flight is a morning flight, arriving around noon in Honolulu

The Monday, May 26, flight is an afternoon flight, leaving at 1:30 PM, arrivng back in Seattle at about 10 PM

FYI - Hawaiian Airlines has interisland flights for $29 on Thursday, 5/22 and $39 on Monday, 5/26. ( http://www.hawaiianair.com/) Aloha airlines has flights for $39 each way (http://www.alohaairlines.com/), and Island Airlines looks like $30-$40 each way.(http://www.islandair.com/)

Make sure I have the count right for purchasing tickets:

Dad, Mom, Spencer, Kathie, Kiana, Howard, Amy, Christian, Gregory, Justin, Heather, Brad, Zaron, Liz, Corban, Mike, Victoria, Paul, RaeAnn, Kelli. Free: Max, Liam, Luke.

Well, I have been watching airfares like a hawk, and it looks like the best I can get right now is $354 (including taxes-$334 without taxes) per person. I can get a group discount on Northwest Airlines for that price, or the regular price on Alaska Airlines. I am going to fly Paul and RaeAnn on Alaska for sure, as I will be using a voucher that I have for their airline tickets, since it is so much more expensive to fly from Boise. Spathie also has a voucher, so that means for sure two more people will be flying Alaska. So, here is the deal... I am going to try to get everyone on the same flight on Alaska airlines (which would be fun), but I do run the risk of the cheap airfare running out, since I can only buy 7 at a time. The NWA group fare is guaranteed, since I can buy up to 20 at a time on their website. The cutoff for a group is 10 people on NWA. I am planning on trying to get everyone on the Alaska flight, but there are no guarantees, so 10 people might be flying NWA instead. Either way is good though, because luckily the flights leave/arrive at about the same time.

Also, Paul and Rae Ann, the Alaska flight doesn't get into Seattle until 10:10 PM. So, you would have to fly to Boise from Seattle the next morning. I can get you on the 6:40 AM flight if you need to be back for work, or you could leave Hawaii a day earlier. There is also the option of flying a partner airline, but it looks like they are redeyes that don't get you back until the next afternoon (they go through Portland) So, can you guys get back to me ASAP and let me know what option is best for you?

I'll post on the decision on the housing in a few days when I have it secured.

Love you all!!!!