Well, its finally here!  Southwest Airlines has announced it is cleared by the FAA to fly to Hawaii!  Starting on March 17th, Southwest will offer flights from Oakland and San Jose, California, to Maui and Oahu — aloha!

Shaking up the competition to Hawaii is a much-needed thing, as flight fares in spring and summer can become outrageous. Southwest is touting $49 one-way flights from OAK, but beware most flights through August are already sold out or going for $300 to $400 each way. If you want to get a deal, book into September, where I spied a roundtrip flight (Wednesday to Wednesday) for about $312; not bad at all.

I am interested to see how the pricing will level out as the rush to book begins to balance out and, more importantly, how legacy carrier Hawaiian Airlines and others like Alaska, United and American will need to adjust.

Let the competition begin, and don’t forget your sunscreen!

— Carly Allen, executive vice president