pacific islands: How much am I looking at for airfare?

I am having trouble finding sites that give me clear reasonable price level for what I should expect to pay for flights between different islands.
I am starting in indonesia and then working my way overland to png. From there I was hoping to go to the solomns then vuanuatu and maybe micronesia. I know I will have to fly through Fiji for some of this. Can anyone give me a general idea of how much these flights cost? Everything I pull up on websites is in the thousands of dollars range.
thanks for any help

Check the websites of individual airlines in this region: Air Niugini, Air Vanuatu, Air Pacific (the best!), etc
There's a list of "who flies where" in the FAQ thread.

You are usually looking at a couple of hundred dollars for shorter hops, over 500 for longer ones.

From there I was hoping to go to the solomns then vuanuatu and maybe micronesia.

Going to Micronesia from Vanuatu, the Solomons or PNG will be very expensive and the route won't be easy (big detours, you'll have to buy several separate tickets with different airlines, to make several change of planes...). PNG would be the less bad departing place.

From PNG to the Solomons, take a look at the fares and schedules of Air Niugini. From the Solomons to Vanuatu, take a look at the fares and schedules of Air Vanuatu.

Bigpum,
Lazlo's the Pacific expert, of course, but I'll give it a go...

Assuming you're planning to take Pelni boats all the way to Jayapura, cross overland to Vanimo PNG, and make yourwayoverland (or river/sea) to Madang, which I think is possible, your first flight is likely to be Madang-Moresby on Air Nuigini. From there you can hop over to Honiara, then on to Port Vila and Nadi. Air Pacific will be your carrier for that leg of the trip. From Fiji you can get to Tuvalu, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, and Wallis. Backtracking through Noumea will get you to Papeeteand onwards to the US or Chile.

For Micronesia, you will need to jump on a Pacific Blue to Brisbane from Port Vila, and then make your way up to Manila, which is your departure point for the trans-Micronesia Continental flight. A better option would be Nadi-HK, where I think you can hook up with Continental for Micronesia. Alternatively you could take Our Airline flight ex Honiara via Nauru to Tarawa Kiribati (which is officially part of Micronesia). But then you're stuck, and will have to backtrack.

Re costs, book early for Air Pacific and Pacific Blue for cheaper deals and more availability,of course, but I'd say you should budget on circa USD 200 per sector on Air Pacific, Pacific Blue and Our Airline flights, USD 100 for Madang-Moresby, and USD 500 for Fiji-Tuvalu return.

Brisbane-Manila would suck price-wise. So would Nadi-HK.

Thus....

Madang-Moresby-Honiara-Port Vila-Brisbane-Tarawa would be circa USD 1300

Madang-Moresby-Honiara-Port Vila-Nadi-Hong Kong-Guam-Majuro would be circa USD 2000

Always remember, though: when travelling in the Pacific, listen to Lazlo......Who is probably flying one of these routes even as I write this.....

Either way, you'll have a blast. Bon voyage.

Who is probably flying one of these routes even as I write this.....

LOL, not quite.
Headed for landlocked Central Asia next week! :-)

There are also direct flights from Fiji to 3 Micronesian entities: Guam (on Continental), Kiribati (on Air Pacific) as well as to Nauru (on Our Airline).

No direct flights to the Federated States of Micronesia from the South Pacific though - the most direct route would be via Guam.

@Laszlo (#6): There isn't any more a direct flight from Fiji to Guam.

Really? It didn't last long!
However the Fiji-Nauru link is brand new, just restarted in March.

Continental/United also suspended their weekly flights from Honolulu to Nadi so they don't fly to Fiji any more.

Alternatively you could take Our Airline flight ex Honiara via Nauru to Tarawa Kiribati
This one has been suspended indefinitely.
It may be worth checking routes through Brisbane, Australia, with Solomon Airlines, Virgin and Air Vanuatu, especially for options to parts of Micronesia.

The Our Airline flight to Tarawa is back on, actually.

Good call re Cairns - I didn't realize Cairns-Guam was still happening.

The main conclusion, as I see it, from this discussion, is that there is no direct link between the Melanesian or Polynesian islands and Micronesia. Sure, you can get to Kiribati or Nauru, but then you're stuck. What we really need is a return of the Tarawa-Majuro link. Either that or a return to the 80s when you could get practically everywhere in the Pacific courtesy of Air Nauru....

But Bigpum's original question was about prices rather than routes. What we've established, Bigpum, is that it shouldn't cost you "thousands" of dollars. But, as Laszlo says, most of the websites will give you the prices for any of their routes.

As of last week, the flight from Brisbane to Tarawa is on, but it doesn't stop in Honiara.

air pacific isnt showing flights from port moresbyy to solomons or from the solomons to vanuatu
do these flights exsist? where can I look up prices

I think im going to skip micronesia and do png-solomons-vanuatu-fiji-usa
is this a good route?
how much time do you recommend for each country?

nadi back to the states who should I go with? i live in miami

The Port Moresby-Nadi flight (via Honiara) is by Air Niugini (of PNG).

Air Pacific flights from Honiara to Nadi go via Vila, but passengers wishing to travel Honiara-Vila only must book their flight on Air Vanuatu or Solomon Airlines (who then may put them on the plane of AP, with whom they codeshare), as AP is only allowed to sell tickets from Honiara or Vila to Nadi.

Your route decision makes sense.

How much time in each country?
As much as you can! :-)

I'd say at least a month for PNG, and 2 weeks each for the other 3.
AT LEAST!

I would agree with Laszlo's minimum time frame. Sometimes, you will spend more time waiting for internal transport than you would in a more developed country. You won't get to all of any of these places even with 3 months available.

air pacific isnt showing flights from port moresbyy to solomons or from the solomons to vanuatu
do these flights exsist? where can I look up prices

You can fly from Port Moresby to Honiara and from Honiara to Port Vila. Take a look at the webs of the airlines I quoted on the last paragraph of my answer in #2.

nadi back to the states who should I go with?

Air Pacific has a non-stop flight from Nadi to Los Angeles. American Airlines codeshare that flight with Air Pacific so take a look at the web of AA to see if they can sell you a ticket from Nadi to Miami changing planes in LA. Alternatively, book the non-stop flight from Nadi to LA with Air Pacific and a separate ticket from LA to Miami with the cheapest airline available on your travel date.

You will find flights from Port Moresby to Honiara and Honiara to Vila here on the Solomon Airlines timetable.
The are codeshares with Air Niugini or Air Pacific.

Hi mgibson!

Welcome to TT!

Tarawa to Majuro was flew by Air Marshal Islands. I don't know if they keep flying that route. If they didn't the wouldn't be any airline making that route and you would need to make a very big and expensive detour to fly between both airports. If Air Marshal Islands doesn't fly from Tarawa to Majuro, I think your best bet would be to skip one of those destinations (leave it for other trip).

From Melbourne to Tarawa, Air Pacific (changing planes in Nadi) is your best bet and you won't have problems to see schedules and fares in their web (and to book your tickets, if you want). Take a look firstly at the schedules to see on what dates you can fly that route as it isn't daily.

P.S.: If you skip Tarawa, the best departure gate for Majuro would be Manila (changing planes in Guam).

I currently live in Moscow, and want to visit a friend living in Tarawa, Kiribati, and another living in Majuro, Marshall Islands. Thinking I will go from Moscow to Melbourne, Australia, then to Tarawa, then Majuro (or vice versa) then back to Melbourne. Have trawled through websites of 'ourairlines' (actually it doesn't load propertly), air kiribati (ditto), air pacific, etc. but can't get a picture of the flight schedules, or any sense of how much they cost.

Any info would be most appreciated!

Brisbane, Australia is the best gateway to the Pacific (eg for Our Airline), not Melbourne, which is too far to the south.

Tarawa to Majuro was flew by Air Marshal Islands. I don't know if they keep flying that route. If they didn't the wouldn't be any airline making that route and you would need to make a very big and expensive detour to fly between both airports. If Air Marshal Islands doesn't fly from Tarawa to Majuro, I think your best bet would be to skip one of those destinations (leave it for other trip).

I'd like to correct myself. I've just looked at the web of Our Airline and it seems they started to fly from Tarawa to Majuro in late 2012. Flights seem to be only once in a fortnight though. Their web worked fine for me and I even saw the fares so keep trying.

To reach Tarawa with Air Pacific shouldn't be a problem. Take a look at their web to know what Australian airports they serve and which one has the best schedules and/or fares on your travel dates to Tarawa.

If you can fly to Brisbane, Our Air would be an option from Brisbane to Tarawa (or, if you prefer it, to Majuro). Take a look at their web for fares on your travel dates.

P.S.: Sorry for the misinformation in my previous post. I should have verify it yesterday, not today.