Southwest to Increase Hawaii Inter-Island Flights

[ScoopKona]

That was always my problem too. They had so little choices of flight times, I actually just quit checking with them.

I'll start looking again in the fall to see if what they added will be any better.

It's going to be a minute before I have the time to take a vacation to a different Hawaiian island. (Don't get me wrong. They're all lovely. But I already live on one. So if I'm taking time off, it's going to be Patagonia, wine country, Yurp or a place in Asia I have not yet seen.)

But I still need to get to the mainland occasionally. And there are only a handful of flights each week which fly direct. I refuse to put myself or anyone I know on a "Stop in OGG and then HNL and THEN fly east." That's inefficient and silly.

 

[slip]

It's going to be a minute before I have the time to take a vacation to a different Hawaiian island. (Don't get me wrong. They're all lovely. But I already live on one. So if I'm taking time off, it's going to be Patagonia, wine country, Yurp or a place in Asia I have not yet seen.)

But I still need to get to the mainland occasionally. And there are only a handful of flights each week which fly direct. I refuse to put myself or anyone I know on a "Stop in OGG and then HNL and THEN fly east." That's inefficient and silly.

We go to the other islands once a year. We may go twice if my wife continues to improve. We haven't been back to the mainland in 3 years but when we do go it will either be from Oahu or Maui, whichever is cheaper.

 

[davidvel]

There is no comparison between Southwest and Hawaiian Airlines!

If price is your only criteria - go for it, but I don't want to spend that much time on a Southwest flight!

On longer flights: Comfort, quality, space, selecting your seat, first class option, and meals and snacks on longer flights.

Plus I like to book all the way through whenever possible.

This thread is about Hawaii Inter-Island Flights.
So again, what is the difference, or what do you like more about Hawaiian than Southwest on such flights? Let's hear your "comparison."

 

[Tamaradarann]

Yes, since 2019 but they really didn't have many flights. They just announced they will be almost doubling the number of flights.

I just looked at the Southwest Website this morning for a particular day and counted 11 flights to Maui, 9 flights to Kona, 7 flights to Kauai. To me that is a great number of flights. While I love flying Hawaiian direct to JFK there is only one flight a day to and from, that is what I consider not having many flights!

 

[CalGalTraveler]

As someone who travels to HI at least once a year from the west coast. I welcome this change. The inter-island flights have traditionally been the most expensive per mile flights.

I still remember $600 - $800 flights from California and $99 - $129 Hawaiian inter-island as the going rate pre-Southwest (as recently as circa 2017). Competition is good for the consumer if they don't price gouge and kill one of the competitors. It could make Hawaiian more competitive too if they invest to lower their operational costs.

 

[slip]

I just looked at the Southwest Website this morning for a particular day and counted 11 flights to Maui, 9 flights to Kona, 7 flights to Kauai. To me that is a great number of flights. While I love flying Hawaiian direct to JFK there is only one flight a day to and from, that is what I consider not having many flights!

Yes, and when I was working that's what I was finding with Southwest for inter-iand, 1 to 3 flights. That was back in 2019 and 2020 when they just started. COVID may have had something to do with it but I would often only see 1 flight. That could work for vacation travel but for not work, when I had to be there for a meeting or to have enough time to get things done. It ended out not being worth it for me to even try looking at them.

What you are seeing now is better but take a look at how many flights Hawaiian has. Many more choices and that is convenient for work or vacation.

Many times I was at the airport early and Hawaiian was able to switch my flight to a flight that was just about to leave. They can do that because they have so many flights. That is very convenient when you are going to another island for an appointment and finish early.

I posted this because the increase in flights will be a good thing and the times could work better for others too. Southwest seems to know it was an issue with customers too and is trying to improve it.

 

[sjsharkie]

Just flew SWA from HNL to LIH for $39 one way last Friday. I chose the WGA+ fare for $10 more which allowed me to book the cheaper 4pm flight and then get a same day confirmed change for free to the 1:45pm flight which was what I wanted initially. The $29 WGA fare does not allow same day confirmed change for $0.

Love Southwest for short flights because I had 6 pieces of luggage for my family. Saves $$$ over Hawaiian. I fly Alaska for the long haul segment because I get free luggage with my Alaska visa plus additional premium seat benefits with my oneworld status.

Hope the interisland Southwest routes continue as it is good competition to keep fares down between the islands.

Ryan

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[slip]

Just flew SWA from HNL to LIH for $39 one way. I chose the WGA+ fare for $10 more which allowed me to book the cheaper 4pm flight and then get a same day confirmed change for free to the 1:45pm flight which was what I wanted initially. The $29 WGA fare does not allow same day confirmed change for $0.

Love Southwest for short flights because I had 6 pieces of luggage for my family. Saves $$$ over Hawaiian. I fly Alaska for the long haul segment because I get free luggage with my Alaska visa plus additional premium seat benefits with my oneworld status.

Hope the interisland Southwest routes continue as it is good competition to keep fares down between the islands.

Ryan

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

Yes, right now there seems to be a bit of a fare war with many discounted flights. The competition does seem to be helping with fares. We'll see if it continues, I hope so.

I get the same deals on United and Hawaiian. Both of those always worked better for me due to where I lived. I will continue to use Hawaiian because of my status and I have a lot of miles but I will look at Southwest now to see if it would work for me. Sometimes it is better to pay cash and not use miles.

 

[sjsharkie]

For you slip, I think you have the right strategy. Status matters, so if you have Hawaiian status that would be the option I'd likely choose. Hawaiian generally has to match fares with a large carrier - pre COVID I was paying closer to $80 for a one way fare on Hawaiian.

Same thing for me flying on the mainland. I am 1k on United and will almost always fly them even if it means paying more. The difference for family flights to Hawaii is Alaska has the companion fare which is a great savings when flying a family of 5 vs. United.

Hope to see you sometime on Molokai! I've only been there once - when I played with the Hawaii Youth Symphony 30+ years ago. I'm sure a lot has changed... Aloha!

Ryan

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[jacknsara]

This thread is about Hawaii Inter-Island Flights.
So again, what is the difference, or what do you like more about Hawaiian than Southwest on such flights? Let's hear your "comparison."

Aloha,
We rarely fly interisland, but I noticed earlier in this thread that a seat pitch (leg space) comparison was made to an airbus aircraft. Hawaiian generally uses their boeing 717 aircraft for interisland.
SWA gives about 2" more space than HA.
Seat pitch comparison from seatfuru.com for the SWA 737 max8 (32-33") https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/S...ines_Boeing_737_Max_8.php?flightno=1100&date= to HA 717 (30-31") https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/H...ines_Boeing_717-200_V2.php?flightno=303&date=
On seatguru look in the upper right in the box titled seating details

Jack

 

[slip]

For you slip, I think you have the right strategy. Status matters, so if you have Hawaiian status that would be the option I'd likely choose. Hawaiian generally has to match fares with a large carrier - pre COVID I was paying closer to $80 for a one way fare on Hawaiian.

Same thing for me flying on the mainland. I am 1k on United and will almost always fly them even if it means paying more. The difference for family flights to Hawaii is Alaska has the companion fare which is a great savings when flying a family of 5 vs. United.

Hope to see you sometime on Molokai! I've only been there once - when I played with the Hawaii Youth Symphony 30+ years ago. I'm sure a lot has changed... Aloha!

Ryan

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

Aloha Ryan

Yes, I was routinely paying $168 round trip on Hawaiian for work pre-covid. On the work flights I usually only had a carry-on.

Alaskan never worked for me in Wisconsin so I couldn't take advantage of a companion fare.

More flights should help Southwest and prices all around hopefully, we'll see. If one if them would add some flights to Molokai, that would help and give Mokulele some competition.

If you ever make it to Molokai let me know.
I think you would be surprised and nothing has changed much on Molokai.

 

[Tamaradarann]

Yes, and when I was working that's what I was finding with Southwest for inter-iand, 1 to 3 flights. That was back in 2019 and 2020 when they just started. COVID may have had something to do with it but I would often only see 1 flight. That could work for vacation travel but for not work, when I had to be there for a meeting or to have enough time to get things done. It ended out not being worth it for me to even try looking at them.

What you are seeing now is better but take a look at how many flights Hawaiian has. Many more choices and that is convenient for work or vacation.

Many times I was at the airport early and Hawaiian was able to switch my flight to a flight that was just about to leave. They can do that because they have so many flights. That is very convenient when you are going to another island for an appointment and finish early.

I posted this because the increase in flights will be a good thing and the times could work better for others too. Southwest seems to know it was an issue with customers too and is trying to improve it.

I guess what is frequent enough is realtive like with most things. I agree only 1-3 flights a day is too little for people who need to be somewhere on a timely basis like for business. The 7-11 flights a day that Southwest is now providing to each main neighbor island seems to me to be quite workable for most people. As most know we are BUS people in Honolulu and love being able to catch one of the buses within a couple of minutes to go the Mall, Kakaako, Downtown etc. However, some of the areas of the island only get one bus and it is an hour wait between buses. They get about the same number of buses a day that Southwest now flies to Maui from Honolulu. That would NOT be acceptable to us if we lived there and needed the BUS.

 

[slip]

I guess what is frequent enough is realtive like with most things. I agree only 1-3 flights a day is too little for people who need to be somewhere on a timely basis like for business. The 7-11 flights a day that Southwest is now providing to each main neighbor island seems to me to be quite workable for most people. As most know we are BUS people in Honolulu and love being able to catch one of the buses within a couple of minutes to go the Mall, Kakaako, Downtown etc. However, some of the areas of the island only get one bus and it is an hour wait between buses. They get about the same number of buses a day that Southwest now flies to Maui from Honolulu. That would NOT be acceptable to us if we lived there and needed the BUS.

And that doesn't include sold out flights. Hawaiian often sells out on flights and I'm sure Southwest does too so with less flights that could be more of a hassle for some.

It's amazing how many people fly to a neighbor island in the morning and come back that same afternoon. I had to do that for work a couple times. I hated that, with my job it made more sense to stay a day but a couple times there were timing issues. But with a lot of people flying back and forth for work, those flights can fill up. That maybe one of the reasons they are adding more flights.

Hopefully more flights will be a good thing.

I think you picked a good time to go to Maui. I would think things will settle down by then. Plus school is back in session so there should be less people.

 

[dsmrp]

I liked Hawaiian when they were making morning bread runs to the neighbor islands. Literally racks of sliced bread perched on the first 5-6 rows of seats.
Planes were smaller then and it took about 1 hour to get to the Big Island from Honolulu.

I think back then, the tourists were filling up the planes. It was a cheap add on fare for them with a mainland tkt. For locals the fares were twice as much. Blue collar families such as mine and my aunts & uncles didn't take yearly family vacations to the neighbor islands.

 

[Tamaradarann]

And that doesn't include sold out flights. Hawaiian often sells out on flights and I'm sure Southwest does too so with less flights that could be more of a hassle for some.

It's amazing how many people fly to a neighbor island in the morning and come back that same afternoon. I had to do that for work a couple times. I hated that, with my job it made more sense to stay a day but a couple times there were timing issues. But with a lot of people flying back and forth for work, those flights can fill up. That maybe one of the reasons they are adding more flights.

Hopefully more flights will be a good thing.

I think you picked a good time to go to Maui. I would think things will settle down by then. Plus school is back in session so there should be less people.

More flights are always a good thing for customers. If the number of flyers can support the increase is another question which the airlines will need to deal with,

I wanted to go when school was back in session so that the family summer crowd was gone. We are coming and going on a Saturday so the work crowd should also be minimal. We have a surplus of timeshare points and wanted to take advantage of them. Since we have the Condo in Honolulu we certainly don't need to use points in Honolulu like we usual do.

 

[jabberwocky]

Just wondering now that Southwest has increased their timing as to how reliable their service is and whether there is a compelling reason to select Hawaiian over Southwest (I've never flown either airline and am less sensitive to price).

We have a week coming up on Maui followed by five days on the Big Island. We'll be flying back to Canada from Maui, so we would need to make sure we can collect bags and then check-in for that flight after returning from the BI.

Both WN and HA have flight times that are fairly close together and leave us with an approximately 5-hour layover. Southwest flight is slightly earlier and works out to be around $200 cheaper for the airfare (I always buy fares that are easily changeable/refundable).

There are six of us, but we generally travel with only two checked bags to warmer locations (one of which is snorkel equipment). I'm somewhat worried about the lack of seat selection on WN, but I'm willing to purchase the anytime fare with early bird check-in the kids are experienced travelers, so should not be an issue if they have to sit by themselves for 30 min.

Does anyone have experiences with either/both of these airlines that make it a slam-dunk to pick on over the other?

 

[Tamaradarann]

On longer flights: Comfort, quality, space, selecting your seat, first class option, and meals and snacks on longer flights.

Plus I like to book all the way through whenever possible.

I totally agree with you about booking all the way through whenever possible. Once Hawaiian scheduled the direct flight from HNL to JFK we became Hawaiian advocates and have always flow that flight both ways. We like the free meals and wine also as well as the Extra Comfort Seats for the long 10 hour or so flight.

However, for the 20-40- minute flights between islands there is little difference between Hawaiian and Southwest.

We are mixed on the flight to Las Vegas from HNL. We would like to fly Hawaiian and have scheduled going to Las Veags on Hawaiian in September. However, it seems like the Hawaiian flights coming from Vegas to HNL are much more expensive or more miles. I am not sure why the difference since the distance is exactly the same. So we will be trying coming back from Las Vegas on Southwest. It is a long flight on Southwest but we have flown from Islip on Southwest to Vegas with a stop in Baltimore many times before. So the Baltimore to Vegas flight is very similar distance to the HNL to Vegas flight.

 

[ScoopKona]

Just wondering now that Southwest has increased their timing as to how reliable their service is and whether there is a compelling reason to select Hawaiian over Southwest (I've never flown either airline and am less sensitive to price).

We have a week coming up on Maui followed by five days on the Big Island. We'll be flying back to Canada from Maui, so we would need to make sure we can collect bags and then check-in for that flight after returning from the BI.

Both WN and HA have flight times that are fairly close together and leave us with an approximately 5-hour layover. Southwest flight is slightly earlier and works out to be around $200 cheaper for the airfare (I always buy fares that are easily changeable/refundable).

There are six of us, but we generally travel with only two checked bags to warmer locations (one of which is snorkel equipment). I'm somewhat worried about the lack of seat selection on WN, but I'm willing to purchase the anytime fare with early bird check-in the kids are experienced travelers, so should not be an issue if they have to sit by themselves for 30 min.

Does anyone have experiences with either/both of these airlines that make it a slam-dunk to pick on over the other?

1) I prefer Southwest to Hawaiian. I've flown both extensively. And I always seem to have better luck with Southwest. Southwest, for instance, didn't make us sit on the tarmac for five hours while they replaced a radio. Although during the pandemic, southwest up and canceled a flight to the mainland when I was at the airport, less than an hour from departure time. I had to find another way back.

2) Early bird check in isn't worth it. All it means is that SW checks you in 36 hours ahead of your flight instead of you doing it at 24 hours. A-list and Business Select still go ahead of Earlybird. And on flights to Hawaii, people tend to use every perk they have. The last few times I used early bird, I got a B ticket -- which means all the screaming children and seniors in wheelchairs go ahead. If you're not in A group, expect to be scattered all over the plane.

3) The checked bags don't matter to me because I don't check bags on vacation. I *do* check bags when flying to Hawaii -- as I slowly move permanently to the farm. And since I try to bring precisely 100 pounds of stuff each time me, my wife, or friends fly to KOA, that's a pretty big deal. I've moved roughly a ton of sensitive things that I don't want on a shipping container, thanks to Southwest's "air cargo." That being said, if I was going to Hawaii on vacation -- another island for instance -- I'd find a way to do so without any checked bags. The speed, lack of complications, zero chance of lost luggage, being first out through customs (when I travel abroad) and to the train station or rental car office means an entire day of not waiting in line with everyone else. Tourists come to the island in waves -- better to be the tip of the spear than stuck with the herd.

 

[klpca]

Just wondering now that Southwest has increased their timing as to how reliable their service is and whether there is a compelling reason to select Hawaiian over Southwest (I've never flown either airline and am less sensitive to price).

We have a week coming up on Maui followed by five days on the Big Island. We'll be flying back to Canada from Maui, so we would need to make sure we can collect bags and then check-in for that flight after returning from the BI.

Both WN and HA have flight times that are fairly close together and leave us with an approximately 5-hour layover. Southwest flight is slightly earlier and works out to be around $200 cheaper for the airfare (I always buy fares that are easily changeable/refundable).

There are six of us, but we generally travel with only two checked bags to warmer locations (one of which is snorkel equipment). I'm somewhat worried about the lack of seat selection on WN, but I'm willing to purchase the anytime fare with early bird check-in the kids are experienced travelers, so should not be an issue if they have to sit by themselves for 30 min.

Does anyone have experiences with either/both of these airlines that make it a slam-dunk to pick on over the other?

We just returned home last week. Hawaiian had some issues. They blamed this particular debacle on their server room getting too hot and shutting things down the day before our flights, but when I did a quick google search it seems that they have been having issues for longer than that due to a system wide software change.

TL;DR: our Hawaiian (inter island) flights were delayed without apology from Hawaiian. I am still salty about it (lolol).
We were flying KOA-HNL-LIH Our original flights were 11:55am departure KOA-HNL then the second leg was to arrive in LIH around 2:15pm. On the day before our flights, Hawaiian sent an email saying that we needed to arrive at the airport no later than 3 hours before departure no matter our destination (really???). We ignored that but still arrived about 2 hours ahead only to find out that our flights were delayed - over and over again. Ultimately we arrived in Lihue at 5:45ish but our bags didn't arrive until the next day. It was a stressful day but the people who I feel most bad for were those who were trying to catch partner flights in Honolulu to get home. There was no attempt to prioritize those folks and there were a lot of stressed out people trying to make connecting flights to the mainland. Throughout all of this the Hawaiian staff were rock stars - very calm and polite. But communication from Hawaiian was inconsistent, late (one text about our flight delay came to us as we boarded, lol) and lacking in sympathy. I have always loved Hawaiian but not this time. Seeing as how both Southwest & Hawaiian have had their issues, it's a crapshoot. I am still a bit salty about spending 4 hours outside in the heat at KOA with zero apologies from Hawaiian. They had to have known beforehand that there would be delays, and I would have preferred if they had reached out proactively and said that there would be delays, instead of letting everyone show up at the airport only to find out that their flights are delayed by 2+ hours. The gate areas at KOA are small and outdoors, so it was standing room only towards the middle of the day. But ultimately HA got us there and didn't cancel any midday flights. I heard through the check in staff that later flights were canceled the night before. On the corporate level, this was bungled mightily.

 

[PigsDad]

If you're not in A group, expect to be scattered all over the plane.

Don't let Scoop scare you with his typical exaggerated comments. We fly Southwest almost exclusively, and rarely have had a problem getting seats together with a B boarding pass. It is only when you have a C group or very high B group boarding pass that you have an issue.

But with a 30 minute flight, does it really matter where you sit? Personally I would just get the cheapest seat available and move on.

Kurt

 

[Passepartout]

But with a 30 minute flight, does it really matter where you sit?

Heck yes. You might even meet a new friend.

 

[klpca]

Btw my sister is trying to get to Kona as we speak. Hawaiian is still a hot mess. If you are going soon, I would definitely consider Southwest. And if you do early bird you will be fine with seats. We fly them a lot, including to Hawaii. It will be fine.

 

[slip]

I flew Hawaiian here on Saturday, no issues at all.

 

[klpca]

I flew Hawaiian here on Saturday, no issues at all.

Both my sister and I had awful experiences. She was going from HNL to KOA. They weren't even making announcements for boarding - just shouting. Multiple delays and no announcements or texts. It was really a disappointing experience. I'm not sure if the HNL connection is the issue. Until this past weekend I was a Hawaiian cheerleader but it will take some time to forget this experience.

 

[slip]

Both my sister and I had awful experiences. She was going from HNL to KOA. They weren't even making announcements for boarding - just shouting. Multiple delays and no announcements or texts. It was really a disappointing experience. I'm not sure if the HNL connection is the issue. Until this past weekend I was a Hawaiian cheerleader but it will take some time to forget this experience.

We did come from Maui so that may have been a difference.