Southwest Airways has been flying to Hawaii since 2019, nevertheless it’s generally straightforward to overlook that this no-frills airline might be flown all the best way to the fiftieth state, particularly since these flight choices will not essentially show when looking out on Google Flights.
It is one factor to fly Southwest a few hours to Orlando or Las Vegas, however what’s it like flying over six hours to an island in the midst of the Pacific Ocean on an airline with out advance seat assignments, sizzling meals and extra?
I would flown Southwest between Hawaiian Islands earlier than, however what about utilizing the service for the complete multihour trek to the Hawaiian Islands?
Just lately, I made a decision to place the airline to the check. I packed up my backup energy banks, bought the EarlyBird service to attempt to get on the aircraft sooner to have a greater decide of seats and strapped in for 10 hours of flying from Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to Las Vegas’ Harry Reid Worldwide Airport (LAS) to Kauai’s Lihue Airport (LIH).
Need extra airline-specific information? Join TPG’s free biweekly Aviation e-newsletter.
In case you are contemplating doing the identical, here is what it is best to know earlier than flying Southwest Airways to Hawaii.
Associated: The most effective Southwest Airways bank cards
The place Southwest flies in Hawaii
At the moment, Southwest operates flights to Hawaii from a number of cities in California and from Las Vegas and Phoenix. The service flies to 4 Hawaiian Islands: Maui, Kauai, Oahu and the Huge Island. You’ll be able to join from different locations in its community to these flights.
Your Companion Go works for flights to Hawaii
If you’re fortunate sufficient to have a Southwest Airways Companion Go, then you have got buy-one, get-one tickets to Hawaii. You may solely want to purchase one ticket with {dollars} or factors, as your move makes it potential to e-book a second ticket in your designated companion without spending a dime. (You may solely be chargeable for $5.60 in taxes and costs for the companion ticket.)
Day by day E-newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Day by day e-newsletter
Be part of over 700,000 readers for breaking information, in-depth guides and unique offers from TPG’s specialists
Ebook when there is a sale to save lots of a ton
I booked our flights to Hawaii on Southwest throughout one of many airline’s large gross sales, and because of that timing, the one-way flights from Houston to Kauai (connecting in Las Vegas) value simply 11,161 Southwest Fast Rewards factors plus $5.60 in taxes and costs. Had I made a decision to pay with money, my complete would’ve been $172.80.
These are fairly unbelievable charges to get to paradise, however costs aren’t at all times that low, so you’ll want to store whenever you see {that a} Southwest sale has been introduced when you’re sticking to a good finances.
Some seats have extra legroom than others
Southwest Airways would not have top notch, however some seats have rather more legroom than others, which begins to matter an awesome deal whenever you’re flying for an prolonged time period.
Most Southwest seats to Hawaii have a 32-inch pitch, a 17.8-inch width and a 2-inch recline, which holds up properly in opposition to some rivals. To provide some comparability, United operates a Boeing 737-900 on some West Coast-to-Hawaii routes, and on these plane, you will discover economic system seats with 31 inches of pitch and 17.3 inches of width. In these instances, Southwest seats are literally higher, so except you will get your self into economic system plus or top notch on one other airline, you in all probability aren’t worse off on a Southwest flight.
Know, although, that some Southwest seats are significantly better than others. For instance, when you can snag 16A or 16F, you have got primarily infinite legroom, as there is no seat straight in entrance of you due to the emergency exit and further area across the exit.
If you cannot get a kind of seats, a number of in different exit rows even have a bit extra legroom than regular. Moreover, row 15 has solely two seats on all sides of the aisle, making it potential for you and your journey buddy to keep away from having a 3rd particular person in your row.
If flying with youngsters, notice that they cannot sit within the emergency exit row till they flip 15, so this tip is not for younger households. Nonetheless, these with little ones will get on the flight earlier within the boarding course of due to the airline’s household boarding coverage.
Critically take into account EarlyBird Test-In
If there’s ever a time to pay to present your self a higher decide of seats on the aircraft, it’s whenever you’re flying a few of their longest routes to Hawaii.
Usually, I am not vastly bothered by Southwest’s distinctive method to boarding, the place you do not know the place you’ll sit till you line up and decide a seat after boarding. Nonetheless, it might be a bit tense to have a later boarding place for a flight so long as this one.
To extend our possibilities of sitting someplace respectable, I ponied up for EarlyBird Test-In. Doing so made it so Southwest routinely checked me in forward of the usual 24-hour mark, thus assigning me a greater boarding place than I may seize alone since Southwest assigns them so as of check-in.
Whereas the costs now fluctuate by flight, it value $25 to buy EarlyBird Test-In for our flight. By paying additional for this perk, I acquired an A30 boarding place on the Houston-to-Las Vegas section and a B8 spot on the Las Vegas-to-Lihue section. My husband, nonetheless, didn’t pay for EarlyBird Test-In, so when he checked in proper on the 24-hour mark for a similar flights, he was assigned the B27 and B17 positions on these segments, respectively.
The worth to snag a fair higher A1 to A15 upgraded boarding place (which is space-available inside 24 hours of your flight if a few of these spots stay unsold on Enterprise Choose fares or comparable) was $70 from Houston to Las Vegas and $50 from Las Vegas to Lihue. Not desirous to probability what issues would appear like within the B boarding group for the lengthy section, my husband snagged A10 for $50 from Las Vegas to Kauai, which was cash properly spent, because it meant he may seize the seat on the aircraft with essentially the most legroom.
In case you have the Southwest Fast Rewards Precedence Credit score Card or the Southwest Fast Rewards Efficiency Enterprise Credit score Card, know that it comes with 4 A1 to A15 boarding positions per yr, so when you’re planning on flying Southwest to Hawaii, considered one of these playing cards might be a choice to enroll in.
Associated: Find out how to snag the very best seats on Southwest Airways
There is not any sizzling meals, however there may be Hawaiian beer
On flights to Hawaii, Southwest affords a free snack pack, which was completely ample. It included a 1.75-ounce pack of Wheat Thins, a small dip for the crackers, a pack of Sunkist fruit chews and the standard Southwest snack combine. Simply know that there are not any sizzling meals out there on Southwest — even in case you are prepared to pay. So, when you or your youngsters will want a extra substantial meal than a snack pack, you may wish to purchase it on the airport or convey one thing from dwelling.
1 of 2
SUMMER HULL/THE POINTS GUY
However, on the plus aspect, if you wish to get into the Aloha spirit whereas nonetheless within the air, you are in luck, as Southwest flights to Hawaii do promote cans of Kona Brewing Co. beer, together with Huge Wave, a $7 golden ale that’s fairly good. There’s additionally Kula toasted coconut rum out there for $7.
1 of 3
SUMMER HULL/THE POINTS GUY
Associated: Airline ‘snackdown’: Who has the very best free snacks within the sky?
Daytime flights again from Hawaii
It is quite common for airways to function night departures from Hawaii again to the mainland that fly by the evening as red-eyes and land very first thing within the morning.
Nonetheless, that is not how Southwest operates. Whereas the airline might change to that type of schedule in some unspecified time in the future, for now, its flights again from Hawaii depart within the morning or by early afternoon, permitting you to land or join again in California, Arizona or Nevada that very same day as an alternative of rolling in on a painful red-eye.
Frankly, I vastly favor this method and assume overnighting on the West Coast is superior to a red-eye flight again from Hawaii in an economic system seat.
Gate-to-gate Wi-Fi to Hawaii
If you’d like or want to remain related throughout your flight to Hawaii, Southwest has a significant edge over many rivals with its $8 gate-to-gate Wi-Fi.
In my check, it did not work completely the entire flight to Hawaii, nevertheless it labored not less than half the time, which was greater than I may say for my return journey dwelling on United. Through the latter, Wi-Fi wasn’t even an possibility till we had been inside quarter-hour of touchdown at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX).
Associated: Southwest Airways including sooner Wi-Fi, energy ports as a part of $2 billion in inflight upgrades
Free motion pictures, however BYO (charged) units
Outdoors of Wi-Fi, which is able to value $8 per machine, all different leisure, corresponding to stay TV, motion pictures and TV exhibits, is free on Southwest flights to Hawaii. This labored very well on my iPhone, however there is a catch that could be a actual potential disadvantage to flying Southwest to Hawaii.
Southwest nonetheless would not have inflight screens or energy retailers on most of its plane. Until you get fortunate and are one of many first few plane to have energy retailers, it’s good to convey your individual totally charged units prepared to look at the free leisure. Given the six-hour flight occasions to Hawaii, it’s your decision a backup charger for every member of your touring celebration, too.
Backside line
The flights to and from Hawaii are hardly ever the highlights of the journey. These flights might be so long as flights from the East Coast to Europe however often come with out the bells and whistles (like meals and leisure) that you just discover heading to Europe.
With Southwest, that is particularly the case, as you will not have blankets, energy retailers, sizzling meals and even an advance seat task earlier than boarding your flight to Hawaii.
I wasn’t fairly positive how I would really feel about utilizing Southwest to fly over 2,800 miles to Kauai, however whereas not luxurious, it turned out to be a strong flight expertise. Grabbing the exit row with a lot of additional legroom due to having an excellent boarding place actually helped, and having Wi-Fi that labored for not less than a few of the flight was key to having an fulfilling flight, too.
If the worth was proper and I may additionally afford to safe an excellent boarding place, I might not hesitate to fly Southwest Airways to Hawaii once more.
Associated studying:
