Southwest finally received it’s FAA approval to fly to Hawaii! In 2017 the airline announced that it would the work required to fly over the Pacific and had hoped to sell flights at the end of 2018. With some hiccups along the way, including the government shut-down, 2018 came and went and unfortunately no Hawaiian routes were ready for sale. But today is the day!
As of right now, flights are not actually for sale and the exact routing has is not yet available, but that information might be available in just a few days! Based on Southwest’s previous conveyed information, we should see flights from Oakland (OAK), San Diego (SAN), San Jose (SJC), and Sacramento (SMF) to Honolulu, HI (Oahu), Kahului, HI (Maui), Kona, HI (Island of Hawaii), and Lihue, HI (Kauai). They have also mentioned to fly intra-island, but I am not sure if that will be part of the initial launch or not. I’ve also read some reports of service from Las Vegas, but again, that could take some time.
Fingers crossed we see some low fares available! This is a great opportunity to get some cheap fares to Hawaii, especially since other airlines might come down on price. It will also become one of my favorite ways to use the amazing Southwest Companion Pass!
While this is a route I absolutely want to take advantage, I am not sure how feasible it really will be since I am Boston-based. With the current route schedule it will require two lay-overs and that is just not in the cards with my family. But, we can always fly non-stop to California on another carrier, spend a few days, and then make way to Hawaii on Southwest. Despite the difficulty of getting to Hawaii from the East Coast, I absolutely will be making way there hopefully within the next year!
Will you be flying to Hawaii on Southwest?
HT: CNBC
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RIP Hawaii. Will get more crowded now.
Time to go to the South Pacific now 🙂
Reminds me of one of my favorite Yogi Berra aphorisms: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” 😉
I’ve got my fingers crossed, but I think that we might be putting too much of our hope on Southwest. Once they fly to Hawaii, they could start limiting Companion Fare availability on those routes, or there might be so many chomping at the bit to fly them that there is no availability for months. Period.
I think I’ll wait to see what actually happens before I get too excited.
I cant wait for SWA to travel to Hawaii. Looking forward to experiencing the islands for the first time with the Companion Pass in tow.
I’m LAX-based so those initial routes to Hawaii will have zero impact on my travel to Hawaii… except if they trigger a fare war with other carriers who fly nonstop to Hawaii (AA) from LAX.
Hnl the new Orlando. No way the place will be loaded with kids now on southwest. Granted it was overpriced and over hyped to begin with but who wants to spend 12 hrs from the east coast on that plane. Even 6 hours from California on a plane serving nuts for dinner would be gross. I have done. It ord to hnl and back to den. On UA and it is a long flight