Lastest news on Southwest schedules and fares. Some routes continue to have great deals for summer. Find out more in today’s post.
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel News » Southwest Hawaii Stiffens Competition: 11 New Daily Flights Exposed
Another factor that does play into this is the overall capacity of Honolulu Airport and whether it would be able to accommodate the needs of SWA. As you might know, SWA handles its own operations exclusively. In other words, they rarely if ever contract out to other entities for items below the wing. This includes baggage handling and such. There is also the issue of gate availability at certain times of day that SWA would like. I am sure that the whole Interisland 2-step that is happening with Mokulele and Island Air is not helping matters.
I would predict that SWA gets a couple of gates in the new Interisland Terminal mauka extension for its own operations, as SWA tends to operate their flights like trains, one after the other, quick turn around and then back out.
If SWA starts flying new 737-800’s to Hawaii in ‘early’ 2018, (perhaps from LAX, LGB or SNA?), will there be an announcement and online bookings beginning in Summer of ’17… or about six months in advance?
When will this likely appear online?
Thanks.
Hi Rick.
Yes we’d anticipate about a 6 month lead time. We don’t more but as soon as we do you’ll see it here.
Aloha.
Do you anticipate online bookings to start soon, this summer to Hawaii, ie. June, July?
Another domino has just fallen. Southwest has up dated their reservation system, which allows for red-eyes.
Nice MP … I can’t wait for this to take place… I would rather fly SWA than Hawaiian ANY day!!! Hopefully they give Hawaiian a run for it’s money with direct flights from SD to HNL
Hi Brian,
I just stumbled across your website – this is GREAT!!! I really appreciate all the info!
Could you please let me know of the best flights/routes from Austin to Honolulu at Thanksgiving? (I know there are no non-stops.) Also, what car rental agency would you suggest? Thanks SO MUCH!!
Hi Marcia.
Looks like American is the best bet from Austin in terms of connections and price. From $802 generally around Thanksgiving, depending on days of travel.
Aloha.
Thanks for all your help, Brian! Unfortunately, the fares were MUCH HIGHER, but a lot of that was due to the days we want to fly (most popular days of the year :{) as well as times (we didn’t want a 10-20 hour layover anywhere). But thanks to you, we did focus on American. We ended up paying $1645 for coach seats, going out in the 6 AM time range, and a lot more to upgrade to Main Cabin Extra.
I did want to give a shout-out to what we found to be the BEST search engine on the internet – Google Flights (www.google.com/flights). They definitely had the easiest navigation, most professional appearance and, when we chose American, gave us a link to book directly on the aa website (i.e., no fees). All of the other sites we looked at (which were SEVERAL) were substantially inferior. Check it out for yourself.
Again, thanks for all your help – we really appreciate it!
Best regards,
Marcia
I have family in Kona, so I hope they consider SJC/OAK to KOA/ITO as an option. SFO is notorious for weather delays, and I’ve never flown into the Bay area to SFO because it’s kind of a mess.
Believe it or not, San Jose is the closest airport to Hawaii on the mainland, and its an airport SWA already uses. SFO and OAK are essentially tied for second. I hope they get their ETOPS certifications sorted soon, regardless.
Could you please let me know the most reasonable price for a round trip airfare for two from Philadelphia or even Newark to Oahu the week of October 9th staying for two weeks, to visit our daughter who is stationed there in the Marines. Thank you.
Hi Dee.
Save about $200 by flying from EWR. $755 nonstop (highly recommended) on UAL. Or $709 with a very long layover.
Aloha.
Not written very well as ETOPS certification is not and has never been required for Gulf Of Mexico flying. Not sure where yet his misinformation came from.
Hi Brian.
It came from multiple sources including our pilot friends at SWA. We were informed that the Gulf is a Class II airspace, part of ETOPS.
Aloha.
Hi All,
I can confirm SWA did indeed get their initial ETOPS certification flying over the gulf. The proving runs were flown between HOU and SJU. While not technically full blown ETOPS it is Class II and was an essential step in the ETOPS certification process. Hope this helps.
I disagree as a amt we never have done ETOPS on airplanes going to the Gulf of Mexico are the Caribbean now swa might be useing it for certification practices but not required
As a 32 year aircraft mechanic who’s been ETOPS qualified for 30 years and sending airplanes to the Gulf of Mexico dose not require a ETOPS . unles SWA is useing that for proving runs.
Aloha,
I’m hoping this will start a friendly competition between SWA and Hawaiian airlines to drive their pricing down as well!
Going to maui Sept mid-week. Want direct flight. Alaska has been at $240/way for months. Good chance it will go down, or should I book now?
Hi there. Could you please tell me what would be the best airline to take from San Diego to KOA nonstop WED October 11-16 arriving early afternoon. I could even change dates of travel to THURS October 12-17 to get a better deal if needed. 2 adults and 1 child traveling. Thanks so much.
Jackie
Hi Jackie.
October 12 to 17 has the best price right now at $517 on Alaska. That is the only nonstop.
Aloha.
Check out Scott’s Cheap Flights too. I just got a deal notification from them from a bunch of cities (including SAN for $351) to 3 Hawaiian islands. There are a ton that pop up every month.
what is the chance of flights out of seattle to kona?
mahalo … darlene
Hi Darlene.
If you mean on Southwest, there is virtually no chance of that. We indicated all of the likely mainland gateways.
Aloha.
Actually Southwest seat pitch is far above industry standard at 32 inches. Their new 800’s also now have even more pitch and also have the widest seat in the USA. I’m 6ft 4 and all leg. My knees don’t even touch the seat in front of me on the new 800 seats.
Southwest contracts ALL of its international out stations and has said it would contract out all Hawaii stations as well. It used to be swa hsndeled all their own ops but that changed with their entry into the international market