Updates from Alaska, Southwest and United. What you need to know about MAX Flights to Hawaii.
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114 thoughts on “It’s Back: Boeing 737 Max Flights to Hawaii Have Resumed”
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Updates from Alaska, Southwest and United. What you need to know about MAX Flights to Hawaii.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Comments are closed.
I’ve been lucky enough to fly on United’s and Southwest’s MAX planes over the past couple weeks and I’ll take a MAX over an Airbus any day! Comfortable, quiet, smooth. Just a nicer ride in general. I’ll go out of my way to book a MAX over other aircraft now.
I think I’ve read as much as anybody about the Max aircraft. I will certainly fly the Max. I’m just not a big fan of the narrow body aircraft. I feel like a sardine in a can. That includes Hawaiian Air AB 321, which has some issue too. The narrow body aircraft do get much better fuel economy and that’s a big plus in several ways.
Aloha Guys
Hi Roy.
Thanks. We concur in always preferring wide-body when possible.
Aloha.
Do you know anything about Air Canada Max flights?
A friend of mine is a SWA pilot, flying out of Denver. Two weeks ago he underwent MAX training in Texas, and feels very confident in the aircraft. However, it will take time for the general public to accept the aircraft again.
Looks like I might switch to Delta from United for my direct flights to Lihue. I have never liked the 737 for overwater flights for 5 hours or more and it always feels tippy and not nearly as stable as the 757.
I seriously can’t see any airline placing the Max800 on Any routes to Hawai’i any time soon. I don’t think that route would be a great guinea pig for this aircraft’s reintroduction into society. If there were any issues (god forbid!) in route… there’s No Place to go! For that reason, I don’t see it going right to Hawai’i with Any airline right off the bat. They’d be stupid to do so. It would be instant route suicide.
I will have no hesitation flying a MAX. Because of all the scrutiny, safety upgrades, etc., the pilots and everyone else associated with it will make sure that it’s the safest plane in the air.
My Father was a Boeing Engineer for 35 years and I’d like to respectfully correct a lot of these people regarding Boeing putting profits before safety which is absolutely not true at all. Without going into detail, I can see that a lot of people here are scared basing opinions on incorrect ideas versus facts. Facts that you wouldn’t have without direct knowledge. As with anything that is man made, including the car you drive every day, there can be after market recall on parts, but it doesn’t change the fact that no matter how much driver training someone has, not everyone should be behind the wheel. Not blaming human error entirely, and I understand why people are scared, but to blame an organization entirely with “they only care about profit” is reckless when you have no direct knowledge of The Boeing Company and their dedication to workmanship and safety.
So true. AND… if Boeing only cared about profit, they would never have sold / delivered an aircraft that they had even the remotest inkling was unsafe. They’ve lost ka-billions of dollars and are essentially insolvent over the MAX incidents. They reported a profit of 10.5 BILLION dollars in 2018–and a loss of 636 MILLION in 2019–a reversal of over 11 BILLION dollars. They’ve been around and in business long enough to know that crashes are FAR more expensive for them than delaying delivery to correct any known safety issues. I agree that pilot error / lack of adequate training on the new planes was just as much to blame as the planes themselves. They went through thousands and thousands of hours of testing before, during and after production. If Boeing knew about any safety issues that absolutely would have addressed them before delivering the planes.
I think one of the major problems with the two flights that crashed may have been the lack of experience in general of the flight crews, from some of the smaller countries of origin. It is also much easier to blame Boeing and their deep pockets as opposed to a third world country and flight crews lack of a skill set.
Boeing was a great company and like many engineering companies get taken over by accountants and short term thinkers trying to hit their bonus. Engineers are outsourced strictly for costs. Why Cutting Costs is Expensive: How $9/Hour Software Engineers Cost Boeing Billions is an interesting article if you read it you will understand. Many engineers with years of experience were let go and replaced. Bad company culture caused this problem as well as lax government oversight.
I feel that I will have a great seat selection when the max returns to service. I’m not afraid of it at all.
This is a helpful comment. My first thought is that there is no way in hell I’m getting on one, at least not for a year or two after we see what happens. I admire your courage.
I also will avoid the MAX for a few years to see if issues are really resolved.i hope other options are available for the time being.
For those of us in northwest Washington, flights from Vancouver, B.C. are often much more convenient than from Seattle. Air Canada has had to bring in a charter company from Atlanta, Omni Air, to provide service since Air Canada was using the Max. Omni is flying the route as Air Canada in a 767. Instead of daily service, it has been every other day.
While not the “Mainland USA”, it is an option for those traveling from Washington State as well as Canada.
Well it turns out Colleen was correct…other problems have popped up…from faulty wiring harnesses to speculation that perhaps the 737 has just been overstretched beyond what it should have been… All this was done as a result of a company philosophy that over prioritized profits (Seattle Times editorial recently said this)….resulting in hundreds of deaths.
Also SWA was a major driver in pressuring Boeing to keep costs down and to keep squeezing the 737 hull for all it’s worth.
I don’t particularly trust them as they certainly offer a cut rate inferior Hawaii product in the name of trying to keep fares down.
Sorry, I’m not impressed with SWA or the MAX. Perhaps SWA over reached what they do by flying TransPac as well as the MAX overreached what the 737 was capable of.
In the long run, the cut rate airlines just don’t do that well in the Hawaii market.
It is not a faulty wire harness. There is a small chance of two wires in a large wire bundle shorting out. Assuming they are even near each other, touching. You have a better change of winning the lottery and being struck by lighting on the same day. This wire routing is also on the 737NG. Rather than fight with the FAA about if this was certified incorrectly (i.e. previouly certified on the NG, and grandfathered in as the bundle was not changed between the NG and MAX), Boeing has chosen to rework the wire routing on all MAXs which have not flown away from the the Puget Sound. THe Seattle Times article doesn’t speak for those of us who worked on the MAX (myself included), non of us put safety over profits.
Wrong you ha e a better chance ce of dying g in a plane crash than winning the lottery which is WHY, as a fearful flyer, I don’t buyouts tickets lol.
Lotto tickets
I flew then to Hawai’i. What I got was the best legroom ever to Hawai’i, very friendly employees from start to finish and free movies on my iPhone as well as free iMessaging that actually worked the whole way there. They didn’t feed us a meal but I got much more than I ever have on United American or Delta. The snacks I got were sufficient for 4 hours and 35 minutes. The legroom and extra wide seats… that alone won me over. Not sure what you weren’t impressed by. Maybe you expected lie flat seats and shoulder massages
I refused to fly MAX8s *before* there were crashes because the plane was designed so tight and uncomfortable that pilots were complaining about getting in and out of the bathrooms. Didn’t think they could make airplane bathrooms smaller but they did.
I agree that the perks of the MAX outweigh the potential risk (which I think is extremely small now) for me.
I have no worries about flying on the Max when it returns to the air. After all the issues being checked and rechecked and tested and tested, I think it will probably be the safest aircraft ever to fly again. No worries here
It won’t be. The Max should never of been allowed to fly. It’s not a safe, reliable aircraft and Bowing knew it. But to them, making a profit was more important than passenger safety
Back that up with facts, Mike G.
Mike,
Who exactly is “Bowing”. Is that a wing with a bow in it? I’m confused.
The issues with the 737 max are a result of Boeing putting profits ahead of safety at any cost….good on the American Pilots
for having their priorities right, and good on Sully for his perspective…..where’s Southwest stand?
Ran across this website with quite a bit of info on Max8.
https://airlinerwatch.com/tag/737-max-8/
The U.S. is not the only country with Max8 worries. One country was cancelling an order for a huge number of the planes. Many countries want Boeing to do a lot more testing and train ALL pilots on simulators (and there are very few of them). If this happens – it may be a while before the Max8 flies again. We have decided to fly Hawaiian – even though it means foregoing our ‘FREE companion pass’ this year on SWA. :0/ We had considered going – despite our fear – but decided to donate our miles to our son for a trip that he will take BEFORE Max8 flies again.
Sadly, money seems to be the most important thing. Boeing knew a lot that they did not share and it cost lives. Maybe the first passengers on Max 8 should be Boeing Execs. ???
Actually, the Max 800 will likely be the very safest plane to fly after it starts flying again due to all the oversight, scrutiny, and pilot over-attentiveness it will receive.
That I seriously doubt
Sadly, software isn’t the only issue. Serious design flaws.
Colleen, you mean besides the hard-to-turn trim wheel crank? What other serious design flaws does it have?
Who knows what else there may be…..we do know this airplane was built with a philosophy of maximizing profits by cutting corners that they THOUGHT it was safe to do…..you certainly have to wonder what other corners were cut?
The fact that they they still wanted to get away with minimizing pilot training to save money doesn’t exactly earn a lot of faith in Boeing right now.
Read recently that many feel the engines are too large for the aircraft. :0/
– Bigger engines required more ground clearance
– Engine mounting is higher and more forward
– AoA sensors: Boeing’s design only used one of the two
– Customers were allowed to purchase planes without warning lights
– The MCAS was designed to counteract the tendency of the nose on 737 Max jets to point up due to heavier engines being mounted in a more forward position on the wing than in previous versions of the 737
The comment about the warning lights isn’t fully correct. One there isn’t a light that turned on for the warning, it is on the displays. (but that might have been in intention of your wording) There is a warning message that was part of the standard software that would identify when the AOA sensors we not in agreement. Boeing has already stated that an error in a update to the program tied this to a purchased option, which it was not suppose to be. The options that the customer could buy showed this data/warnings differently.
Very true
Sure. Yeah, Coleen. The world’s oldest and largest and foremost airplane designer and manufacture–the same company that essentially designed and built every airplane you have ever flown on–suddenly just forgot how to design, test, and build airplanes.
I also doubt this will be the case. Since Boeing was pushing profits it is hard to know what other areas could have been compromised. Time will tell. Hopefully no serious accidents will occur. The US based airlines have a great safety record the past 10-15 years. My largest concern as a flyer is with Southwest, an airline that I use a lot. They are replacing their current fleet with the Max aircraft, and plan to have nearly 300 of them in the coming years. If more issues or problems are found, this could seriously impact Southwest. Perhaps their one plane manufacturer / type may get challenged. Once the Max is approved to fly again I may postpone any planned trips on Southwest if the Max aircraft will be on the schedule. I think after 3 months with no issues, I will feel comfortable flying on this plane again. What do you all think?
I For one will never knowingly fly on a max plane. Software glitch loses lives.? Pilots of both crashed airliners it has been proven did follow Beoing protocol. But they still crashed. Guess. Boeing gave the wrong protocol so how can we trust them with the next “protocol”? Also they only offered a safety feature for extra money not as a Standard feature. They have fear in their faces all right but o my because they may lose money. Kathy
Not entirely a true statement. They did follow protocol to adjust aircraft trim, but they did not deactivate the software in question. Thus when they did follow the protocol the situation temporarily was corrected and then the software would take over and put the plane back in the dive. Any pilot must follow all protocols and be a pilot. There are times we must override a piece of software and fly the plane ourselves – sadly this is the skill being deteriorated in our system today.
I say scrub all the ”plane flies itself” software – or most of it – and let pilots fly planes again. Max 8 had inadequate flight training. Pilots should have KNOWN what they needed to do to prevent disaster. They did not. Whose fault is it? BOEING.
Troy — my recollection is Boeing had not even disclosed to pilots and airlines that the software (i.e., MCAS) was there in the first place. The pilots had to deactivate a software function that they didn’t even know existed and yet something that was all of a sudden acting up dramatically and trimming the nose repeatedly down into the ground. Just my 2 cents.
It is a set of switches that have been on the NG too. It’s standard procedure for run away trim to flip these switched to the off position. It was not done on these crashes. (well we know Lion Air and may never know on ETH as of the government is handling this there but refusing to release all of the flight data from the FDR)
I agree. I won’t trust those planes.
Have concerns on a united flight we have to Maui in May–737 max 9 from SFO. Will jet be changed before then or can we just expect the max 9 to be “worry free”?
Typo above: says Southwest has the 738-800. Should be 737-800.
Hi Peter.
Thanks.
Aloha.
We are flying to Maui in June via
Alaska. Will 747MAX be used. Very
Concerned
Alaska only flies either the 737-800 or 737-900 extended range aircraft. There are currently no 737 Max aircraft in Alaska’s fleet. You will be fine and will be flying a great airline to paradise
I have reservations on American Airlines for mid April
To go to Hawaii the big island. I wonder if the
Plane could be a 737 Max 8. What should I do
I am very concerned. Which airline should I take if
I can make a change?? Thanks
Hi Kathy.
We specifically addressed that yesterday. They have no Max flights to Hawaii at this time.
Aloha.
You should fly Alaska instead
Thank you for the airframe updates (and thank you JeffL for the explanations). If AirCanada and other airlines were wise, they would immediately announce that until the software is patched, they were pulling the 737MAXes from active service; existing reservations would be honored and seats reassigned. It might mean a short-term loss, but which is worse: having people cancel flights and risking another crash, or temporarily grounding part of the fleet? Continuing to fly aircraft with known issues is a publicity nightmare.
when is Southwest starting out of LAX to HNL?
When will flights from LAX to Lihue begin?
I believe an announcement in planned around March 14th?
Please let me know when Southwest will be flying from Atlanta to Maui. I
My family of 9 will be leaving for Maui on June 15th.
Thank you 😊- was concerned – going to Kauai in may
Air Canada flies the Max 8 from Vancouver to Hawaii. We’re booked for the end of the month…
At this point, all “Max” type variants, including the Max 9. The designs of all Max types have the same inherent aerodynamical instabilities paired with a fragile mechanism of sensors and computer trim to compensate (“MCAS”)
We are travelling from Toronto, ON to The Big Island in August. Then from The Big Island to Oahu and from Oahu to Maui. Our travel agent is getting us flights leaving from each Island. Is it possible to just get a flight to Hilo (where we’re heading to) and then catch an Island Flight to Oahu and then the same for Maui and then just book a regular flight from Maui back home to Toronto? Confused….but thanks for any suggestions!!
Hi Brenda.
Definitely. Easy and choice of Hawaiian or Southwest. If flights are at a peak travel period or weekends especially, book well in advance.
Aloha.
Hi Brenda. We flew TO to Maui and Oahu back to TO through United. Separately I booked the island hopping with Hawaiian Airlines (very resonable $$). Download their app. Very positive experience.
Are there any concerns on the other 737 MAX planes? We are flying a 737 MAX9 from OGG to LAX end of this month. Thanks!
Hi AO.
We don’t honestly know the answer to that, and since we aren’t airplane design experts, feel hesitant to comment.
Aloha.
As far as I understand, Boeing implemented a new anti-stall feature on ALL of it’s MAX airplanes, including the Max 9. Basically, sensors may think the plane is at risk of a stall if the tip is too high, etc. Rather than just send a warning message to the pilots, the new anti-stall feature will automatically move the stabilizing trim to push the nose down.
Both crashes happened shortly after take off and many believe the anti-stall feature erroneously forced the tip of the plane straight down to the ground. Obviously when a plane is taking off, the tip of the nose is up as it gains altitude. The issue here is a bad or incorrect sensor could force panic among the pilots and/or make the plane uncontrollable.
I know Southwest has said they plan to fly the 737 Max 8 to Hawaii, so I am getting worried this may delay their flights from San Diego, Sacramento, Lihue, etc.
I believe all MAX series aircraft have same technical equipment.
Thanks for addressing this. We are flying with Alaska in May and this has relieved our worries.
Hi Keri.
Happy to hear that. Thanks for your comment.
Aloha.
When will Southwest flights be available from Atlanta to Maui. We want to fly on June 15th to Maui.
Thanks so much for the Max 8 update. I know I am not the only ‘concerned’ flyer out there.
Would prefer to fly on a plane with ZERO incidents. It is a worry.
I did sort of play with a few flights on SWA and then used Seatguru to check which plane the flight used and was relieved to see that no Max 8s came up in my ‘very limited searches.’
Was almost considering booking on Hawaiian again. Really want to try SWA for our next trip later this year. Anxiously waiting for the schedule to appear online for our flights. I notice that the SWA pricing is pretty much the same as other airlines now. Sure hoping for another round of ‘fare wars’ in time for our booking later this Spring/Summer.
Thanks again for staying on top of all things Hawaiian. Love Beat of Hawaii!!
Hi Colleen.
We love you too! Thanks for all your thoughtful insight, and your email this morning was the impedes for this discussion.
As for airfare sales, these will keep happening and they will be good. There is no way this has come and gone. It’s just that the first round was so limited in dates and was consumed so quickly that the other airlines didn’t need to even respond. That won’t continue to be the case.
Take care and talk soon.
Aloha, R/J
Impetus.
Thanks for this update.
No Max 8 for my family- ever.
Max 8 planes are plenty going to Hawaii from Canada , Air Canada and Westjet. I’m kinda freaked out – heading to Maui in May on one… 😳
I’m going to Oahu via Vancouver and scheduled to fly on 737 Max 8 in April. Seems like that’s all Air Canada uses from YVR. Now I’m on the fence about cancelling and rebook on a different airline.
I’m on Air Canada on the 30th to HNL! I plan to question the flight crew on procedures…
Yes I flew the 737 Max 8 from YVR to OGG (Maui) Air Canada late January both ways. I was a nervous wreck as I knew it was the same aircraft as the Lion Air crash and the same aircraft that also turned around half way on route to Maui Christmas Eve for “ technical issues” … now after the Ethiopian crash I wouldn’t dare step foot on one of those planes until the investigations are concluded. It’s just not worth the anxiety until they are cleared as safe aircrafts.
Amy: Did u fly AC or WJ out of Vcr? Scheduled for Maui in early Aug. (hopefully all this worrisome safety business will be cleaned up by then). Our WJ tix say 737-800 series, but honestly, airlines have been known to change planes spur of moment, so am worried nonetheless. Unfortunately, can’t change the tix or airline (won in a contest), so we’re stuck.
Great info! Put my mind at ease for my upcoming Spam Jam trip! Mahalo for being so concise.
Hi Theresa.
Thanks for your comment!
Aloha.
I have flights on AA for.this September and I have to say I’m concerned. Thank you for addressing the issue. I wpuld.hope these Airlines Publicity say these plans are not flying to Hawaii or anywhere in these planes.
Hi Laura.
Thanks for your comment.
Aloha.
Thanks for the timely update on SAFETY! Still Safe to get to Hawaii!! Mahalo
Hi Richard.
Thank you.
Aloha.
THANKS for your very prompt research into this topic, very much in today’s news.
Hi John.
Thanks!
Aloha.
Air Canada offers nonstop flights from Vancouver to both Honolulu and Maui and both utilize the 737 Max 8.
United does fly the Max 9 from LAX to Maui.
I’m willing to take my chances on the 737 Max 8. I know Southwest has ordered quite a few of these planes and I hope the recent events won’t further delay their nonstop flight release out of Sacramento and San Diego. Any thoughts on that? Do we know if those schedules were also planned with the 737 800?
Air Canada flies the 737max almost exclusively from routes such as yvr to hawaiian islands….
friends of ours just cancelled and paid penalty $ due to horrible safety record of 737max
thanks so much for clarification.
I visited SeatGuru to see what equipment my two upcoming trips (including Hawaii) had this morning. Thankfully all legs are on 737-800 and 737-700.
Now back to SW announcing flights to Lihue …. LOL
Hi EA.
Good to hear.
Aloha.
Thank you so much for your timely and much needed answers to this exact question.
Mahalo Bess!