Hawaii is situated perfectly en route between North America and both Asia and the South Pacific. A lack of flights and effective price points made it unfeasible to include a Hawaii stopover for years. But that is changing once again. We plan to expand Beat of Hawaii’s international coverage to coincide with these developments.
For those of you who’ve been traveling as long as I have, you know that once much anticipated, divine Hawaii stopovers were extremely common place on these routes.
Japan
This week Hawaiian Air announced the addition of northern Japan’s Sapporo to its growing roster of international flights. Starting November 1, you’ll be able to fly from Honolulu to Hokkaido Island three times a week. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but you’ll definitely want to stay tuned for that. When Hawaiian announced their Fukuoka Japan route recently, they did so with introductory fares of just over $100 each way plus tax.
Australia
A Hawaii stopover is perfect when flying between the US Mainland and Australia. It virtually eliminates the horrific jet lag you’d otherwise incur. How? Flying from the west coast of the US Mainland to Hawaii is pretty easy. Flying from Hawaii to Australia becomes a predominantly a southern (and thus east-west jet lag free) journey. Sydney is just four hours earlier than Honolulu (albeit the next day). Most flights to Sydney take place during the day, without a disorienting overnight experience. I speak from a lot of experience on this route.
There is now an abundance of service in the Honolulu to Sydney corridor. Quantas’ Jetstar flies to/from Hawaii now 4-5 times weekly. Fares vary, but during a recent sale I bought round trip tickets from Hawaii for $510, including tax. Hawaiian Air flies this route daily as well, so we’re looking forward to more competition and expect better pricing ahead.
New Zealand
Air New Zealand announced today they’ll be increasing their Hawaii lift 50% by adding a third weekly flight seasonally between Auckland and Honolulu. That starts in October. They’ll be upgrading their aircraft to B777 seasonally for increased demand. Air New Zealand also announced a new pricing model, that unbundles food and drink from the basic ticket. I expect to see future competition and better pricing coming to this route too.
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What more can I say? Perfect! I would love to no to Australia or New Zealand via Hawaii.