News just out is suggesting that Max planes could return to Southwest as soon as October. That’s important because that could signal when more Southwest Hawaii flights will be introduced. The FAA and Boeing are apparently moving forward with un-grounding the fleet sooner than later. The FAA said that “a cross-section of line pilots from carriers that operate the aircraft around the world” will take part in simulator testing “as part of the overall testing and validating of new procedures on the Boeing 737 MAX.” It is further anticipated that pilot retraining as set out by the FAA could begin in the weeks ahead.
So what does that mean to cheap flights to Hawaii and $99 airfares?
While more Southwest Hawaii deals were announced with new routes trans-Pacific and inter-island in the past week, the company remains constrained by the lack of new aircraft to fulfill all of their desired Hawaii routes. As an example, long-anticipated flights between San Diego and the islands have not yet been announced.
What is going to happen next, and when.
When Max planes can return to service, and a definite date is set, Southwest may adjust their Hawaii schedule, and add additional routes. The big question is when that could happen. We aren’t hearing anything more conclusive that what is stated above. Thus the earliest possible time frame being thrown around recently is fall 2019. We’d say perhaps November. That is because it may take Southwest up to a month to get the Max planes serviced and re-integrated into their schedule.
Importance of Max planes to Hawaii flights.
Max planes are the future fleet for Southwest Hawaii flights. While the company is only certified for and uses Boeing 737-800 aircraft for Hawaii at this time, it has always been their intention to convert Hawaii service to the new fleet when feasible. Other airlines will use Max planes as well, including Alaska Airlines.
Cheap flights to Hawaii are still to be found.
Remember that the incredible airfares we have seen repeatedly with the introduction of Southwest Hawaii flights are just on hold again “temporarily.” There are still, however, other sales to be found. Watch for more Hawaii deals soon. Stay tuned.
Updated 8/23/19.
Aloha,
Please let me know if
Southwest refunds your purchase if you need to cancel a flight or do they just give you a credit for a future flight? Thank you very much.
Hi Jean.
Credit towards future flight.
Aloha.
I’m leaving for Kona from LAX on May 30th returning on June 15th. Can you please tell me where or if those $159 flights can be found
Thank you. Amy M
Hi Amy.
Those fares were Oakland/SJC to Maui for late summer/fal. They don’t fly from Los Angeles at this time.
Aloha.
I’m trying to buy tickets to Honolulu for mid July. I’m seeing mid $900 for Dtw to Hnl. Do you think there will be any better deals? I also tried breaking up the trip with travel dtw to pdx then pdx to hnl but still couldn’t get a better price. Any suggestions?
Hi,
I need to purchase tickets from SJC to LIH for October 25 and return Nov.1. Any ideas when I should get them? Do you think it will get cheaper this summer? I’ve been searching and they just seem to keep going up! Is that the norm? Thanks!
Hi Karen.
Friday to Friday (more expensive). $500 non-stop, which may not improve until Southwest gets on that route. And that is not likely for October.
Aloha.
Have a question. Last night I booked RT from LAX to OGG using Hawaiian Airlines. The cash price was $540RT, when I signed into my Hawaiian account and clicked Miles & Dollars it was 40,000 miles and $270, I then clicked miles one expecting Rt for 80,000 miles but it said 0 ZERO miles and $11.20 RT. I was able to book my flight for two people for a total of $22.40 and received a confirmation number. I then booked two more of the same flights different days for my family. I could not sleep all night thinking I was going to get an email cancelling my flights. I have read about mistakes happening before. Do you know how I should precede. I would hate to wait til my trip which is for my 25th anniversary, get to the airport and they tell me my flights were cancelled or I owe a stupid amount of money? – Please advise.
Hi A.
Suggest you Google for “mistake airfares” and see what others suggest. You’ll find plenty of forum posts. We don’t have any suggestion on how to proceed and this isn’t something we care to be involved with.
Aloha.