How do you choose between these two airlines when booking flights to Hawaii? We recently flew to and from California on Southwest Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. But rather than rehash those, which you can read for yourself if you’d like (links above), the point today is to look at ways to decide which airline will better suit your needs when flying to Hawaii.
We’ll start with an analysis of cost, bag fees, seating, legroom, and atmosphere, then finish with some tips.
Tickets, Bags, Early Boarding, and More.
1. Ticket Cost. When both airlines compete together on routes, pricing is usually the same. But even then, the flight cost may vary greatly depending on how many bags you check and additional add-on fees you might select.
2. Checked bags. Here’s where you can save. Southwest doesn’t charge for checked bags, but Hawaiian does. Expect to be charged $30 for the first and $40 for the second bag. That is unless you have premium status with Hawaiian or have their branded, annual-fee credit card. One person with one checked bag could be an extra $60 roundtrip. Multiply that by other family members traveling, and costs go up fast. On Southwest, the first two bags are free.
3. Seat assignments. Hawaiian does offer them, while Southwest does not.
On Hawaiian, we found that the seats available without additional cost were slim pickings. The further out you book, the more choice you’ll have for free seating. But remember that the free assigned seats tend to be towards the back of the aircraft. Hawaiian seat assignments assure you that all persons traveling together will be seated together.
Southwest has its own problems. We paid $25 extra for an earlier boarding assignment to get an aisle seat. While it all worked fine, queueing for seats leaves a lot to be desired.
Onboard Seating and Legroom.
1. Seating configurations. There are significant differences in seating between Hawaiian and Southwest. That difference is based mainly on the plane you will be traveling on with Hawaiian since they have wide and narrowbody planes with different seating configurations. These are important to consider regarding you and your travel companions and how they will be seated most comfortably.
A. Southwest 737-800 and 737MAX. In both types of planes, seating is in a 3 x 3 configuration.
B. Hawaiian widebody A330. Here the economy seating is in a 2 x 4 x 2 configuration. For two people traveling together, it is highly desirable to sit together and not have a third person in the row.
C. Hawaiian narrowbody A321. This plane type has the same 3 x 3 configuration as Southwest’s 737 fleet.
2. Legroom. There’s more on Southwest. The listed pitch on Hawaiian is 31 inches. The Southwest 737MAX has a pitch of 32 inches. Either one of two things seems true to us: the extra one inch is a huge difference, or it is somehow even more than a one-inch difference Southwest.
3. Seat width and comfort. Both were not that comfortable or wide enough. We did not discern an appreciable difference between them.
Atmosphere, entertainment, USB charging.
1. Atmosphere onboard. We consider it to be a toss-up. While the Hawaiian crew (mostly Hawaii-based and Los Angeles-based) have a distinct island feeling, we found the Southwest crew was far more engaged with customers and proactive in a pleasant yet not over-the-top way. The Hawaiian crew on our economy flight was lackluster, unfortunately.
2. Entertainment. On Hawaiian, there is seatback entertainment, but only on their widebody fleet. On Southwest and Hawaiian’s narrowbody fleet, entertainment is exclusively via your device.
3. USB charging. Southwest plans to add USB chargers at every seat starting next year. We don’t know how quickly that will be rolled out. Hawaii has USB charging through its’s planes (other than interisland).
4. WiFi. Southwest has $8 WiFi on all its planes. Hawaiian will be adding free WiFi starting next year. But again, we don’t know how quickly that will be retrofitted to all aircraft.
Checklist for choosing between Southwest and Hawaiian economy when flying to Hawaii:
- If an island feeling is not necessary to you, and you do not qualify for free bags on Hawaiian, choose Southwest.
- If there is a widebody service option on the route you’ll be traveling, choose Hawaiian.
- If you get free bags on Hawaiian (because of their credit card), choose Hawaiian when there’s a widebody, or choose Southwest if there is not.
- If you do prefer an island feel on your flight, choose Hawaiian.
- If service onboard is important to you, choose Southwest.
- If you are flying in the next year and want WiFi, choose Southwest.
- If you are flying in the next year and want USB charging, choose Hawaiian.
- If you want premium options like first class or paid, extended legroom in economy, choose Hawaiian.
- If you want food in economy, bring your own. The snack offerings are equally dismal on Hawaiian and Southwest.
- If you are concerned about needing to cancel and rebook, choose Southwest. Hawaiian does not let you deposit funds and reuse them for the best available fares.
What other criteria do you use in picking between Hawaiian and Southwest?
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Diane G says
If you are flying Hawaiian to/from LAX you need to keep in mind it is over a mile walk from entrance to gate and vice versa. It involves escalators up/down and poor signage (in my opinion). While there is a golf chart type shuttle part of the way, you need to allow extra time for the hike!
patrick says
Thanks… I may be doing that flight tin April.
AMT says
Thats not Hawaiian’s fault
Chris S says
Fortunate that when I leave the islands to travel back to the mainland I don’t travel economy. That being said I will always fly Hawaiian regardless of what SWA has to offer. Can’t imagine not having reserved seating and lining up by number.
Most important though is SWA was the biggest reason the instagram/social media entitled crowd has infiltrated our islands.
None of my friends here chose SWA for that reason alone.
Mahalo for a well done article guys. Enjoy your weekend!
Beat of Hawaii says
Hi Chris.
Thanks. You too!
Aloha.
patrick says
“…SWA was the biggest reason the instagram/social media entitled crowd has infiltrated our islands.” They were around long before SWA showed up.
John says
True that but you can’t deny SWA exasperated the problem!
Roy says
For us this is all about routing and nothing more. One gets us there and the other doesn’t.
Marita M says
Great breakdown Thank you 😊
Andy says
Let me address and correct this statement…“While it all worked fine, queueing for seats leaves a lot to be desired.”
Southwest actually boards less passengers at a time than most airlines since they board in groups. Numbered boarding cards are called to board in numerical order. If you’re not in the group to be called, then there’s absolutely no reason to stress or line up. Just stay seated and comfortable until they go through the boarding process and get to your group. You’ll line up, yes… but it’s not the free for all that you make it out to be. It’s actually very civilized, now, I find! Much better than the system they used to use! It’s even better for their loyal, A List flyers… they will call them up after the A group.
Sara A. says
Hawaiian gets points for the meal. It’s basically a fancy hot pocket, but that’s better than a bag of pretzels. Also the free rum punch.
Lewis says
I just flew HA from Sacramento to Honolulu yesterday, changing planes to a Boing 717 in Kahului. The second flight took 30 minutes. I waited at the carousel for 50 minutes for my bag. The plane only seats 100. It was beyond frustrating.
Lewis says
I just flew HA from Sacramento to Honolulu yesterday, changing planes to a Boing 717 in Kahului. The second flight took 30 minutes. I waited at the carousel for 50 minutes for my bag. The plane only seats 100. It was beyond frustrating.
Charlotte D says
Just last week we went thru this exercise for our January 2023 trip to Kauai. Our priority is to fly out of Sacramento at a decent time. Best deals are usually out of Bay Area airports but longer drive & traffic hassles not worth it. We have flown SW to Hawaii, but this trip we went with Hawaiian Main Cabin because it was a wide body plane & we could choose our seats two together for small fee. SW was about same price excluding luggage fees, but HA flight times were better. No one mentions covid anymore but we still wear masks when flying and sitting together without a third person in the row is very appealing and worth extra cost. We just recovered from covid & it is not an experience we care to repeat if we can help it.
Kat K says
I just booked flights for next year on Hawaiian. I’d never book an airline that has no seat selection option. And I like the island vibe.
Erica D says
We have to make a connection in CA and if my first flight is running late as happened once, on Southwest we were both on a middle seat in different rows…if connection is needed the seat assignments can be a plus.
Alberta says
We have always loved flying Hawaiian for the extra room in comfort class’ ( even though it was more cost) the charging ports and just the feel of the flight..
but since they have cut straight through flights from the west coast we decided to try Southwest .. with the free luggage and a 5 hr 20 min flight it was a no brainer this time so we will see!
AlexM says
Food!! Very important! I know Hawaiian offers an actual meal(in every class), whereas I think Southwest is more of a snack. Will always choose Hawaiian…wonderful service, great crew, love their wide body planes! Always a pleasant experience!
Joe K says
One big difference could be in the carrier’s refund & change policies.
We had inter-island flights booked on Hawaiian and had to cancel for medical reasons. The cancellation was many months in advance of travel. Didn’t matter…Hawaiian gobbled up our hundreds of $$. No refunds or certificates for future travel.
This was 3 or 4 years ago so perhaps Hawaiian’s business practices have changed.
Ane T says
Aloha. We just flew Hawaiian Air to Big Island and Southwest back to Maui. The difference was striking. Hawaiian was seamless, and very aloha. Cost was a bit more, we have a HA credit card for free bag. We returned via SW because of flight times. There way only one nonstop on the way back on Hawaiian. That is an issue. I did not care for SW at all. The feeling was completely different. At the airport the gate person was “warming up the audience” like a TV show and putting down Hawaiian Air, etc.
No assigned seats creates a undercurrent of stress. Preboarding was not offered for those needing help. The people were not kind nor attentive like Hawaiian. Most important to move people through. Never again.
John says
You brought up a good point Ane…SWA has very much been the loudmouth newcomer to Hawaii who thinks throwing stones at the locals makes them more acceptable. They epitomize people that move to Hawaii and start speaking pidgin to try and fit in.
I’ll stick with the airline that knows, supports and understands Hawaii.
Patrick says
Curious as the what the bad mouthing consisted of?
MMat says
Not sure if you mentioned it in your separate reviews, but I can not stand Hawaiian Airlines narrow body planes. The ones I flew on did not recline much, and that is important to me. The first time I flew to Kona from LA, I felt I was being tortured. The second time was a redeye flight from Maui to LA. Imagine a redeye flight where the seats don’t recline. How do you sleep? You don’t. You didn’t mention if Southwest seats recline or not, but if they do, that makes it a winner no matter what other criteria. Reclining is more desirable than USB ports and/or WiFi.
Tim S. says
Why didn’t you include Alaska Air in your comparison? I almost always fly Alaska to Kona. I think it is better than Hawaiian. I have not flown SW to Hawaii though.
Ed. C says
I’ll choose a Hawaiian A330 with seating assignment any day over a Southwest 737 with their free for all seating. End of story.
Colette C says
We just returned (again) from Hawaii..Maui for the first time, on Southwest. We had 7 going (including a 2 year old) and 5 coming back on Southwest. Our experience was stellar for many reasons and we will continue to use Southwest for our Hawaii travel. The flights RT would have been close to $8000 but with SW points/companion pass, total was $878. I earned A list and a companion pass so we had exemplary service from start to finish, including a rebooking for part of our group because of Hurricane Ian. SW made a mistake and called ME to rectify it by making sure I was refunded properly. Finally, leaving Maui the line to check in for SW was 5 minutes; Hawaiian was out the door and outside! Southwest for the win!
Mark says
You made an error. You made a point of showing there is extra legroom on Southwest. However, at the end, you state if you eat extended legroom in economy choose Hawaiian. Did I miss something? Also, you do know other airlines also fly that route as well, right? I used United Airlnes because I wanted to avoid LAX altogether. They did a great job, but for some reason no USB ports in economy.
Patrick says
It really is a toss up and it comes down to what one values most. If it’s to fly as cheaply as possible and the heck with the legroom, then I think the nod goes to SWA. But if you’d like more leg room and comfort I’d go with HI. Especially because you can pay extra for the Extra Comfort seats (which you failed to mention)