Lastest news on Southwest schedules and fares. Some routes continue to have great deals for summer. Find out more in today’s post.
1,796 thoughts on “Southwest Hawaii Stiffens Competition: 11 New Daily Flights Exposed”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel News » Southwest Hawaii Stiffens Competition: 11 New Daily Flights Exposed
I think Southwest will probably need to rethink their “no meals” policy on 6+ hour Hawaiian flights from the west coast. If you have a short layover coming from a non-West Coast airport, you might end up pretty famished by the time you arrive.
And red-eye flights will almost be a necessity to get people from Hawaii to the central and eastern timezones. On our first trip to Hawaii, we left Kona at 6 am with a brief layover in LA, and didn’t get to the midwest until late in the evening. We’ve gone with redeyes ever since.
I’d be very concerned about SW safety record lately. Especially flying that long over the ocean.
Flying to the Islands using their newer planes should alleviate this concern?
SWA is the largest U.S. domestic airline. They also have the most frequency of flights, that is, the most takeoffs and landings than any other U.S. domestic airline. Their statistics for safety are unparalleled (look it up). I think your concerns for them being unsafe are completely unfounded. Just because there has been these two recent incidents (understandably one that was very unfortunate – and btw, their flight crew’s level of training was impeccable), it’s a glaring reminder it just happened; but overall, they’re safety record is more haloed than any of their competitors on a 1:1 basis. My long haul view, is they’re very safe and efficient.
I just got home from a trip to the east coast and flew Southwest R/T. On our flight out, we flew on a brand new plane. We were the first people on it. I’m sure that the recent engine issues are a top priority and they are making corrections and repairs/replacements. I wouldn’t be afraid to fly on their airline right now.
Great news for Sacramento, but I am wondering if they chose this particular SMF market because they traditionally have significantly higher prices than most West Coast cities and can create higher revenue from there? What is your take on this BoH? Will people that could fly from SMF still be better off flying from the Bay Area more often than not???
Looking forward to flying SWA to Hawaii for a cruise!
Question in your story you had a star next to Sacramento (SMF) was that for a notation or disclaimer? Thank you for clarifying.
Hi Mark.
We’ll take that out. It was a reference you can see on their website to free checked bags.
Aloha.
My wife and I were fortunate enough to be on some of the first flights out of Burbank when aloha air began flights to OGG. Discounted fare was initially 150.00 each way! A great experience with aloha. It will be interesting to see where the fares go once they start LAX to Hawaii. Not the most comfortable planes. We’ll see if it’s worth it. We still enjoy Alaska and Hawaiian airlines the most.
Best of luck to swa!
Hi Laurie.
No they will not. Not sure where you’re flying from so can’t provide target pricing. Having said that, your return date is great price-wise but your Saturday departure will be more expensive.
Aloha.
Please fly to Hilo! We need another carrier serving our beautiful Hilo airport (ITO). Inter isle travel would be ideal to compete with Hawaiian Airlines. Thank you!
United added more service this year, making their LAX-ITO flights go daily, but it looks like they’re already cutting back on that in the fall. If United can’t make it work daily year-round, doubt anyone else truly can.
I’m excited to see this happen! Even though sales are listed here frequently, the majority of sales require Monday through Thursday departures, which many are unable to utilize. For instance, those with timeshares can’t, as most check-in dates are Friday-Sunday. I’m going twice this year, departing from LAX, and haven’t seen anything much under $700. I’m going in the shoulder seasons – late May and early November – but prices are still high. Hopefully the competition will be helpful!
Too bad SW isn’t going to start operations until December at the earliest. It would’ve been nice to try them for our November trip.
I am happy to hear this news! Will southwest leave from Islip, N.Y. to Kona, Hawaii?
We really need Southwest to fly direct into Hilo. They used to sell tickets for ATA when there was the OAK/ITO non-stop flight.