Just five months ago, Southwest said they weren’t ready for either overnight flights or red-eye flights that their customers want and that are good for their company’s efficiency. Many Southwest Hawaii travelers have been clamoring for both.
While Southwest talked about red-eye flights based at DFW starting in 2026, we see Hawaii red-eye flights as an entirely different subject. And those might start sooner.
Just to say, for those willing and able, an overnight flight will typically extend your vacation by an average of 15% compared with flying back early in the morning. Not only that, but you save one night’s hotel charges, which in Hawaii, will save you hundreds of dollars or more.
In June, Southwest’s Dan Landson told Beat of Hawaii regarding overnight flights, “The work has been delayed slightly, and now we’re planning to offer overnight connections as early as later this summer (no firm date at the moment).”
Southwest confirms: “We will be doing red-eyes.”
Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan this week hinted again about introducing red-eye flights to the airline’s offerings. While every airline with flights to Hawaii other than Southwest provides overnight red-eye flights, Southwest has yet to operate red-eye flights for its fleet.
Jordan said, “We have the aircraft; it’s a great way to use an asset that you already have and use it more productively, which means more hours in the day. So, we will be doing red-eyes.”
Southwest Hawaii red-eyes are the perfect place to start. And their usefulness is proven by decades of success with them at the other airlines.
We accept that for flights to the east coast, Hawaii red-eye flights are unavoidable. For west coast travelers, it comes down to personal preference. Ours is to avoid such red-eye flights. Editor Jeff flew to Los Angeles yesterday and arriving at 9 pm allowed him to have a normal night’s sleep.
Beat of Hawaii
Southwest long ago eliminated technical shortcomings preventing overnight and red-eye flights.
Southwest’s move towards introducing overnight flights comes after the airline overcame technical challenges that had previously prevented these offerings. The airline has expressed its commitment to providing both overnight connections and overnight flights, and this latest development marks another tangible step in that direction.
Overnight connections are flying now on Southwest.
That allows passengers to depart from Honolulu at 5:35 p.m. and arrive in Las Vegas at 1:25 a.m. The connecting flight will leave Las Vegas at 5:10 a.m. and arrive in Houston at 10:00 a.m. Importantly, the connecting flights can now be purchased as a single ticket, significantly simplifying the booking process.
However, it’s worth noting that unaccompanied minors will not be permitted on these overnight connections.
Are you ready to fly Southwest overnight and red-eye flights?
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Thanks BoH for all the best info. We take AA redeyes OGG – DFW then short hop to AUS. It would be great if SW could fly redeyes but 3 3/4 hours wait in Vegas airport to get to Houston isn’t very accommodating. I hope they can get better scheduling.
Just the opposite for us going to a similar midwest location. Red-eyes allow for sleep before connecting somewhere on the west coast so we are home by afternoon.
Please fly Honolulu to Molokai. We are getting monopolized and screwed by Southern Airlines aka Mokulele Airlines.
I’ve always been surprised night flying isn’t more common. It’s cheaper for the airlines as there are no traditional meals and more people sleep at this time.
I purposefully schedule my flights to ensure I catch optimum meal, snack, drink time to break up the flight time to mainland.
Thank you so much for the heads up about the SWA secret sale. They said “code 30” was only for those who were invited to use the code but I was able to rebook an existing reservation and saved $11 and five hours! You guys do an amazing job! Thank you!
Hi Ginger.
Thank you. The code was publicly available and promoted to us by Southwest.
Aloha.
I actually really like the morning flight home! We’re back in Tennessee by around midnight, which is much better than getting home around 10:00 a.m. like we’ve always dove in the past. Getting into Atlanta early in the morning was always awful!
Southwest does not operate flights to or from DFW; they use DAL in Dallas.
Hi Cornelius.
Southwest does plan to operate red-eye flights to and from DFW.
Aloha.
Southwest redeyes are “on”? Have they been announced? Was a flight schedule put out? Fares for the redeyes?
Would love to see southwest to have red eye flights out of Hawaii to several major cities such as Seattle, Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix & Dallas.
,
We’re Mid-West to Hawaii travelers and our preference is to fly over to Hawaii same day, but break up the flight back with an overnight stop on the west coast. Southwest is one of our preferred Hawaii carriers, so this isn’t really a huge deal for us, other than it may expand options for us if we need them.
Never liked redeye flights. Very early morning (3 or 4 am) yes but not redeye.
I would love to fly SWA. It is my preferred airline.
I would welcome closer overnight connections back to Orlando from Maui. We’ll wait & see!
Mahalo, BOH for all your hard work & info!
Anxious to visit family on Maui!
Richard C.
Hi Richard.
Thanks and happy travels!
Aloha.