After flying and reviewing Alaska Airlines to the mainland last week, we returned home on Southwest from San Jose to Lihue. We wanted to see what Southwest Hawaii flights are about and why they are so popular. The prior week we flew interisland with Hawaiian Airlines and Southwest and reported on those short island hops.
This was our first time flying to Hawaii from the mainland on Southwest and only the second time ever on Southwest. It was a very interesting experience. Please read on for all the details and our review.
Southwest is an airline with a unique offering; there’s no doubt about it. After just two flights, Jeff has an idea of what it’s about, and he reports that it’s in no way objectionable or “second class.” But the reality is that what SWA offers is in a league by itself compared to the other airlines flying to Hawaii. Instead of economy class, we’d say it is Southwest class.
Once you board the plane, all passengers are equal, no matter how much they paid or where they sit. It’s a fascinating study in sociology.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines classlessness as “not belonging to a particular social class… having no different social classes.”
Early check-in options. (No scoring.)
Jeff opted to purchase the Early Bird check-in to try it out. He looked at both options for early check-in that Southwest offers first. Early Bird for this flight was $25. That checks you in 36 hours before the flight and gives you a better boarding position. The other option, called Early Boarding, was $50 for this flight and gives you an A1-15 boarding number if one is available. Early Bird allowed him to get on sooner and easily find a near-the-front aisle seat on the full flight.
So what did Early Bird mean in a full-flight situation? When Jeff boarded the plane, he had a range of available seats and luggage bins. He opted for 7D because 1D is a bulkhead and can’t have anything stored on the floor during take-off and landing.
Cost: 10/10.
Jeff paid $189 one way for his ticket. It could have been much cheaper if he’d purchased the ticket at another point, not just the day before flying. But when you consider the value of the two checked bags – Jeff had over 90 pounds of shopping from California that he was bringing back to Kauai – it was simply a fabulous deal. Those two bags on Hawaiian or Alaska would have cost an additional $70 without special status.
Customer service: 10/10.
Jeff called Southwest to ask about the two early boarding options and to get their sense since he is not a regular Southwest customer and didn’t have the experience to draw from. The agent, who had a distinct Texas accent, was thoroughly helpful and steered him toward the Early Bird option.
Check-in: 10/10.
Jeff checked the MyTSA app and traffic before heading to San Jose Airport for the flight to Hawaii. On arrival at SJC via Uber, two people did bag check-in outside the terminal, as pictured above. And there was no line. Jeff had his two bags checked by the courteous agent and was on the way to TSA within just a minute or two. This was awesome. Inside the terminal, check-in appeared to be moving normally, too, but the outside bag check was a big bonus.
Boarding: 10/10.
This was only Jeff’s second Southwest flight, but he already reported feeling comfortable with their different boarding system. You get in line in order of your boarding position, and then an entire boarding line enters all at once in that order. Jeff had A59 as his boarding position, found the line, and got in place according to the sign.
People report in our comments that they either love or hate the SWA boarding process. Jeff says he is instead neutral about it. To him, it was neither better nor worse than Hawaiian Airlines’ boarding system by group number. The boarding on Southwest was fast, effective, and orderly.
On-time Performance: 10/10.
Everything went exactly as scheduled. Boarding started about 30 minutes before the flight time. The boarding door was closed 5 minutes beforehand, and the flight departed the gate exactly on the money at 1:25 pm. After less than a 5-minute taxi out, the plane was in the air.
Food and beverage: 3/10.
Southwest offers no meals, even on a 5 ½ hour flight to Hawaii. Instead, a very unusual snack service was provided about 30 minutes after departure. It was followed by a beverage service about 90 minutes into the flight. That, by the way, is the reverse order of most airlines’ normal beverage and food sequence.
The snacks aren’t healthy, and there is no choice. That isn’t a great deal to us, and the quality wasn’t up to what we experienced in other areas with Southwest. There’s room for improvement. The beverages were perfect, though, and of good branded quality.
About 2 hours before arrival, a bag of tasty little bespoke cookies was served. A coffee and water service followed that. This service stood out as rather elegant, especially in comparison with the earlier snack.
Aircraft condition: 9/10.
The 737 MAX8 is new, and everything looked perfect and clean. No wear or dirt could be seen anywhere. Towards the end of the flight, it was clear that the bathroom had not been tidied up, and there was debris on the floor. That would have been a nice added touch that we typically find is handled well by international airlines and less by domestic ones.
Wifi/texting: 4/10.
Southwest offers unlimited $8 satellite WiFi. Alternatively, texting and streaming entertainment are complimentary, and there are a lot of choices. Jeff was anxious to try Southwest’s WiFi and paid while still on the ground. The flight crew didn’t fully explain when it would start working, and we’d heard it was functional gate-to-gate. That wasn’t the case, at least on this flight. Connectivity seemed to come in phases and wasn’t fully operational until in the air. One additional note. Jeff used his phone to buy the WiFi. There was no indication if or how it would be possible for him to use his laptop without paying another $8. Jeff used his phone’s mobile hotspot, which worked perfectly to share the internet connection.
While the internet service might have been okay when it worked, the lack of explanation and ease of getting it going was somewhat frustrating. Moreover, the internet was not working consistently and was on and off most of the flight. The flight attendants announced that it was being reset multiple times. It was not great at any point but improved somewhat about halfway through the flight. The flight attendant said it was possible to contact customer service to get the $8 cost refunded, which Jeff did not try.
Flight attendants: 10/10
Very pleasant and helpful, hard-working, and notably humorous. The flight attendants announced that they were also the cleaning crew after the flight and to please help keep the plane clean. That was handled nicely, but there were lots of administrative-type announcements. There was perhaps an overabundance of these announcements; while not unpleasant, it felt like they were practicing crowd control. These were regarding blocking the aisle, devices without headsets, seatbelts, etc. It was somewhat different than what we experienced on other flights to Hawaii.
Cockpit crew interaction: 10/10.
The captain came on before the doors closed for the first announcement and welcome. Another announcement followed take-off about flight time and the expected weather at the destination and en route. A final greeting and thanks on landing were offered—excellent attention to detail.
Seating and comfort: 7/10
The seats are new, and the legroom is very good compared to other airlines’ economy class. Much like the A321neo used by Hawaiian Airlines, the seats are thin and very narrow due to the cabin width. Jeff found the seats very uncomfortable after sitting for so many hours.
Power: AC/USB: 0/10
There is no electrical or USB power anywhere on the aircraft. Starting next year, Southwest has announced they will provide USB A and USB C at every seat. That’s a great addition. Jeff used his own battery pack to keep things going.
Post-flight survey: 10/10
Four days after the flight, Southwest sent a survey that was quick to complete and fascinating too. We’ve included just one section below since you may find it interesting, as we did.
Score: 103 out of 120.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
I will take Southwest because of better seats and more leg room. Can choose where to sit.
The food offering was better that Hawaiian. Better on time record.
The bad thing- no entertainment screens in the seats.
I had switch from Hawaiian Airline to South West Air trip Hilo to Honolulu a round trip I had done 9 trips, a big difference, S.W. crew treated me like I am a 1st class passenger, that how they did on all of their customers, Hawaiian Air line crew ( has lot to learn ) if they don’t get better, they will one day go down the shoot, the crew forgets the passengers pays their bills. one day there will be more new Airlines flying Hawaii routes.
Just and FYI…
It’s Southwest – not South West
It’s chute – not shoot.
Patrick, perhaps you missed your calling as a proofreader? Or better yet, you Are a proofreader. Bottom line, most folks don’t care, so you are wasting your time
Thank you all your updates.
Judith A
very very informative. Ive flown hawaiian and alaska home n hawaiian has lost its aloha. being local from hawaii i have gotten along great with the crew except one time and one flight attendant who seemed anal about cell phones being off, which it was except the homescreen stays on even in airplane mode. she just seemed to be letting people know she’s the head person. alaska was good, not too much conversations tho. met some attendants who’ve had bad hair days and i suggest anyone that has experienced this mention it in their customer surveys, aloha should be practiced from gate to gate. I’ve flown alot on Hawaiian and over a handfull of times on Alaska. I look forward to my first trip on Southwest.
Hi folks.
I wanted to note a potential Southwest slowdown in San Jose for outbound flights. We flew from SJC to OGG on Alaska on Sun., Oct. 9,’22. We arrived at the airport at about 6:45 am to find a terribly long line in the terminal just to drop off checked luggage. We were a bit panicked, only to find out that it was a SW-only line. Also, the check-in line for SW snaked through the terminal, making walking to the Alaska kiosks a challenge. We went back outside and reentered the terminal closer to the Alaska area. I love that SW has free baggage check, but that seems to make the baggage drop-off far more time consuming, at least at this time of day in SJC. Just a heads up to allow extra time flying SW for baggage drop-off. Kind regards.
I used to like Southwest,, but they have gone way down hill. I thought the boarding process was a great idea for a while, but as somebody who Flys quite often, even with “status” it can be annoying. There are times you may be put on the spot and asked to give up your seat to a less prepared guest.
For got to add, I live Hawaii half the year and found it annoying when SW started because they constantly say “this is such a short flight”, such as we won’t be serving anything because this is such aa short flight. Or everybody take your seats, this is such a shortflight. Not everybody is a tourist. Since the only way to travel between islands is commercial air most locals know how short the flight is.
I like SW for island hopi g bc they were cheap, but Hawaiian Air will price match. I definitely recommend Hawaiian are for mainland to Hawaii, especially if you can redeem those points for first (which also permits 2 free checked bags, priorty boarding, a meal and unlimited drinks) or business class. Kualoa please!
I fly southwest for all my domestic travel but Not to Hawaii yet.. We will be utilizing Southwest in May next year so thank you for the concise report! I’ll bring our own meal and snacks because I do not count on any frills from Southwest Airlines! They are however very nice, and easy to go with!
Glad to hear that you had a great experience.
In the past the worst experience after several tries. Will not do it again.
Had bad experiences traveling as a family. We got separated because of the lack of pre-assigned seats. They won’t even try to accommodate by giving better boarding numbers so that you can sit by your kids. Never again.
Southwest lets families with smaller children board between the A and B groups, which in my experience is generally enough to get seats together though they may be in the back half of the airplane. If that’s not good enough, pay for Early Bird.
I have been flying Southwest for over 30 years and I have never had a problem on any flight. I have flown coast to coast many times and from Maui to San Diego recently. A usually funny and great flight crew, free baggage, no change fees, easy booking, great schedule and fantastic peanuts has made it a no brainer for all these years. Toilet paper races too, but that’s another story!
Maybe useful to try flying from Hawaii to the mainland to see how that’s being handled. January this year we took our family jet (Southwest Airlines) from HNL back to Texas. At the gate there were not the line-up stanchions and the gate agent made an announcement about 15 minutes before boarding that the flight was completely full and there is open seating; whereupon there was a scrum of travellers who rushed toward him, probably about a quarter of the passengers for that flight who had absolutely no idea how it works. It’s a culture. More recent flights from there were less harried now that boarding post markers are up.
As to meals, gate agents encourage you to bring something onto the plane as what’s served is not intended to be a meal.
The southwest boarding process can be frustrating to passengers used to traditional boarding processes but by offering better seating on a first come, first served basis they entice travelers to arrive on time and be at the gate at the time of boarding preventing delays.
We flew southwest recently to honolulu and had a great experience. The flight was late and there were a lot of crying kids on board, lol, but other than that no complaints !! Great way to fly and not paying for baggage is a plus!!
I find your reviews to be honest and very useful. I will be going to Kauai in April 23 and will be doing some looking into southwest.
Hi Joyce.
Thanks for the feedback!
Aloha.
hello wish Southwest airlines continue to be Affordable for low income people to be able to visit Hawaii! it’s not all about the filthy rich in cash!!
What a awesomely objective review. I wish I could find more like this on the net.
– I personally like the announcements as sometimes common sense isn’t common. Like people watching iPads without headphones.
– I don’t worry about the food & beverage that much, airlines usually push the costs to customers wether we want it or not & the savings on the Ickes I can buy my own snacks before flight.
– Pro tip. Southwest allows no change fees up until 20 minutes before flight departure. I always check the ticket prices every week before flight and the day of . There have been times where I’ve saved over 70% of ticket cost this way.
Hi Juan.
Thanks. We appreciate the feedback. Happy travels.
Aloha.
I’d like to add a caution to your Pro tip regarding changes and pricing (which I use frequently).
– If you purchased the EarlyBird Check-In® option this could modify your position in the 36 hour check-in queue. A SWA agent explained some of the categories that factor into your placement includes purchase date and fare type.
Great caution Martha, thanks for that addition.
One should pay attention to the numbers, too see if the savings is worth it , or maybe stop looking for better fare once that 36 hour mark hits . I don’t purchase early bird check-in as being A-list I can always board after B and for some reason and this is just my personal opinion , the Hawaii flights have an abnormally high number of pre-boarders 😐
We visit the islands often and alternate flying out of SJC or OAK . We usually prefer flying Alaska out of SJC (boo for no longer offering nonstop out of OAK), but we will fly Southwest if the price is significantly cheaper or if we have the miles to cover tickets for the three of us. I prefer having seat assignments, especially since we have a 5 year old (family boarding on Southwest is crowded and stressful). And the food/beverages/tech are better on Alaska. However, Southwest tends to have friendlier flight crews and employees. The lady checking our bags recently at KOA was so friendly, and the flight captain invited our daughter into the cockpit.
I’m not sure if I’ll ever fly SW from Las Vegas to Honolulu again. We flew 07/2021. I knew what to expect as I’ve flown SW many times and usually have no problems. The check in for the flights going and coming was terrible. No control over the very rude passengers; no lines to line up; no announcement to line up in numerical order. I would say most of the passengers were flying SW due to the low fares. I had a few people tell us the didn’t care if we paid for Early Bird and the check in folks just let them go thru. So I travel SW on the mainland. Unless I hear things changed with boarding, I will probably never fly SW to Hawaii again.
Just flew from El Paso to Hawaii. No complaints. Looking forward to cell phone charging ports.
Back in May, took my first Southwest flight from Hawaii to Eugene, OR via Oakland CA. Your review of the service is spot on. I was impressed by the inflight entertainment system and how it worked. It was very intuitive and didn’t have a glitch on the 2 Transpac flights that I went on. Even watched a few movies that I didn’t catch otherwise. Their cabin service can be described as “fun but drama free”. And that is really how it should be if you’re just looking for basic transportation between points A and B.
Would I take them again? Yes, but only to the West Coast. Their east-of-Rockies offerings are hard to navigate for reservations, especially if you are going point to point. SWA for west coast is, indeed, a solid product.
Aloha BOH!
Although I don’t feel welcomed in Hawaii anymore, I still enjoy reading your blog about it, along with your travel tips. I flew SW for years, for both business and pleasure. I agree, they are a great airline. But, if I am going to an exotic location on a vacation, I want to spoil myself and fly comfortably. I want that sense of elegance and feeling special, and don’t want to feel weary half way through the flight because the seats are too thin or they have served me dry crackers. In other words, I want to enjoy my flight and feel relaxed and refreshed when I arrive. So when I can, I will splurge for that upgraded seat on the airlines that offer them. Mahalo for sharing your research and your insights. Be well. ~ Debi
Hi Debi.
Thanks. Good to hear from you! Yes totally concur about the experience of travel and seeking that out when possible. Having said that, we all started in economy and that where the fun began.
Aloha.
I think you could sum up your entire review into the following simple sentence: “Southwest is the low frills, efficient & friendly alternative to other airlines”.
I am a Southwest “convert”. I Love their model and fly them whenever possible.
Queen, there are ways to get around that issue. Do a bit of homework or call SW service. Also, SW boards all family groups between A and B boarding and flight attendants will help you with seating.
Yes I agree about that ugly snake pack thing, that needs help. However, some people seem to love it. SW is also good at transferring your luggage to other worldwide airlines. I have U Prof friends who travel the world frequently. They have used SW for many years and they love the airline. At first I didn’t get it. But after using them several times, I’m beginning to understand. They are all business and punch all the buttons nicely. I had a service issue that was complicated, they resolved it to more than my satisfaction quickly. The more we use SW, the more doors get open to understanding SW.
Aloha
Hey Roy,
How do you get SWA to transfer your luggage to other “World Wide” Airlines as you say? I thought with no code share you have to collect at bag claim and recheck at new airline. Thanks!
Lori, I have not done this but, my friends have. You need to go to the main check in desk in the airport (not the outside baggage check in) You need to show your passport to the agent and your connecting flights. I think it would be a good idea to call SW service.
I’ve always appreciated the Southwest flight crews. They go above and beyond to be friendly. On a flight to Vegas for a friend’s 50th, they made her a birthday crown out of pretzel bags and swizzle sticks, turned all the lights out except the running lights, and had all of the passengers sing to her. A refreshing bit of light hearted ness in an increasingly stressful world.
Hi, thank you for this article. Eventhough it does hit the high and low points, I never travel solo and usually in groups of 4 or more with small kids. Southwest airlines is the worse for families as it is very difficult to find seats/rows together. At least on other airlines you can choose your seats which is more convenient for families.
Queen, there are ways to get around that issue. Do a bit of homework or call SW service. Also, SW boards all family groups between A and B boarding and flight attendants will help you with seating.
Southwest has family boarding. If you miss the announcement the folks at the counter can tell you when it is occurring. Usually when their top tier fliers and military folks board is when families can board.
I have flown various airlines for cross-country mainland flights in the last five years (United, Delta, American), but none more frequently than Southwest.
This review is pretty accurate, and SW is certainly a unique airline with very niche offerings.
Will have my first flight to HI on SW next week, and am looking forward to seeing how it goes.
As a former “Standards & Practices” evaluator for a high line automobile manufacturer (Land Rover/Jaguar), I Love these posts! Fantastic, unbiased , and very informative. I hope to see other airlines be put to “the test”. We’re loyal Hawaiian Airlines flyers from San Diego. So enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work! 👍🏼
Hi Sue.
Thanks. We appreciate the feedback. There are more Hawaii flight reviews in the works.
Aloha.
Good review. It aligns with most of my experience traveling from Oakland to Maui. I’m a big fan of Southwest and appreciate their efforts and courtesy.
Our experience flying SW has been same as yours. Efficient & friendly bring your own food. We always get Early Bird check in. For us SW is a good alternative in the mix when we search for flights based on variety of factors.
Interesting that what used to be a $10 Early Bird fee is now $25 and you used to be able to get A15-30 for that fee if you booked early enough. A1-15 has always been a higher fee but we’ve never used that so we don’t know what the price was. For $50, I’d pay that but only on a flight such as TransPacific. Personally, I can’t imagine flying in a 3 seat situation for 5-6 hours but for many that is the only way to afford SW. Unfortunately for us, their schedule doesn’t match our needs in any way.
Almost exactly what I would have expected on Southwest. We have not taken them to Hawaii, since we “standardized” on Hawaiian Air back in 2018. I will say that we do enjoy the 2-4-2 seating on the A330 with Hawaiian. Competition is good for the industry!
My wife and I have not yet flown on SW to Hawaii. We have taken many trips with them anywhere they fly on the mainland. SW is usually our first choice wherever they fly. Our experience mirrors Jeff’s. One of our favorite routes was Denver to Dulles when visiting the DC area.
We have flown SW to Hawaii about 6x since they began flying there. We find everything about the airline to usually wonderful & we don’t mind the lack of food because what they serve on planes as we choose healthy foods over processed and prefer to bring our own snacks. Comparably, prices have outweighed any other factor–last year and the beginning of 2022 I paid $48 and $77 one way fares from LA and SJC to Kona and Oahu! We have a companion pass and I qualified for A-list which gives us a free ticket for 2 years and we are guaranteed A1-15 for everyone on my confirmation number. We travel to Maui in October with 6 adults and 1 child on my confirmation number! For us, there is no comparison 🙂
You are my hero! We have scored similar deals on Hawaii flights, most sitting in a chair with more leg room than the other alternatives. Once we hit retirement and are able to make better use of a companion ticket we will jump on it and be like you!
Funny you say the was very narrow when in fact it’s one of the widest economy seats in the air… especially across the central pacific… maybe you sat in the first row where the trays are sowed into the armrest? Those are indeed more narrow but the rest of the cabin… no.
We love flying SWA-been our family’s main ✈️ for 25 years. Never have had a bad experience w/ them – even during a tornado on the runway in Denver, a lost wallet pre-flight in Kona, and a blizzard. Flying other airlines just feels weird at this point.
Agreed. I go out of my way to fly SWA. I hate the “old” model now.
If he got Early boarding, 1-15, why didn’t he go with an exit row? Tons more leg room. Or was it already taken.
I think he said he had A59. Early Bird don’t give you A1-A15, that’s reserved for Business Select. So there was a pretty good chance that those seats were already taken.
Personally, I’m also a big fan of Southwest, but only for short flights. Anything more than an hour or two and I also find that the seats become uncomfortable. But, on the other hand, the same can be said for any other airline’s economy class. The difference is that on the other airlines I have the choice to upgrade to something more comfortable which I don’t on SW. Therefore for me, I prefer to fly Delta or Hawaiian when traveling to Hawaii.
Speaking for all tall people (I am 6′ 7″ tall), may I respectfully suggest that you save the exit rows to those of us who really Need the extra leg room? It is exponentially more uncomfortable for those of us over about 6′ 3″ to sit in the regular seats on Any airline. So as us tall people walk onboard and see some 5′ 2″ person sitting in the exit row it really adds insult to injury just because they happened to check in 2 seconds earlier than me…..
One if the big complaints from Southwest flight attendants is the people who board first all trying to find seats in the front.. It would be much better if they found the seats throughout the plane. It hinders the boarding process and there’s no real benefit except you save a few minutes getting off.
Flights to Hawaii are not their strong suit.. Flights are often diverted for fuel especially from Las Vegas. Just one drink service and no food for purchase on these long flights. Alaska on the other hand has three drink services plus food for purchase and snack packs. They need to improve their service to Hawaii.