Get ready for a different ride. What we found on our first trip from the mainland with the Texas carrier. Southwest Airlines Hawaii review.
Get ready for a different ride. What we found on our first trip from the mainland with the Texas carrier. Southwest Airlines Hawaii review.
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.