Southwest Airlines flight SWA1472, bound for Las Vegas on Wednesday, October 23, encountered a mid-air issue that forced it to return to Kona after a total of 3 hours and 39 minutes in the air. We now have multiple reports of what went wrong from those on the flight.
Diversions typically head to the nearest major airport. It was an unusual decision to return to the point of origin, especially since HNL may have been closer at the time of the diversion and has far more resources available for issues than does Kona.
Updated 10/25, 9am. While the details of the incident have emerged since we published this, largely thanks to the help of those onboard, the return to Kona initially raised several questions, including whether it was due to mechanical issues, operational concerns, a passenger issue, or another type of mid-flight emergency. Subsequent details revealed the following.
A report from a passenger on the flight, Paul A, revealed this:
“We were in flight for over an hour when I noticed the plane bank hard and looked at the SWA app flight seeing that we were definitely headed toward Kona and not the mainland. After about 15 minutes I went to the bathroom and asked the flight attendant why we were headed back. They said they had not been told and at this point I don’t think anyone else was aware. About 15 minutes later they made an announcement saying something about air traffic control rerouting & we didn’t have enough fuel + something about paperwork. We then had to circle Kona for an hour to burn off fuel before landing. That is how you get three+ hours in the air.
We were later told that they had lost contact with air traffic control causing us to return & fuel. There was a blip in flight tracking just before we turned around. After a couple of hours on the ground we set off again with a stop over in Oakland to change the entire crew, putting us in Vegas after 12:00. 7 1/2 hours late.”
It’s also been reported by Beat of Hawaii reader Steve P.:
“My friend was on the flight you mentioned, they were told mid air that they didn’t have enough fuel to make the crossing due to a mix up on the paperwork!! They refueled back in Kona, made it to Oakland then onto Vegas around midnight!”
After hours on the ground on the Big Island, the flight returned to the air, but this time, it headed to Oakland, not Las Vegas as originally planned. Thereafter, the flight continued to Las Vegas, where it arrived some 7+ hours later than expected.
The incident highlights the safety and complexities regarding long-haul Hawaii flights including specific safety certifications, including ETOPS-180 (Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards). These standards allow all twin-engine aircraft, like this 737 Max 8, to fly up to three hours from the nearest diversion airport, a critical requirement for flights crossing the 2,500 miles of open ocean between Hawaii and the mainland.
While unrelated to this incident, the reliability of twin-engine planes has transformed Hawaii travel, even though it was once widely considered too risky to fly such long distances over water without four engines. As one commenter noted in our discussion on long-haul Hawaii flights, “these engines just don’t fail” frequently, but the risk of (other) diversions always lingers over the vast Pacific.
Southwest Airlines did not release specific details about this latest diversion. However, this incident joins a series of recent diversions impacting Hawaii-bound or departing flights in 2024.
Most recently, in October, a United Airlines flight diverted twice due to hydraulic issues, sparking concerns about the aging fleets used on these routes. Similarly, another Hawaii flight was diverted in September when flight attendants fell ill from an unknown onboard odor, raising questions about air quality.
Hat tips to FlightAware and BOH reader KM.
Lead photo: Beat of Hawaii onboard SW flight to Kauai.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Comments that nitpick one another’s is wasted space. Please refrain from trying to prove you are a “know it all”.
IMO opinion referring to a Humanoid Robot fuel check means condition of it’s Lithium Powered Battery Pack not plane fuel supply. Maybe a government 90 minute secret experiment using real human passengers and a real type situation collecting data on how the robot reacts. AI voice relayed to passengers and all is well. Check fuel is on the top of the Pre takeoff Manifest Checklist to make sure that it is taken care of before takeoff. Sorry Just a Thought.
IMO nobody mentioned a probable fuel gauge problem. I suppose there could be some calibration steps also. Is it more relaxing to a passenger if the pilot states he lost communication with the tower or the airplane shows a lack of fuel when flying over the ocean? Only the pilot and co-pilot really knows and the person addressed in the tower. Why the plane was diverted and changed flight path will probably have to be written in a report to the FAA with all the details. If the pilot had radio or communication problems then how did he get clearance to land back in the Hawaiian Islands? Open runways to land etc.
A combined Alaska and Hawaiian will have southwest throwing in the towel in about 24 months after a disastrous attempt at Southwest rolling out preferred seating.
So sad for the Hawaiian Air employees.
Alaska already laid off the first batch of 73 Hawaiian Air workers today. With many more layoffs promised to come soon, Alaska is like a shark devouring prey. No synergy for the jobless.
Why are you going on about ETOPS when this had nothing to do with engines and everything to do with a problem with what sounds like either a radio or CPDLC issue, an ATC reroute, fueling, or some of all 3? If a 747 wasn’t fueled properly, or was fueled for a shorter flight than it turned out to be, it too would have had to turn back or make a stop. Also, the flight was only an hour and change into the flight when it turned back and clearly had to burn down fuel to get below MLW, so it really hadn’t gone far. They likely stopped in Oakland to pick up another crew and some more fuel, as the original crew probably would have timed out going the extra distance to LAS. You can easily see that the exact same airplane and flight number departed OAK at 1058 pm and arrived at 1201 am at LAS – why would you appear to gaslight people into thinking folks got stranded in Oakland?
This was pretty terrible reporting.
Al, I agree and concur that this was certainly not a newsworthy story. I’d only add that ETOPS rules and reserves could have come into play just because it’s an ETOPS flight. It apparently was a MAX and I suspect it was completely capable of doing the flight with almost any wind situation but getting The Correct fuel load for the A/C weight and predicted winds is very important. As you probably also know, “tankering” too much fuel doesn’t work well either on these extremely efficient A/C. Transitioning flight crews from 707’s to new(at the time) DC10-30’s was always challenging. Convincing them that departing with less than full fuel was the best practice and was sometimes difficult.
Yeah BOH reports on a negative story about Southwest on the day that 1) SW beats earnings and state that Hawaii market growing and 2) settle with Elliott Management moving SW forward and no story on that issue. Kind of makes you wonder that BOH is a HA/AKS favor. From SW earnings call:
Andrew Watterson: Hawaii, we view as a franchise, but knowing there’s different parts to your franchise, and we have seen results of our focused efforts that we mentioned at Investor Day. We’re seeing RASM increase quite significantly above system RASM, which is, as you saw from our results, also increasing. And that is both for inter-island and mainland to Hawaii, and so we’re pleased with the progress.
We have teams that are — cross-functional teams that are organized to focus and drive this, and we’re seeing the results of those efforts, and those continue and will continue until we reach our business case.
Maybe AI determined the amount of fuel and communication with air traffic controllers. IMO Hawaii should feel glad multiple carriers want to serve tourists and locals who need to travel from island to island. Without competition who knows how high one carrier would charge. It would really amount to Name Your Price Situation. IMO since Hawaiian Airlines contributed a percent of it’s sales profits to the state of Hawaii that it makes it a favorite of most locals. How would Hawaii feel if all the airline carriers decided to not serve Hawaii at all? Wait for the next cruise ship or canoe? Sorry not to be rude but just a thought.
AI, really? Do you know how airline ops and airplanes work?
AL
What are you a AI programmer? With computers controlling computers how do you really know? This site asks for your comments and thoughts in open conversation and not to question or comment on someones intelligence. Truely uncalled for.
Without computers there would be no autopilot. No gps cordinates to set etc. New cars have one master and up to 14 slave computers to control air bags, abs brakes, road sign warnings etc. Technology on airplanes is way more advanced than years ago when the internet was not even around. If we can control where missiles travel then why not planes? Space drones etc. One master with multiple slaves computers is computer to computer.
I was on this flight.
There was apparently an interruption with communication to air traffic control. There is a definite interruption if you look at flight trackers like my daughter was, right before we turned around a little over an hour into the flight, then had to circle to burn up fuel before landing. My understanding is that even though they regained communication there is protocol to return. The plane was refueled and reinspected before we took off again. Oakland was where they could get a new flight crew. It was a Max 8, there was no turbulence or anything noticeable. Most on board didn’t even know we had turned around until they made an announcement almost half way through the return.
Flight tracking apps lose coverage outside ADS-B coverage and rely on less accurate satellite tracking.
Bottom line is they took off with insufficient fuel for the flight. Highly unlikely that an hour out the forecast changed dramatically…..either dispatch or the crew or both erred. Their inexperience in Hawaii/transpac ops is rearing it’s head…..again.
Thank you Southwest for coming to Hawai’i and lowering prices! So glad we’re not taken advantage of anymore by Hawaiian Airlines!!!
“We’re” AJS? Really??…..It appears you work for SWA and are not from Hawaii……you clearly have no concept of Hawaiian’s contribution to the State and it’s rich history…..sorry, I just have little tolerance for people not from Hawaii taking potshots at Hawaii, the people here or the local institutions.
Lol you realize a bunch of other airlines fly to Hawaii Besides Hawaiian Airlines.
What terrible reporting but nothing new for BOH, a Hawaiian Airlines fanboy. No, they didn’t return to HNL after in the air over 3 hours. They were up about 90 mins and then started the process to return. Stick to Enquirer type reporting and stay in your lane.
Hi AJS.
We understand that, given your position with the airline, our reporting might feel critical. However, our goal is to provide objective and accurate information to our readers. We encourage open discussion but also understand that if our approach doesn’t align with your expectations, you may seek to obtain information elsewhere.
Aloha.
AJS, Hawaiian is the largest and longest serving airline in Hawaii. They are an important part of the State and a local institution. So of course BOH will have the most coverage of Hawaiian on a Hawaii site. Your attitude reflects why so many people hold SWA in low regard here. You sound like someone who moves to Hawaii and starts ridiculing the people that live here. You can’t come to Hawaii threatening the people that live here and expect a warm reception…..which is exactly what SWA did with their little ceramic shark wall hanger eating up HA and AS depicted as small fish stunt
I was on the flight. We were in flight for over an hour when I noticed the plane bank hard and looked at the SWA app flight seeing that we were definitely headed toward Kona and not the mainland. After about 15 minutes I went to the bathroom and asked the flight attendant why we were headed back. They said they had not been told and at this point I don’t think anyone else was aware. About 15 minutes later they made an announcement saying something about air traffic control rerouting & we didn’t have enough fuel + something about paperwork. We then had to circle Kona for an hour to burn off fuel before landing. That is how you get three+ hours in the air.
We were later told that they had lost contact with air traffic control causing us to return & fuel. There was a blip in flight tracking just before we turned around.
After a couple of hours on the ground we set off again with a stop over in Oakland to change the entire crew, putting us in Vegas after 12:00. 7 1/2 hours late.
Thank you, that clears it up. BOH should get some facts before reporting. What you reported is quite a bit different than being half way to Vegas.
After 3 hours 39 minutes aren’t you closer to the west coast?
Terrible reporting. They weren’t 3 1/2 hours from Hawaii, closer to 90 mins
I’m really surprised that the pilots didn’t notice the insufficient fuel load right away and not 3 hours into the flight. That’s scary!! Amelia Earhart
I’m guessing: Winds and temperatures aloft were not as predicted before takeoff. They have very accurate real time fuel quantity & burn rate, ground speed, wind speed & direction and flight computers that can do the math on-board. They also have SatCom and digital communications systems so they can discuss everything with their flight operations on the ground. The fact that they only went to Oakland on the second crossing indicates they decided that was the maximum range (including ETOPS reserves) for the aircraft given the load and weather conditions.
Probably a “predicted winds aloft” change that occurred after takeoff. The change to Oakland indicates the wind change reduced the range (with required reserves) of the aircraft. It’s possible the aircraft wasn’t a Max too. They have longer range. 100mph winds aren’t unusual and they directly add or subtract from the airspeed to give you ground speed and therefore range. It’s not weird at all.
Yet another reason to never fly Southwest anywhere.
Not!
What another weird diversion? I’m pretty sure it’s all safe, although it is certainly annoying for us passengers. We flew SW from Hawaii too yesterday, but weren’t on that flight, and happy to report no problems.
There is definitely something weird about this one. Not sure what exactly. But none of it makes sense. Hmmm.
Did I read that that correctly that he was 3:39 into the flight before turning back.???….looking at the map it looks like 3:39: total time ? Any issue serious enough to require a turn back almost always requires diverting to the nearest suitable airport. If the crew diverted to Kona to help the company cover their schedule that’s not good. SWA still seems to lack the experience to cover the kind of Pacific operation they are attempting.
My friend was on the flight you mentioned, they were told mid air that they didn’t have enough fuel to make the crossing due to a mix up on the paperwork!! They refueled back in Kona, made it to Oakland then onto Vegas around midnight!
Same thing happened to my friend on a Southwest flight from Kona to Oakland in 2022. An hour Into the flight they turned around back to kona. They where never told why. They landed back in Kona and would not let anyone off the plane. The fuel truck showed up, after refueling, took off again 2.5 hours after the initial takeoff and flew to OAK with no problems. 3 months later he received a flight vaucher for anywhere southwest flys via email. Still no explanation why.