We’ve ranked all domestic airlines that fly to Hawaii from best to worst in economy class. You may be surprised.
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We’ve ranked all domestic airlines that fly to Hawaii from best to worst in economy class. You may be surprised.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
We fly Alaska, we have the card, 2 cards, so we can use miles and or companion tickets. Seats are comfortable enough. Sat in premium exit rows last 2 flights because was gifted MVP. We have TSA Precheck. Checked 3 bags free. Preordered $10 snack on board. Good meat and cheese. Good service and no problems. Dont book bargain basement airlines. Get what you pay for.
Southwest should definitely be ranked the lowest. Recently flew with them from LIH – HNL – SAN, and all flight attendants had bad attitudes. Could hear a few complaining about their jobs at the end of the flight, and asking “are they finally gone?” as the final passengers were de-boarding the plane. On the HNL-SAN flight, they didn’t serve beverages until about 2 hours into the flight, and then cut us off after two waters and one juice each, because they said we’d asked for too many already.
You wrote that Alaska Airlines flights from Anchorage to Hawaii have been suspended, but service has resumed since November 18
United?? Lol, no way, never flying them again after lost bags so many times along with late flights and cancellations!!
We flew United from Los Angeles to Honolulu and the narrow plane was good with more legroom near exits but seats did not recline. For me return flight we were in the wide body with very little leg room but seats reclined. Most of the staff were pleasant and helpful, except one who was impatient and rude. Snacks and drinks both ways, but bring your own. We bought wifi for $8 each to stream movies.
Just flew Boston to HNL to Lihue on Hawaiian, was decent, a bit tight in economy, food and inflight entertainment mediocre. Returned Lihue to Denver then to Boston. Was pleasantly suprised seat pitch was decent, food and entertainment better than HA… No issues with either airline. Will never fly AA anywhere after far too many bad experiences.
As platinum on Hawaiian for years, flying 1st class, 10-12x’s yr, they have lost my business. Now trying swa & for the service, various perks, price…been satisfied but do miss the comfort of seating.
SWA has freee texting, don’t need to buy Wi-Fi for that.
Folks the Wi-Fi is free and so is the free TV and movies. You just have to pay for internet.
Aloha Rob & Jeff.
Mele Kalikmaka to all at BoH.
Just to say my own airline of choice to reach the Islands is definitely Hawaiian – though admittedly, I do purchase the extra comfort seats. Budget won’t stretch to Business Class – that requires you to become a part owner of the airline!!!!
As regards the Dreamliner…I hope Hawaiian get their planes and start their European flights.
Many, many Christmas (Holiday) wishes.
Hi Michael.
We’ll be looking for you over there when that flight finally happens! How long have we been talking about HNL-LHR? In the meantime, good to hear from you, and happy holidays!
Aloha.
Thank you, we will be booking our 1st flight to Hawaii soon. We plan to be there the 1st 9 days of July.
This information about airlines has been useful, we will be flying out of Nashville.
Hi Dani.
Thanks. Let us know if you have any questions once your go looking.
Aloha.
Flew a United 737 from Denver to Lihue and they Did have WiFi available for $8.
Great topic.
We go “home” to Hawaii twice a year.
Go to see ohana on Karyn’s side and to our beloved timeshare in Kaanapali,Maui.
Have flown most of these.
Using Alaska’s bogo credit card promotion for 1 visit and Hawaiian for the other.
Have had good experiences with Alaska at LAX. 3 & 3 seating, aisle,aisle is best for us.
Used to love Hawaiian at LAX with the A330 2 & 4 & 2 seating.
Their new terminal has already a terrible reputation with everyone including their own crew.
We just tried Hawaiian out of Long Beach and loved it !
So totally easy and relaxing.
Great fun taking the outdoor walk to the ramp to board.
If unfortunately a rainy day that and the uncovered baggage claim can be not fun.
Loved the A321neo.
Aloha,take care
We fly in or out of PDX, usually Hawaiian because we like their schedule better. Both Hawaiian and Alaska offer direct flights to Maui(our usual destination)
Southwest maybe cheaper, not anyways. 2 free checked bags is nice but does win me over as they don’t fly direct from PDX.
Seriously?!
Make this easier next time. In a “I need my info instaneously” world, show a reverse ranking.
The airline that has the most convenient departure/arrival times works for our family. I may change based upon a review like this, but this one only helps a little.
We used to fly Hawaiian a lot when our kids lived on the west coast, but just about always fly United now, as they are the only airline flying non stop to the islands, including Kauai from Denver. I think the other airlines are missing out as the flights are always full. I do think United does a good job generally, and they are much better than the experience we recently had on American. I don’t understand what they are ranked last in your rankings. There doesn’t seem to be much differentiating the airlines from each other.
Except for our inaugural honeymoon visit in 1983, we have always flown United to Honolulu. Back then it was UAL #1 and UAL #2 to and from, complete with aloha theme from the flight attendants uniforms to the Hawaiian music when you stepped on the plane in Chicago. We don’t know What happened for them to change that but we’ve written dozens of emails asking for a return to the aloha flight. Also, for 25 years we flew in a 747, usually in the upper deck.
Your comments and ratings are generally appropriate except for Hawaiian from LAX. As you have noted in other reviews, currently Hawaiian uses gates in a remote terminal B annex that is far from check in and security and adds 1/2 hour to departure times and more to arrival and baggage claim. That time and effort are a major negative impact on its LAX flights. Notwithstanding its other qualities we will not fly Alaska from LAX until it returns to one of the other terminals.
BoH, Many thanks for the statistics. The leading paragraph says ranked from best to worst but the airlines don’t seem to be covered in that order given the BoH ranking in each airline’s section ??
Hi Dan.
Well, in a way, what you say is true. In the article, however, we do rank them from best to worst, just not in summary form. We hope you enjoyed it anyway, and thanks again for so many comments over the past nearly seven years!
Aloha.
I’ve flown all of them, in all offered classes of service, and United is first. They are hands down better than any of the others. Alaska and Southwest are the two worst. Southwest on the very bottom.
Sometimes it’s better to pay a little more. You’ll get a lot better ride.
For what you get along with comfort Southwest is a great deal
A fee years ago we were flying Hawaiian Air. The drive to LAX normally takes 1 hr. That Friday it took 2.5 hrs.due to rain. We arrived at the gate and was told we were too late even though the flight was delayed. The girl at gate was very rude and told us to step aside. $900 later we got the next flight. Never flying Hawaiian Air again!
We fly Hawaiian almost exclusively from LAX to the islands because of Aloha spirit that they have. Their coach seats are average but since we are now Gold status we have always been upgraded into Extra Comfort. We have found their panini sandwich “meal” inedible so we usually bring our own sandwich onboard. Because of the issues flying back into LAX our next return is on an American flight.
so who’s #1?!!!!!