Alaska Airlines unveiled ten new route announcements today, signaling further expansion of its network and solidifying its Hawaii strategy by being a dominant West Coast and Pacific connector. However, direct Hawaii routes were noticeably absent from this update. But Hawaii was not left out even still. The company also announced an interesting combined airfare sale (below) that is yet another first.
For travelers to Hawaii, these might at first raise eyebrows—but the implications for Hawaii travel are far more significant than they appear on the surface. With Alaska’s recent acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, every route update and airfare sale impacts Hawaii flights, especially as the Seattle hub becomes the linchpin for mainland-to-Hawaii travel.
Alaska’s focus on strengthening its mainland network may seem disconnected from Hawaii.
But it’s anything but unrelated. With Seattle firmly established as Alaska’s primary hub, the airline is already building out routes that enhance its ability to funnel traffic from across the mainland to and from Hawaii.
This also suggests that Hawaii travelers could see fewer direct flights and more routing through Seattle—a shift that would be convenient for some but frustrating for others.
Longtime Hawaii visitors and residents have grown accustomed to Hawaiian Airlines’ widebody comfort and direct albeit limited routes, but Alaska’s narrower 737s and hub-focused approach may signal a different future.
Recent BOH reader comments reflect this growing concern. Rob T commented, “Hawaiian is moving widebody flights to the Seattle Hub. The ‘synergy’ that results is that West Coast flyers will be routed through the Seattle hub instead of nonstop flights.” Another reader, Denise, shared frustration, saying, “Sitting in a cramped 737 for five or six hours to Hawaii just isn’t the same. If this is the future of Hawaii travel, it’s disappointing and frustrating.”
New deals through Honolulu.
As Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines align their networks, travelers can already see tangible benefit attempts, including promotional fares that reflect their expanded connectivity. One such example is a $390 each-way fare sale to Sydney and Auckland via Honolulu. Starting in either Seattle or Portland and available for purchase through Nov. 21, 2024. it shows how the airlines are beginning to leverage Honolulu as a central hub for Pacific connections from their west coast hubs.
While such fares are promotional, they underscore the value of Alaska’s acquisition for travelers, creating opportunities that weren’t as accessible before. For those eyeing future travel, this marks a shift in how Hawaii flights are integrated into broader networks, offering travelers not just a way to paradise but also a springboard to global destinations.
Fewer future direct flights to Hawaii?
Hawaiian Airlines’ flights have long been marked by their nonstop convenience from the gateway cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Long Beach, Ontario, Oakland, San Jose, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City, and Boston.
Alaska’s network changes suggest that while the total number of Hawaiian flights may remain stable, passengers could face changes ahead including Seattle connections.
On the positive side, Alaska is fast strengthening its ability to connect passengers from various parts of the mainland to its Seattle hub, which will increasingly becoming a cornerstone for Hawaii-bound traffic. Some examples (from today’s announcement) are traveling from Colorado ski resorts to Hawaii and between Hawaii and Central America. These could have previously been a multiple-airline situation that will not be served directly by the combined Alaska/Hawaiian.
Reader Greg highlighted this issue, saying, “Seattle is being prioritized, but that means passengers from the West Coast will lose the nonstop connections they’re used to. It’s hard to feel like this is an upgrade.”
Narrow-body aircraft replace widebody comfort.
One of the biggest shifts Hawaii travelers may see is gradually replacing widebody aircraft with narrowbody planes like Alaska’s 737. Hawaiian Airlines, before the merger, was known for its use of Airbus A330 widebodies on many mainland routes, offering more spacious cabins and what is, to many, a more comfortable travel experience.
Alaska Airlines, by contrast, has a fleet dominated by Boeing 737s—smaller, more economical planes that lack the space and amenities of widebody counterparts. That being said, Hawaiian also relies on its narrow-body A321neo fleet, which has the same issues passengers bemoan.
Tammy S, a frequent traveler, shared her experience, “I’ve flown both Alaska’s 737 and Hawaiian’s A330 from Seattle to Hawaii. The A330 is a much better experience. Narrowbodies just don’t compare for these long-haul flights.” Meanwhile, John H noted the operational challenges, saying, “Widebody planes are great for comfort, but they take up too much gate space in Seattle, which is already congested.”
This trend highlights Alaska’s savvy, cost-focused approach. While narrow-bodies are more economical to operate, passengers will feel the difference—especially on flights that stretch six hours or longer. For Hawaii’s tourism-driven economy, this could subtly affect how visitors perceive the overall Hawaii travel experience.
BOH editors encounter the challenges of long-haul narrow-body.
Yesterday, we returned to Hawaii from California on a 737 MAX 8. We both found the experience lacking, even in extra legroom economy using the third empty seat trick. The long lines queueing for the two lavatories on the United plane made for a miserable six hours in the air. We note, however, that Alaska and United provide one extra lav on their MAX 9 fleet, which is admirable.
Route implications for Hawaii travel.
Today’s announcements underscore Alaska Airlines’ growing influence over West Coast and Hawaii flights, even when Hawaii isn’t explicitly mentioned. Seattle’s role as a hub means Hawaii-bound passengers from across the mainland may face more reliance on connecting flights rather than the direct routes they’ve come to expect.
This has pros and cons: while it opens up far more connections between cities and Hawaii, it also increases travel time and reduces convenience.
Bill A commented, “It’s clear Alaska isn’t going to invest in widebody planes for Hawaii. They’re sticking with their 737s, and that’s going to leave a lot of us passengers unhappy.”
Meanwhile, some readers pointed out potential positives. John W remarked, “Adding widebody flights to Seattle could create more one-stop options for Hawaii travelers, even if direct flights are reduced.” Others, like Chris, noted that Boeing’s production delays may force Alaska to hold on to Hawaiian’s Airbus planes for longer than expected, potentially preserving some of the widebody comfort for now.
What’s up next for Hawaii flights comes on December 10.
Alaska Airlines’ next investor meeting on December 10 is expected to shed significant light on its Hawaii strategy. Key questions remain unanswered:
-Will Alaska keep Hawaiian’s A330s in service for existing routes or phase them into new routes?
-How will the Seattle hub evolve to handle increased Hawaii traffic, especially during peak travel seasons and with a lack of widebody terminal space?
-And perhaps most critically, how will these changes affect pricing and convenience for Hawaii travelers?
As this transition unfolds, Hawaii air travel is entering uncharted new territory. Alaska Airlines’ focus on efficiency and Seattle centrality may streamline operations, but the changes come with trade-offs for comfort and direct access. For now, travelers should prepare for more layovers and narrower planes, even as Alaska works to maximize its reach to Hawaii.
Reader David captured the mixed sentiments many feel: “We’ll get to Hawaii one way or another, but it’s clear things won’t be the same. Hopefully, Alaska will figure out how to balance efficiency with the unique experience of flying to paradise.”
What are your thoughts on the combined efforts of Alaska & Hawaiian?
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Alaska mileage redemption is terrible too. All the lowest cost flights for the day (eg 20k miles) are with overnight layovers and 2 or 3 connections, nothing any sane person would ever want to book. Never seen that before when booking award travel with united or AA. or hawaiian. Schemed on the 70k Hawaiian miles before they merge but going to burn these miles and avoid Alaska at all costs. In the future. What a let down
Time to switch to United!
As a 2x a year traveler from San Diego, this just makes me sad. You are greeted with Aloha the moment you step on a Hawaiian plane. If we have fewer flights on Hawaiian and are forced to take Alaska, our travel experience and Aloha experience just won’t be the same.
A reference was made that UA only had 2 lavs in main cabin on their new MAX8.
AS has 3 main cabin lavs on all of our MAX9 and MAX8 aircraft and one up front for a total 4 lavs onboard all AS MAX aircraft. And, if the MAX10 is ever certified there will be one in front, one at the front of main cabin, and two in the back of main cabin for a total of 4 lavs again minimizing lines for the lav.
Instead of alaska airlines improving travel they are making it worse. It was such a pleasure going on Hawaiian air now Alaskan air is ruining all.
Locals are always screwed. Airlines don’t realize we go to Oahu to see a Specialist just for a few min. Depending on time of year up to 200.00 plus for transportation to a doctors appointment.
Many insurances don’t cover. Forget the locals …. We don’t have any other way to get there.
Very true, I think the state should step in here with local vouchers or something, probably not a third party business like an airline like Hawaiian or any of them to cover medical travel expenses. Alaska the state subsidizes Alaska airlines to go to certain airports in the state, the state of Hawaii does not subsidize Hawaiian, but they could subsidize the locals for medical travel. Also interesting is that Alaska does not charge income tax but Hawaii has high income tax, the state should help out in my opinion since it is the only way and there are not the same medical options on islands other than Oahu.
Good idea Jay, but you will never get rid of Hawaii’s oppressive income tax until you vote out one party inefficient intrenched state government. Alaska is somewhat of a one party state, but it’s the opposite party of Hawaii’s. Also Alaska has lots of oil money to share with Alaska residents, and they’re not overly dependent on tourism.
Bidenomics and handout subsidies..when will Hawaiians ever learn…
Unfortunately the state government of Hawaii wastes money on pointless things rather than actual investment
Agreed. They have been ridiculously wasting money since statehood.
Aloha!
I get that…..price of paradise has a consequence. I think health care in Hawaii, overall, is awful. Honolulu at least has some options, but the outer islands you really do not have options.
Gently, not being snarky, and said with much aloha, the choice to live on an outer island with less medical care is a conscious decision by people who live there. We live on Oahu as kupuna as we know we will need medical specialists not available on the neighbor islands. That eliminated the neighbor islands. Medical care access was a higher priority for us.
Frequent Hawaii travelers are used to a certain level of comfort (more space, mwore bathrooms, more legroom). If the Alaska/Hawaiian cannot provide this, AA and UA can.
Good luck!!
The merger is bad news for Hawaii travelers. This article highlights what is ahead.
I have flown Alaska, Hawaiian, and American. Of the three, Alaskan offered the worse, and especially since I was in first class. Bad menu choices, mediocre service, and average seats.
I will be now flying exclusively American. I have been satisfied with wide body to Dallas, with a connection to the east coast. Food and service was good, and the best seat of the three.
Going through Seattle will be a nightmare.
Southwest could see a big benefit. And have more direct flights.
Because changing planes on Southwest is so different?
No route has been eliminated. Freaking out over something you are speculating on is silly
I’m just curious, exactly what widebody non stop HA destination do you think HA has dropped? …..and how could the few737 SWA flights possibly be a better option to the plethora of A330/A321neo/ 737 options now available on AS/HA. SWA is all about connecting flights (and fighting for your seat!). HA/AS is a genuinely quality product and of course the HA service is universally considered the gold standard in the market.
Although it is true that SEA is the largest hub for AS and will always be the concentration of the AS network, keep in mind that we have Hawaii flights from many other west coast airports. We have been given no indication thru our company emails that any of these Hawaii non stops will end. The majority of your Hawaii connections will continue thru SEA, but we continue to have Hawaii flights from SAN, LAX, SJC, SFO, PDX, and ANC.
There have been announced changes to whether the flight will be on an AS or HA aircraft like 1 of the 5 daily flights between HNL and SEA will now have 4 on AS aircraft and one on HA A330. And, OGG-SAN will be on AS aircraft only. These changes occur next spring. Otherwise no announced changes on exiting of any existing Hawaii mainland flights.
They will lose a lot of loyal business if they make non-stops go through seattle or anywhere else or if they change widebody flying to Hawaii to a narrow body. The max 9’s 3rd lav is a little better than other 737s, but Alaska and SWA are in love with the 737, the flying public is not.
No changes to routes have been made.
Further, which other carriers are flying large planes from west coast destinations?
You can usually catch a 772 or 773 from SFO on United to HNL, along with the usual narrow-bodies.
Sure, if SFO works for you, then you are set.
Or if you want a connection thru SFO, you are set.
Or the daily A330 widebody on HA….
That is the point, those widebody will be missed by those who like them, including the 2-4-2 seating, if they do in fact take them from certain destinations like Las Vegas, remains to be seen how it will all work out. Sounds like those traveling to and from Seattle will benefit. I am just not the biggest fan of the 737 comfort wise, I have rarely waited for a bathroom on a Hawaiian (or Delta) A330, Alaska’s are better than SW though.
They will lose a lot of loyal business if they make non-stops go through seattle or anywhere else or if they change widebody flying to Hawaii to a narrow body.
Since no one has done that yet, and no one has suggested it, then you are set.
If you are in Nashville, you have solid options to connect thru Seattle now to any of the 4 biggest islands. Or Cincinnati, or Indianapolis, or anywhere else. More capacity is good for expanding the airline.
I guess every flight landing and leaving Sea/Tac will endure an extra landing/takeoff federal airport runway tax fee added to their airline ticket. This should make future flights a little more expensive for everyone.
I really don’t like going through SeaTac. There was a direct Bellingham Honolulu flight years ago and it was great! Then there was a direct Paine field Honolulu flight. Both have been canceled, so you are forced to go through SeaTac which adds at least three hours and stress to the ordeal.
We have travelled Hawaiian Airlines for the last 20years. The 2 things we enjoyed were direct flights from Cailf and Vegas airports. We make it a priority to book our travel on one of the wide bodies jets.
We have never flown a Alaska flight that connected through Seattle that has not been delayed or terminal changed at the last minute. It also adds 2.5 hours to 3 plus hours to our travel time. If Alaska does away with its Hi. direct flights from Cailf and Vegas, we will no longer be using them. It will be time to travel on United Delta or America
I am not sure the 737 can make Las Vegas…..can it?
Southwest does it, so yes it can
Don’t hear or read much of anything about Hawaiian’s AUS/HNL nonstop? They’ve been flying it 4X a week. I’ve used it a few times since the Covid pandemic. The A330 Is very comfortable and tail winds usually chop a good hour off the 8 hour flight both ways.
Figured that eventually the new 787s would be used on this route. Now I’m wondering if Alaska is going to take delivery of the remaining 787s Hawaiian ordered? Have BOH editors heard anything about both matters in question? For protection due to uncertainty, we’ve booked United first class through SFO for our late January trip.
Aloha to all.
Here you go: Ends in March 2025.
The western US expansion and the Seattle/Portland to Australia/New Zealand announcements are not really related.
The western US expansion was announced before and this release was just a reminder on the upcoming service.
The Pacific Northwest to Australia/New Zealand was aim at SEA and PDX. It was highlighting Alaska’s new ability with Hawaiian to get residents down under without having to detour so to speak through SFO or LAX.
Agreed Greg. The merger has created a nice alternative to get from the Pacific Northwest to Australia and obviously Alaska is capitalizing on that.
The second widebody flight to SEA creates a lot of new opportunities, some of which could ultimately end up as non stop service once the market matures. Places like Denver are now a one stop flight on AS/HA but could eventually be a non stop.
Let’s ignore the negative comments about Alaska moving planes around. Let’s just thank them for bailing out Hawaiian. The articles that talk down the changing of the prior business model Hawaiian operated needs to consider that business model is partially responsible for them circling the bankruptcy drain. Many jobs were saved, access to Hawaii is not going away. This should play out with more pluses than negatives. While I agree SEA does not have ample space for widebodies, they’ll make the tough decisions to determine what makes more financial sense; use multiple gates for one large aircraft or use 3 gates for 3 planes. They’ll figure it out.
Yeah
Alaska shifts a couple planes around and all the sudden the sky is falling? Not one single route has been cancelled or changed.
Of course Alaska is going to run connections through its largest hub, so, of course, they will move the larger plane to that route? It would be incompetence to not do so.
I do expect flights will be re-timed, and I would expect, in time, the, SFO same capacity shuffling will take place at PDX, SFO, LAX.
321 Neos can fly farther than 737 Max 9, so I would expect Alaska to take advantage of that as well. That will allow them to farther destinations from HNL/OGG and somewhere on the mainland, or farther destinatiions.
Am I dumb? Why do I fear Alaska will mean higher prices for Hawaii flights in the long run? Right now, there may be deals, but what about next year and the year after? This isn’t looking great.
Everyone is bemoaning the 737 but when it comes to leg room I have always found Alaska much more comfortable than Hawaiian, even with their wide body planes. Therefore, given the option, I favored Alaska.
The airfare sale is a nice perk, but it feels more like a distraction from the fact that nonstop flights to Hawaii are no doubt disappearing.
I want to keep thinking that Honolulu will become a exciting hub for more international flights. It seems to open up so many new possibilities. Not sure this will come to pass but I sure hope it does.
I’ve flown Alaska to Hawaii recently, and while the connections in Seattle are okay, the layovers can add a lot of wear and tear, especially with our kids.
Alaska’s smart, but as someone who flies from Hawaii frequently, I really would miss the widebody planes Hawaiian uses. It’s just not the same experience.
The $390 fare is enticing, but I’m more worried we’ll lose the convenience of direct flights to Hawaii. Connecting through Seattle sounds like a bummer.
I’ll be immediately booking future mainland travel to the West Coast ASAP with my points, I’m not going to risk being diverted to Seattle, versus traditional non-stop to SFO/OAK/SJC/SMF. Additionaly, this will be a huge failure for Alaska not to use the recently equipped Starlink A321’s. I’m already hearing from executive colleagues that have relied on this to enjoy Hawaii, but still run their companies and businesses. Will Alaska screw this up like they did Virgin America?
Good point, Starlink made Hawaiian airplanes the best in my view for features, it is so much better and more reliable and free and no other airline’s airplanes going to Hawaii have it yet (I heard United is going to start gettting it). Sounds like Seattle residents will be enjoying this more often.