Hawaii Flights in Crosshairs As Elliott Drives Southwest Overhaul

Where Hawaii Stands In Just Announced Southwest Expansion Plans

Southwest Airlines newly extended schedule through April 8, 2024 has just been announced. So what does the airline giant have in mind as far as Southwest Hawaii flights are concerned?

Southwest does scheduling differently than other airlines. With the rest of the industry rolling out schedules of 330 days, Southwest incrementally releases flight plans, typically one month at a time. So while flights were previously bookable until March, as of today, you can book up to April 8.

A good time to book Hawaii spring vacations.

This is a time period that sells out quickly, especially for the lowest fares. Given their easy-peasy cancellation and change policies, this is an excellent time to get a plan set, then change it later if need be.

While Southwest flights are being added from Baltimore to exotic destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico and flights from there and St. Louis to Florida vacation spots, any Southwest Hawaii expansion was noticeably missing in their future plans.

Attractive Hawaii alternatives included in today’s announcement are Cabo San Lucas, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Panama City, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, and Turks and Caicos.

There are no changes for this Southwest Hawaii flight schedule. Here’s why?

With today’s release, Southwest announced nothing new for Hawaii routes and continued to keep things unchanged. There remains the possibly of new Hawaii routes, or at least that’s what we’d been hearing via the coconut wireless. At the same time, Southwest appears relatively content to continue flying its current Hawaii routes while ensuring there are no further hiccups of any kind in its operations.

In 2019, Southwest Hawaii flights began and quickly expanded to other cities, extending beyond the west coast to Phoenix and Las Vegas. Beat of Hawaii recently flew Southwest between Hawaii and Las Vegas and wrote EarlyBird Ran A-Fowl | Latest Southwest Hawaii Flight Review.

Where could Southwest Hawaii further expand next?

Southwest Hawaii’s flights beyond their current schedule remain unsure. However, should they desire to resume their Hawaii expansion, our list of possible cities follows.

  • Albuquerque
  • Denver
  • Burbank
  • Palm Springs
  • Salt Lake City
  • Spokane

The list of current Southwest Hawaii flights includes the following.

Some of these are seasonal routes. They operate to and from Honolulu, Maui, the Big Island and Kauai.

  • LAS VEGAS
  • LOS ANGELES
  • LONG BEACH
  • OAKLAND
  • PHOENIX
  • SAN JOSE
  • SACRAMENTO
  • SAN DIEGO
  • HAWAII INTERISLAND

Where would you like to see Southwest Hawaii’s service expand?

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16 thoughts on “Where Hawaii Stands In Just Announced Southwest Expansion Plans”

  1. Aloha BOH – SWA appears to have added a 2nd daily PHX-OGG flight. May’ve been previously announced. Looks to be Saturday only and shows on the current schedule in March-April timeframe.

  2. I would love to see direct from Hawai’i flights on SWA added to either/or both Portland International Airport (PDX) and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA); I travel to both locations each year. Right now with SWA, I would need to take a connecting flight ✈️ through either LAX, SJC, OAK or SFO. It would be great if I could just catch one flight versus a connecting flight. 🤙

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  3. I would love to see direct flights from KOA to LIH and more direct flights to OGG. I love to do day trips to the different islands since overnight stays are so prohibitive. I take an early flight out rent a car for around 30-40 dollars and return to KOA on the last flight out.

  4. Southwest flies out of Bellingham. They should add two or three trips a week to Hawaii given the proximity to Vancouver, B.C.

  5. My husband and I live in Orange County and fly direct once a month from LGB to OGG I now find that this direct flight will shortly be discontinued leaving LAX (ugh) as the only direct flight until 2024 when the entire Southland will have no direct flights to OGG. I agree with the previous comment, or the SNA would be a great choice for any service, let alone direct flights. Any idea why Southwest is taking the strategy?

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  6. I’d bet on Ontario – Honolulu flights before Palm Springs gets them. PSP has gate restrictions that limit the number of flights SWA can offer, especially from November to May (PSP’s peak travel months). Ontario is only an hour from PSP, and has millions of residents within a 30 minute drive.

  7. Instead of expanding to BUR, I vote SNA. This would pick up Palm Spring folks as well as Temecula/Murrieta area (there is so much expansion happening out there). I live in North County SD (Oceanside) and use SNA just as often as SAN.

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