Southwest Hawaii – [Flights Now Bookable]

Update 3/4/19: Flights are now live for purchase with cash or points. Hat tip reader DP and to r/churning.

Update 2/27/19: FAA has now given Southwest Airlines formal approval for flights to Hawaii. Southwest has stated they will release details surround ticket sales and inaugural flights in the coming days.

Update 2/26/19: According to USA Today CEO Gary Kelly told employees the FAA has given Southwest Hawaii a verbal ‘thumbs up’ regarding the test flights completed. It’s expected formal approval will be given soon and then tickets will go on sale.

Update 2/23/19: According to The Star Advertiser Southwest has now completed enough validation flights. We also have some idea on the snacks Southwest will be offering on these Hawaii flights (via VFTW).

Update 2/4/19: On Tuesday (2/5/19) Southwest will do the first validation flight to Hawaii. More details here.

Update 1/3/19: According to an internal memo seen by the Chicago Business Journal on December 21st the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) notified Southwest that the Extended Operations (ETOPS) procedures and manuals we submitted for review have been approved.

Update 10/29/18: File this under interesting but useless, Southwest signs are now up at Maui airport. Hat tip to reader ER.

Update 10/26/18: During yesterday’s earnings call Southwest shared some additional information regarding Hawaii. Interesting quotes below (emphasis ours):

  • “…speaking of Hawaii, it’s our expansion focus for next year. And just subject to the timing of our ETOPS certification from the FAA, our goal continues still to be to sell tickets at the end of this year and operate flights early next year.“
  • “Our schedule is currently published through early June 2019 and they exclude expected Hawaii flying. You can see that excluding Hawaii our January through May year-over-year ASM growth is modest.”

Update 08/16: Beat Of Hawaii has spoken to Andy Watterson, SWA Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, based on this conversation they are expecting flight announcement and ticket sales to start in October to November and flights to Honolulu/Maui to begin shortly thereafter. I’d recommend reading their full post for additional information.

Update 05/03/18: Southwest has announced that they will offer non stop service from:

  • Oakland (OAK)
  • San Diego (SAN)
  • San Jose (SJC)
  • Sacramento (SMF)

They also intend to provide inter-island routes as well.

Update 04/26/18: Southwest has announced they will serve the following airports in Hawaii:

  • Honolulu, HI (Oahu)
  • Kahului, HI (Maui)
  • Kona, HI (Island of Hawaii)
  • Lihue, HI (Kauai)

We don’t have specific routes yet, but all initial routes will be out of California according to Beat of Hawaii. They are also still quoting a launch date of December 2018 or early 2019.

 

Southwest Airlines have just announced that they will be entering the Hawaiian market on Twitter. They did this by replying to a tweet from back in 2008. At the moment details are extremely scarce, but we will update this post as they come in.

Things to note:

  • They need approval from the FAA for extended flights over open water [ETOPS (Extended Twin Operations)]
  • No routes announced yet
  • Plan to sell tickets starting in 2018, but first flights might not launch until 2019. ““We wouldn’t be so bold as to say we’ll start flying in October or November or July of 2018 and not go through the FAA process,” “We know we’ll get through the FAA process in time to sell tickets next year, but until the FAA gives us better indications of the authorization timeline, we’re not going to speculate and put a date out there. This has been a long time coming so there’s no particular reason for us to rush it. For us, it’s more important to do it properly than doing it a certain date.” [Chief Revenue Officer Andrew Watterson]
  • Boeing 737 MAX 8 (175 seat plane) will be used for the service as speculated
  • According to this LA times article Southwest will fly most of its routes from California to Kauai, Honolulu and the island of Hawaii (quoting Andrew Watterson in that article again). California confirmed here again
  • We anticipate fares will drop – Andrew Watterson

Hat tip to reader @bhuynh08
    William Charles
  • On March 4, 2019, 10:36

View Comments (110)

  • For some reason I'm not as excited as I thought I would be about Southwest going to Hawaii. I think I just don't like the idea of being crammed into Southwest's 737s for a journey that will take between 9 and 10 hours from where I live. American, United, and Delta just have much roomier planes for making a long flight like this.

    • I'm not sure that's necessarily true. WN's service is uncomfortable, but the major airlines also have mostly uncomfortable coach service. Even widebodies don't necessarily help. Like I intentionally avoided AA's 777 flights from DFW to Hawaii because they're ten across: you're more comfortable on a narrowbody! Either way, it's a very long trip from the East Coast: you're flying a long haul route and getting short haul service. Maybe the best is Hawaiian? They're now flying from both JFK and BOS. I'd also take a DL widebody (no ten across) if you could find one.

  • DP if you're transferring Chase UR points to Southwest.
    It looks like Chase changed their policy for transferring UR points on business accounts when you're transferring to an employees account. I called in to transfer points to Southwest to my spouse's southwest account. She has an employee card and has had one for years. They informed me they need tax documentation she is a 'partial owner' in the company in order to transfer my UR points to her Southwest account. I spoke to a manager who said the same thing, apparently, this new policy took effect on Jan 2019.

  • I’ll wait and see. Wish they’d allow seat selection. I don’t even mind paying more so that I don’t have to rush and compete with everybody to be as close to the boarding gate as possible when in line.

    • They sell early bird check in to give you a boarding order advantage. That said, I suspect many WN travellers will pay the fee for Hawaii flights (they'll think it's "so far" they have to!) that it won't be much of an advantage.
      Honestly, if you can't snag an under $100 ow ticket here, there's nothing particularly exciting about WN's new service unless you have Rapid Rewards points you're inching to burn. My interest is in the later competitive response when WN's service becomes more robust and there is a response.

      • I've considered the early bird check in, but have never been sure what happens when you arrive at the gate 2 minutes before boarding and 150 travelers are already lined up in front of you. Can you just go to near the front of the line?

      • $200/rt is still insanely cheap from the west coast.

        At $99/one way, (they still have availability for this) It's $200/rt during many "spring break" weeks (sat/sun-sat/sun).

        Right now, the best I see on other airlines from the bay area is $420 for basic economy (no bags) or $500 for a non-stop with a bag.

        • Right, $200 roundtrip is cheap and if you live in the Bay Area, it's a good deal. But I've seen a lot of $300 airfares from the West Coast to Hawaii this year. WN's entry almost guarantees that there will be many more of these fares!

  • Booked a couple RTs for later this year. Amazing, some of the OAK-OGG legs were just 1,950 RR & sold out in minutes!

  • Seems like a completely bizarre launch to me. Like not telling you where they're flying, and when! USA Today seems to have the details.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2019/03/04/southwest-airlines-hawaii-flights-tickets/2914903002/

    Not sure why OAK gets the first service. Not where I would think they would start.

    BTW, maybe I'm too much of a geography stickler, but WN has placed the "dots" for the Hawaii cities they're serving in the wrong places on the island. It would be like introducing service to NYC, and putting the dot in Syracuse. This doesn't inspire confidence in their preparation for Hawaii service.

  • It seems like they still have some bugs to work out. I tried to check pricing r/t from PIT. You can get there, but you can't get back. I presume because southwest doesn't know what to do about the fact that you can't make it from Hawaii to the east coast in the same day. I tried a couple other east coast airports all with the same result.

    • Book your flight to Hawaii from west coast. Book a separate flight from pit to west coast and back.

    • They are not yet trying to market connecting flights from the East Coast. Maybe after their schedule becomes more robust. This is aimed at West Coast-Hawaii travellers, which will certainly remain their target market.

  • Saw a comment that Alaska Air might have reduced prices to Hawaii. I have a trip booked later this year and sure enough it is now $100 less RT than we paid. Called in for a price difference alaska credit and was told that as of 1/1/19 they no longer do this. Disappointed, but more competition in the future may help us get lower prices.

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