Your preferred airline to HNL?

[MouseOfCards]

Basically, these two are the major reasons Hawaiian Airlines is our preferred carrier to Hawaii.

Flying Hawaiian may complicate your itinerary since there's no service out of Boston. You could fly another airline to JFK or to one of Hawaiian's western US destinations to connect with a Hawaiian flight that'll take you to Hawaii.

When comparing ticket prices, consider that Hawaiian is pretty much the only domestic airline that still feeds you a free (inclusive), proper hot meal. In our experience, from SFO to HNL, Hawaiian also offers two complimentary beverage services (including POG/Passion Orange Guava!) and an alcoholic drinks cart.

Hawaiian flies pretty new Airbus A330s, and the seats and cabin (even in coach) are quite comfortable. Hawaiian has entertainment screens behind each seat with a variety of free programming that gets you in that "Pau Hana" (done with work, goin' home) and "Aloha" frame of mind. Also, lot of the flight attendants are Hawaii "locals" and very warm and friendly, so we always feel like we're in a part of Hawaii on the plane even before we land and haven't entirely left Hawaii even as we're flying back home.

Great summary! We flew Hawaiian and thought their seats were very comfortable. Enjoyed their free meal, too.

 

[jtkboston]

Flying Hawaiian may complicate your itinerary since there's no service out of Boston. You could fly another airline to JFK or to one of Hawaiian's western US destinations to connect with a Hawaiian flight that'll take you to Hawaii.

JetBlue and Hawaiian have a code-share arrangement. You can buy one ticket and connect between them at JFK. They'll handle checked bags for you if are on a single ticket; if you are on separate tickets you have to handle transferring checked bags yourself.

Me, I'm dreaming/hoping that Hawaiian would start flying to Boston...some day I hope!!

 

[Timothy02359]

Thanks, I`ll look into Jetblue with a Hawaiian Air connection also. We fly Jetblue all the time to MCO.

 

[Lain]

If you do decide to fly Hawaiian, I'd suggest you and/or your spouse consider applying for the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard for the bonus miles and benefits to bring down the cost of your trip. The standard signup offer is 35,000 HawaiianMiles after spending $1,000 within 90 days of opening the card, and you get one complimentary checked bag for the primary cardholder and a one-time 50% off companion fare discount. There is a $89 annual fee for the card. If you decide to keep the card after the first year, you'll also get 5,000 HawaiianMiles each anniversary if you've spent $10,000 or more on the card the previous year, and you'll get $100 off a companion ticket.

Don't settle for this signup offer! You can get a better offer of 50,000 HawaiianMiles by going through a "dummy booking" on HawaiianAir.com. Just visit Hawaiian Airlines' website -- but don't log in or create an account just yet. Pretend like you're booking a flight, any flight, continue through several more pages of entering your personal information and selecting seats until you get to the payment page. When you get to the payment page, select "Credit/Debit Card" as your payment method. Don’t worry -- you're not actually booking the flight. An ad for the Hawaiian Airlines MasterCard should appear asking if you'd like to earn 50,000 HawaiianMiles. Of course you do! Click "Apply Now" and use this application to apply for the card. If you meet the minimum spending requirement, you'll be awarded the bonus miles that you can use to book your trip to Hawaii!

You'll eventually need to set up a HawaiianMiles account to login to and search the awards page. Awards are priced by Coach SuperSaver, Coach Saver, Coach Flex, First Class Saver, and First Class Flex tiers. The awards table looks something like this:

North America To/From Hawaii (One Way)
North America-Hawaii 20,000 (Coach SuperSaver); 30,000 (Coach Saver); 40,000 (Coach Flex); 40,000 (First Class Saver); 80,000 (First Class Flex)

There are no blackout dates for using HawaiianMiles and availability is pretty good. However, I've never flown out of BOS, and I don't know if you can mix awards on Hawaiian flights with other airlines. Something to look into. Good luck!

 

[glencoe]

Don't settle for this signup offer! You can get a better offer of 50,000 HawaiianMiles by going through a "dummy booking" on HawaiianAir.com. Just visit Hawaiian Airlines' website -- but don't log in or create an account just yet. Pretend like you're booking a flight, any flight, continue through several more pages of entering your personal information and selecting seats until you get to the payment page. When you get to the payment page, select "Credit/Debit Card" as your payment method. Don’t worry -- you're not actually booking the flight. An ad for the Hawaiian Airlines MasterCard should appear asking if you'd like to earn 50,000 HawaiianMiles. Of course you do! Click "Apply Now" and use this application to apply for the card. If you meet the minimum spending requirement, you'll be awarded the bonus miles that you can use to book your trip to Hawaii!

Bummer I didn't know that!! I got the CC for both my husband and I...paid some college tuition with them and got the 30,000 points for both cards, then tried to book two of my kids as "companion travelers" for the 50% off and the dates were blacked out!! Very annoyed! After I finish paying off these flights I am canceling the CC and getting a large name card with no airline blackout dates that I can use on any airline. This didn't do it for me. Flight prices I saved a little (direct from NY/JFK) but not worth it in the end.
My third kid I used my points from my Disney Visa and that worked awesome!! All in all with both Hawaiin Airlines and Disney Visa I did save over $1,200.

 

[Lain]

Bummer I didn't know that!! I got the CC for both my husband and I...paid some college tuition with them and got the 30,000 points for both cards, then tried to book two of my kids as "companion travelers" for the 50% off and the dates were blacked out!! Very annoyed! After I finish paying off these flights I am canceling the CC and getting a large name card with no airline blackout dates that I can use on any airline. This didn't do it for me. Flight prices I saved a little (direct from NY/JFK) but not worth it in the end.
My third kid I used my points from my Disney Visa and that worked awesome!! All in all with both Hawaiin Airlines and Disney Visa I did save over $1,200.

I'm so sorry you missed out! I've had enough of those wish I'd known moments too. We've never had problems with blackout dates when booking Hawaiian flights with miles (even during the holidays), but we have found the companion discounts seem to have a lot more restrictions. I think for our last trip to Hawaii, we couldn't use the $100 off companion discount because we were paying for part of our itinerary with Hawaiian Airlines gift cards (or maybe it was because we couldn't use the gift cards when also paying with miles?), so my wife had to book her and our DD separately to get the companion discount, and I had to book a different itinerary at the same time to use the gift cards and still be seated near my family.

 

[czmom]

If you do decide to fly Hawaiian, I'd suggest you and/or your spouse consider applying for the Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard for the bonus miles and benefits to bring down the cost of your trip. The standard signup offer is 35,000 HawaiianMiles after spending $1,000 within 90 days of opening the card, and you get one complimentary checked bag for the primary cardholder and a one-time 50% off companion fare discount. There is a $89 annual fee for the card. If you decide to keep the card after the first year, you'll also get 5,000 HawaiianMiles each anniversary if you've spent $10,000 or more on the card the previous year, and you'll get $100 off a companion ticket.

Don't settle for this signup offer! You can get a better offer of 50,000 HawaiianMiles by going through a "dummy booking" on HawaiianAir.com. Just visit Hawaiian Airlines' website -- but don't log in or create an account just yet. Pretend like you're booking a flight, any flight, continue through several more pages of entering your personal information and selecting seats until you get to the payment page. When you get to the payment page, select "Credit/Debit Card" as your payment method. Don’t worry -- you're not actually booking the flight. An ad for the Hawaiian Airlines MasterCard should appear asking if you'd like to earn 50,000 HawaiianMiles. Of course you do! Click "Apply Now" and use this application to apply for the card. If you meet the minimum spending requirement, you'll be awarded the bonus miles that you can use to book your trip to Hawaii!

You'll eventually need to set up a HawaiianMiles account to login to and search the awards page. Awards are priced by Coach SuperSaver, Coach Saver, Coach Flex, First Class Saver, and First Class Flex tiers. The awards table looks something like this:

North America To/From Hawaii (One Way)
North America-Hawaii 20,000 (Coach SuperSaver); 30,000 (Coach Saver); 40,000 (Coach Flex); 40,000 (First Class Saver); 80,000 (First Class Flex)

There are no blackout dates for using HawaiianMiles and availability is pretty good. However, I've never flown out of BOS, and I don't know if you can mix awards on Hawaiian flights with other airlines. Something to look into. Good luck!

How likely is it to get the 20,000 points each way? Looks like for $89 (annual fee) you could get a roundtrip ticket plus have 10,000 points left over. Am I missing something?

 

[Lain]

How likely is it to get the 20,000 points each way? Looks like for $89 (annual fee) you could get a roundtrip ticket plus have 10,000 points left over. Am I missing something?

I guess it depends on your dates and where you're traveling from. I just did a quick search for SFO>HNL from 9/5-9/12 and found roundtrip award fares in the main cabin for 40,000; moving a departure or return to the weekend pushes it up to 50,000. I couldn't search BOS>HNL for the OP, but JFK>HNL for those same dates was 50,000. I can't seem to find award travel for some dates around Christmas and New Year's, however.

 

[czmom]

I guess it depends on your dates and where you're traveling from. I just did a quick search for SFO>HNL from 9/5-9/12 and found roundtrip award fares in the main cabin for 40,000; moving a departure or return to the weekend pushes it up to 50,000. I couldn't search BOS>HNL for the OP, but JFK>HNL for those same dates was 50,000. I can't seem to find award travel for some dates around Christmas and New Year's, however.

Thanks! We are shooting for next May/June and live in Houston. However we can use SWA points to get to California.

 

[Lain]

Thanks! We are shooting for next May/June and live in Houston. However we can use SWA points to get to California.

Hawaiian flies to/from Las Vegas, too, if that's a closer/cheaper option for you.

 

[longboard55]

Hawaiian is the best from the left coast, but Alaska has the $99 once a year companion fare if you have the credit card so we also do that. Hawaiian has bought a bunch of smaller planes the 320, so the days of wide bodies from cailifornia are probably going to end soon. The good news is there will be more direct flights to outer islands

 

[cdnjason]

Hawaiian Airlines, direct flight from Las Vegas. You get lei'd as soon as you get off the plane.

 

[NoJolt4U]

We were booked United BOS - HNL though IAD (washington dulles). Was going to be a 2 hr flight to IAD then 10 hours to HNL with a 2 hr layover. We had coach seats. The more and more i thought about it, i could not imagine 10 hours in a skinny crammed seat with no airline provided screen to even watch tv! I found a similar flight in united but traveling BOS - SF0 for 6 hrs and then SFO - HNL for the other 6 hrs. But upgraded to first class. We paid about 2k more for the upgraded flight but it seemed like a no brainer for the length of travel and that will give us tvs and the lay flat beds for 1 leg each way to hopefully get a little more rest. Booking directly with Unite vs any other travel site saved about 300 bucks too. We are traveling in July. Hope it helps. Ill let you know how it went if you are still looking when we get back.

 

[EagleRockTony]

In past years we always got late June flights for 17,500 mi each way, 330 days in advance. This year was 25,000 or 30,000. Getting tougher to take advantage of the miles.

 

[SuzanneB74]

I am trying to figure out the best route/airline to fly from Orlando. I was thinking United because they have good rates and times, but the reviews have made me look at Delta. Hawaiian Airlines would be great, but the routes are so out of the way for us. Any advice or tips? We are going to Aulani at the beginning of June ... first time to Hawaii!

 

[OKW Lover]

I am trying to figure out the best route/airline to fly from Orlando. I was thinking United because they have good rates and times, but the reviews have made me look at Delta.

We've done that flight three times now, all on Delta. One trip we did MCO>LAX>HNL but the other two we did MCO>ATL>HNL. Prefer that one for the nice plane (we book 1st class and the seats on the ATL>HNL leg are really, really nice). The route with the LAX stopover is basically two long flights. Yes, the ATL route is one longer flight, but to us it is the better choice.

 

[buffettgirl]

We've done that flight three times now, all on Delta. One trip we did MCO>LAX>HNL but the other two we did MCO>ATL>HNL. Prefer that one for the nice plane (we book 1st class and the seats on the ATL>HNL leg are really, really nice). The route with the LAX stopover is basically two long flights. Yes, the ATL route is one longer flight, but to us it is the better choice.

that's exactly how I felt coming from Boston. The first time I flew I thought Bos to LAX would be ideal but really, it ended up as two very long feeling flights. You get off after a long flight and realize you still have a very long flight to go. I much prefer ATL to HNL.

 

[happymommy]

We've done that flight three times now, all on Delta. One trip we did MCO>LAX>HNL but the other two we did MCO>ATL>HNL. Prefer that one for the nice plane (we book 1st class and the seats on the ATL>HNL leg are really, really nice). The route with the LAX stopover is basically two long flights. Yes, the ATL route is one longer flight, but to us it is the better choice.

I've flown the ATL-HNL on Delta several times as well in first class. The lie flat seats are really great, especially for the return flight. Going over, "comfort plus" or whatever they call it is okay, but return if you can do first, do it!

 

[SuzanneB74]

Thanks so much for the tips! I think we are leaning towards the Delta MCO-ATL-HNL outbound. On the way back, the best routes/times are HNL-Minn/St.Paul-MCO. Has anyone done the route through Minn/St.Paul? I am thinking Delta Comfort, although I would love first class. If we put the teenage boys in first class they will want to fly like that all the time! LOL!

 

[dmetcalfrn]

We did ATL-HNL on Delta and it was great. Had great beverage/snack services and in flight entertainment on personal screens. Charging ports at our seats. Would fly that route on Delta again without hesitation.