Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Flying to Australia on Hawaiian Airlines?

Has anyone flown Hawaiian Airlines to Australia? If so, how would you rate the experience?

I'm about to book flights for mid-June 2009 from San Diego to Sydney and I'm considering Hawaiian Airlines (SAN - HNL - SYD) using FF miles. I kind of like the idea of stopping in Honolulu for a couple of nights on the way over (although that's not a firm requirement as we've been to Hawaii many times).

Thanks for your help!

Carole

We have a forum for Hawaii-Based airlines (including Hawaiian); there are threads such as the following that may be of help:

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=745291

Safe travels!

Thanks FlyinHawaiian... I'll take a look over there!

I'm about to book flights for mid-June 2009 from San Diego to Sydney and I'm considering Hawaiian Airlines (SAN - HNL - SYD) using FF miles......

If using HawaiianMiles, there will be an 80% increase in HAMiles award cost for flights booked after Sep 1.

http://www.hawaiianair.com/Hawaiianmiles/Pages/award-update.aspx

kaukau's an excellent HA source and has flown at least one alternative. ;) ^

cawhite as long as HA doesn't cancel this route you're probably getting a convenient service. kiwiflyer might recomment NZ LAX-HNL-AKL-SYD and I'd agree with him, but for a direct connection you should have a fine time on HA.

From experience I'd be wary of JetStar only because HNL-SYD is a possibility for cancellation like a lot of other JQ routes if it's not pulling in enough profit. Though I suppose you could risk it and possibly get Qantas to fly you across if JetStar disappears.

I'm looking forward to seeing the kaukaus again, on their next HA trip here. :p ^

(PS Looks like Prince Hotels are promoting Mauna Kea again - supposed to re-open in 2009.)

Good luck with the redemption, Carol. :)

I'm looking forward to seeing the [B]kaukaus again, on their next HA trip here. :p ^

Back at ya, BiziBB! That'll be us arriving SYD in C class on Hawaiian Airlines flight #451 next May. Will PM ya as the date approaches.

Carol: Consider paying for Y and using your miles to upgrade to C: http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10045766&postcount=44

Cheers!

I just did this flight recently. You can't do OLCI because of the visa issue, so if you want to pay for your mainland upgrade... you miss out on that... however, at the gate end of August 2008, Hawaiian announced business class upgrades were available for $444.

I have been searching for this information for a while, so I finally have an answer:

Upgrading on Hawaiian Airlines to Sydney from Honolulu is not done online, but may be offered at the gate by agents. As of August 2008, the price offered was $444 USD for the upgrade.

....as long as HA doesn't cancel this route you're probably getting a convenient service....

Yikes -- has there been any serious talk of that? My wife and son are doing HNL-SYD in C in mid-June '09. Hopefully. :eek:

Yikes -- has there been any serious talk of that?

Not that I'm aware of.

I actually think flying HA to Sydney is the best option. I fly from the mainland, get a break in HNL. And when you arrive in Sydney about 7pm, you basically can go straight to your hotel and sleep. Try to keep yourself up most of the flight. I found its the easiest way to get on schedule over there.

However, I am really disappointed now that the time change has taken effect. I went to book a ticket to Sydney from Portland. And the problem is, you can't book any flights TO Sydney through Honolulu. With the recent time change, mainland flights won't arrive in time to make the connection.

So, I guess really, Hawaiian is only interested in this service for Australians and people living in Hawaii? I wish they would just adjust their schedule a bit so I can make international connections with them.

-A

The schedule has a lot to do with curfew at SYD and aircraft utilization. Believe me, HA know it's not optimal. Both HNL-SYD and SYD-HNL fail to sync with a HNL-mainland flight bank... the westbound leaves before flights from the mainland arrive, and the eastbound arrives back in HNL after the mainland flights leave.

The ideal schedule for west coasters would leave HNL at 500p or so, permitting through pax to start their day in California, but then it would get to SYD after 1100p, too late to be allowed to land. The ideal return flight would leave SYD around 400p and get to HNL around 600a so people could connect straight on to California, but the plane would have to cool its heels in Sydney for 16 to 20 hours -- a terrible waste. They've done the best they can. It's no wonder, though, that the flights are only 3x/week.