Mrs JVP and I have homes on Kauai and in MN, so we fly MSP - Hawaii quite often. In the past, we always took the A330 back and forth to HNL and then HA to Kauai. Now in its infinite wisdom, Delta killed our A330. So...what we have decided to do is MSP - LAX - LIH outbound and LIH - HNL - ATL - MSP for the return so that we can sleep n the long HNL - ATL run. For you going only to HNL, I'd do the much the same. Take the time savings outbound by going MSP - LAX -HNL and the nicer ride on the return HNL - ATL - MSP.