Hawaiian uses gates 4-11 in the B terminal of SMF. In my experience, they frequently use B4 or B6, which are the most distant from the Southwest gates.
Southwest uses gates B12 - B23, which can be as much as a 5 minute brisk walk.
Try to select a seat near the front of the Hawaiian flight so that you minimize the delay in exiting the aircraft.
Do not check luggage. Hawaiian will not check your luggage onto Southwest and you will have no time to retrieve and re-check your luggage.
Southwest general boarding usually begins about 20 -25 minutes before the scheduled departure time. At 10 minutes before departure time you will be paged and your seat may be given away to standby passengers.
If you DO miss your Southwest flight, you will find their gate agents very helpful in getting you on the standby list on a later flight. Southwest has 8 non-stop flights from SMF-LAS every weekday, so the odds are good that you will get to Vegas in time to lose your money.
Last edited by dlaue; May 2, 2022 at 9:32 am