Originally Posted by
RealHJ
Not direct, but there is the same flight number, same aircraft, through-flight Air Asia X flight # 1 (D7 1) KUL-KIX-HNL. It just has a brief stopover in KIX.
Stops in Japan on way to US are common from further away destinations like Korea, Taiwan or Malaysia. For example, same for KE 1 ICN-NRT-HNL. Same for CI 17 TPE-NRT-HNL. (Note: both of these are still not back. Have been back and for sale, then pulled and the date continually pushed back. Same games that DL is playing with its US-Asia flights, continually pushing back the resumption date.)
Much of this is not accurate, but suggesting Korea and Taiwan are similarly situated to Malaysia for purposes of flights to the US is bizarre. There are plenty of nonstop flights to the US mainland from TPE and ICN. HNL -Asia traffic serves more passengers originating in Asia than the US. It's a completely different market.
I'm not sure why you think it's a "game" versus lack of demand. Flying empty planes just because you want to fly them isn't wise for an airline.